Lake Winnipeg: Shared Solutions is the very first integration of virtual reality/video simulation technology and pure water science in Canada. A totally new type of museum exhibit and online adventure, it is a one-of-a-kind experience where visitors’ imaginations, intelligence and ingenuity meet the realm of sustainable development.
The setting for Lake Winnipeg: Shared Solutions showcases one of the 10 largest freshwater lakes in the world – Lake Winnipeg – and its basin, which spans four provinces and four US states. Due to its shallow depth, Lake Winnipeg is especially vulnerable to climate change and is under severe stress due to nutrient overloading from industry, agriculture, and communities throughout its vast Basin.
Stretching from the edge of Lake Superior to the Rockies, the Lake Winnipeg Basin is truly enormous. Home to 7 million people and 17 million livestock in Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta, it also impacts North and South Dakota, Minnesota and Montana.
After you are done affecting change on the Lake Winnipeg: Shared Solutions simulator, learn what the ingredients are for a healthy lake and see an ecosystem in action in our Lake Winnipeg’s Web of Life ecosystem tank. Our tank is home to a miniature food web of Lake Winnipeg; from fathead minnows and crayfish, all the way to snails and other bottom feeders. See if you can catch a glimpse of a dragonfly nymph or water boatman gliding through the water. Visitors might even be lucky enough to catch a feeding in progress. Our friendly staff is always around the gallery to answer any questions you might have.
Little ones love experimenting with water flows in our watershed stream table while older ones explore the uses of the lake and their unintended consequences in our circular stakeholder area. Can you be a champion of change? Learn about the many things you can do to protect and restore Lake Winnipeg. We love to hear your ideas on how you can be lake friendly. Be part of the solution by writing or drawing your commitment to help the lake-and it might just end up on our wall!
Keep an eye on this page for visitor pledges, creature features, updates on Lake Winnipeg and highlights of students’ work.
