As a result, water levels fluctuate greatly and extensive mudflats form near the lake's shoreline.

[6][7] The lake is surrounded by farms and groves of aspen, willow, and white spruce.

[8] The lake was formed in the 1890s after significant summer rains in 1896 soften the ground allowing a spring to rise up from an aquifer in the nearby hills.

Prior to the flooding, the area was a depression with a "mixture of bushes, sloughs and hay meadows."

The MBS was established on 9 March 1925 and "is a major resting and feeding area for migratory waterfowl and swans."