Ice Age landscape – Forests of Memory. Forests of Learning. Forests for Life.

Rooted in Memory, Shaped by Ice: The Glacial History and Geological Legacy of the Clavet Memorial Healing Forest, Saskatchewan

Based on the geological interpretation presented by Larry Edwin Hodges in Morphology of the South Saskatchewan River Valley: Outlook to Saskatoon (University of Saskatchewan, Ph.D. Thesis), the proposed Clavet Memorial Healing Forest occupies a landscape that was profoundly influenced by the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the final stages of the last Ice Age. The site at NW 17-35-03-W3, immediately northwest of the former shoreline of Glacial Lake Elstow and just northwest of the Clavet Moraine, lies within a region that preserves evidence of some of the most dynamic glacial and post-glacial processes documented in central Saskatchewan.

Ice at the Clavet Memorial Healing Forest During the Lake Hanley Phase

During the period Hodges refers to as the Lake Hanley Phase, the effective ice front had begun retreating from its maximum southern extent, but large lobes of glacial ice still occupied both the Saskatoon Lowland and the Last Mountain Lake Lowland. At that time, the Memorial Healing Forest site would have been situated very near the margin of the Saskatoon Lowland ice lobe.

Hodges notes that differences in elevations of lake sediments and the cutting of the Blackstrap spillway indicate that the Saskatoon Lowland ice lobe still extended onto portions of the Allan Hills Upland, Hawarden Hills Upland, and The Coteau. The proposed forest site lies within this transitional landscape between active glacier ice and expanding glacial lakes.

According to Figure VI.c of the thesis, the future Memorial Healing Forest was located immediately northwest of Glacial Lake Elstow, placing it along what would have been an evolving shoreline environment where melting ice, expanding lake waters, and sediment deposition interacted continuously.

The Clavet Moraine and the Memorial Healing Forest

One of the most important glacial features associated with the site is the Clavet Moraine.

A moraine is a ridge or accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris (till) deposited by a glacier. As the ice advanced and retreated, it transported clay, silt, sand, gravel, cobbles, and boulders, leaving them behind when the glacier melted.

Hodges describes the Clavet Moraine as a distinct ice-margin feature created when active ice in the Saskatoon Lowland continued to push eastward into the Elstow Basin after ice in adjacent regions had already begun to stagnate and retreat.

The thesis states:

“Ice in the Saskatoon Lowland remained active longer than in the Elstow Basin, and pushed slightly into the basin from the west to form the Clavet Moraine and related outwash gravel deposits.”

This interpretation suggests that the glacier margin remained dynamic near present-day Clavet while surrounding areas experienced significant downwasting and lake expansion.

The proposed Memorial Healing Forest is situated immediately northwest of this moraine system. As a result, the site occupies terrain directly influenced by the final advances and standstills of glacier ice approximately 12,000–14,000 years ago.

Lake Saskatoon I and Lake Saskatoon II

The Memorial Healing Forest also lies within a landscape shaped by two major glacial lakes identified by Hodges:

Glacial Lake Saskatoon I
Glacial Lake Saskatoon II

These lakes occupied portions of the Saskatoon Lowland during successive stages of deglaciation.

Evidence cited by Hodges includes:

Lacustrine sediments covering the Clavet Moraine
Lake deposits over former meltwater channels
Fine-grained sediments extending across much of the Elstow Basin
Deposits associated with the Dundurn Bench and Blackstrap region

Because the Clavet Moraine is overlain by lake sediments reaching elevations of at least 1770 feet (540 metres), the moraine must have existed before portions of Lake Saskatoon I flooded the region.

This places the Memorial Healing Forest within an area that likely experienced:

Active glacial ice occupation
Moraine construction
Meltwater outwash deposition
Flooding by proglacial lakes
Subsequent drainage and landscape stabilization

The Blackstrap-Elstow Drainage System

Figures VI.d and VI.k in the thesis demonstrate that the Clavet area occupied a strategic position within a major deglacial drainage network.

As ice retreated northward, meltwater flowed through:

The Blackstrap spillway
Strehlow Pond Channel
North Bradwell Channel
The Elstow Basin
Early South Saskatchewan River channels

The Memorial Healing Forest lies near this network of former meltwater routes.

Although the site itself is not located within a major spillway channel, it occupies terrain adjacent to corridors through which enormous volumes of glacial meltwater once moved toward newly developing drainage systems.

A Landscape of Ice, Water, and Transition

The geology around the Memorial Healing Forest records a remarkable sequence of environmental change.

Approximately 13,000 years ago:

Thick Laurentide ice covered the region.
The glacier margin stood near present-day Clavet.
The Clavet Moraine formed as ice pushed into the Elstow Basin.
Meltwater created outwash plains and gravel deposits.
Glacial Lake Elstow expanded along the ice margin.
Lake Saskatoon I flooded portions of the landscape, and the proposed forest was northeast of Glacial Lake Saskatoon I being that it was north of the North Bradwell Channel.
The proposed forest was under Glacial Lake Saskatoon II which occupied lowlands northwest.
Meltwater channels evolved into the drainage systems that would eventually become part of the modern South Saskatchewan River watershed.

The proposed Memorial Healing Forest therefore occupies a landscape forged at the boundary between glacier and lake—a place where ice, water, sediment, and time combined to create the rolling prairie terrain visible today.

Significance for the Memorial Healing Forest

The geological history provides a powerful metaphor for the purpose of the Memorial Healing Forest.

The site exists on land shaped by the retreat of immense glaciers, the formation of ancient lakes, and the gradual emergence of new ecosystems. What was once a landscape of ice and uncertainty became one of renewal and life.

Similarly, the Memorial Healing Forest seeks to transform a place of remembrance into a living legacy of hope, resilience, healing, and growth.

Just as the glaciers receded and new landscapes emerged, the forest will stand as a testament to recovery after tragedy—honouring the sixteen lives lost in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash, supporting survivors and families, and creating a lasting sanctuary rooted in memory and growing in hope.

Rooted in Memory, Shaped by Ice

Reference

Hodges, L. E. (1975). Morphology of the South Saskatchewan River Valley: Outlook to Saskatoon. Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Geography, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, pp. 247, 255–257, 272–273.

Christiansen, E. A. (1968). The Quaternary of the Saskatoon Area, Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan Research Council, Geology Division Report.

Greer, W., & Christiansen, E. A. Studies of Late Wisconsinan deglaciation and glacial lake development in central Saskatchewan.

Edmunds, F. H. Research on the Elstow Basin and Lake Elstow phases of deglaciation in south-central Saskatchewan.

Klassen, R. W. (1989). Quaternary Geology of the Southern Prairie Provinces. Geological Survey of Canada.

Christiansen, E. A. (1979). The Wisconsinan Late Glacial History of the Saskatoon Region. Geological Association of Canada Special Papers.