In 1939, Alfred Hole, a local rancher and outdoorsman at Rennie, was given four orphaned goslings. He built a wooden dam across the nearby Rennie River to form a goose pond. In the third summer, Hole obtained an old gander and got it to mate with the lone female from the brood. She laid four eggs, and those four goslings were banded and released on the pond. By late summer, they were full-grown and, when northern-bred geese flew overhead going south, these geese joined the migration, leaving their parents behind. Next spring, all four of the geese returned and kept returning annually.
This was the start of what was to become the Alfred Hole Goose Sanctuary. In 1954, Hole sold the sanctuary to the provincial government and, in 1956, Ducks Unlimited Canada built a concrete dam to replace Hole’s wooden dam. In 1961, the sanctuary became part of the Whiteshell Provincial Park. Hundreds of geese now stop here during their spring and fall migrations.
Alfred Hole Goose Sanctuary (September 2018)
Source: George Penner
Alfred Hole Goose Sanctuary (May 2019)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Water control structure at Alfred Hole Goose Sanctuary (September 2018)
Source: George Penner
Commemorative plaque at Alfred Hole Goose Sanctuary (September 2018)
Source: George PennerSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.84944, W95.55246
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: Alfred Hole (1881-1959)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Whiteshell Trappers Museum (Rennie, Whiteshell Provincial Park)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Ducks Unlimited Monuments
Manitoba Organization: Ducks Unlimited Canada
This page was prepared by Rose Kuzina, George Penner, and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 28 March 2020
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