Pembina Valley Provincial Park - Plant Species

This information has been placed here in conjunction with a Manitoba Naturalists Society (now Nature Manitoba) botanical walk August 2, 2003.

The Pembina Valley Provincial Park was officially opened October 5, 2001, as Manitoba's 75th provincial park, and is located approximately 160km south west of Winnipeg Manitoba. There are seven different trails (12.7km total length) that weave through the 1.8 km2 (440 acre) park. You can easily walk just a short loop or spend the day exploring the network of tails. The trails offer moderate to challenging hikes through lush oak and aspen forests that open up to give expansive views of the valley. Almost 300 plant species have been recorded in the park itself from surveys done 1998, 2000 and 2001. The prairie, hills, and protected valleys provide a wide abundance of habitats for plants. In fact Henry Marshall collected over 580 different species in the neighbouring Pembina Hills (Pembina Hills Flora, 1989) suggesting that the diversity of species in the park is likely much higher than those recorded. The Pembina Gorge area of North Dakota has recorded more thann 480 species - one third of the North Dakota flora. Manitoba Conservation has identified 16 rare plant species in the Pembina Valley area including False Indigo (Amorpha fruticosa), a shrub with branching stems and member of the pea family.

The valley, known as the Pembina Gorge in North Dakota, was carved out of the soft shale bedrock by the ancient Pembina River as the ancient river carried meltwater from glacial Lake Souris, in north-central North Dakota and southern Manitoba, to glacial lake Agassiz. The valley cuts through the Pembina plateau and Pembina escarpment, the remnants of which are known as the Pembina Hills. Starting in the northern part of Turtle Mountain and running through southern Manitoba and the edge of North Dakota the river has a total length of roughly 547km (335miles). The valley ranges up to 122 m (400') in depth in the Pembina Gorge (N. Dakota).

The cretaceous age rock (shale) that underlie the glacial deposits in the in this region are exposed where the Pembina River and its tributaries, have cut through the glacial deposits. These Cretaceous rocks were deposited in oceans that covered the area between about 90 million and 80 million years ago. The rocks contain fossils of the animals that lived in those oceans.

To access the park follow highway 3 west of Morden, turn south on provincial road 31. After driving through the Pembina River Valley turn east (left) at provincial road 201 and follow the signs to the park - turn right at the 'T' intersection then left at the next road.

The following species list was generated from several surveys of the park flora. Thanks to Jennifer Shay, MAPB, Conservation MB. Additions were made to the list from a further trip in early July 2003.

Also see:

• Pembina Valley Provincial Park - Conservation Manitoba
• Pembina Valley Provincial Park Officially Opened http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/press/top/2001/10/2001-10-05-04.html
• Location and trail map (this is a low quality image of the map redrawn by C. Burchill from the MB convervation trail map.)
• Province of Manitoba Wildlife Management Areas - Pembina Valley
• USGS Pembina River of North Dakota http://nd.water.usgs.gov/index/pembinapage.html
• Natural Ares of North Dakota - Pembina Gorge
• Avian Use of Forest Habitats http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/pemhill/index.htm