It is located 35 km South of Forth Chipewyan, Alberta. Annual variations in water levels determine the extent of mudflats and emergent zones. This lake is about 1.2m deep and freezes all the way to the bottom. A small delta on the East side of the lake was formed because of sand and silt that are deposited into the channel. Emergent aquatics include bulrush and cattail.
Submergent vegetation includes pondweeds, water milfoil, and duckweed.
Exposed portions of the lake and marsh bottoms grow reedgrass meadows, marsh cane thickets, and willow. Dabblers and divers moult and stage at the sanctuary. Tundra Swans, White-fronted, Snow, Canada, and Ross's geese stage at the sanctuary in the fall. Birds known to nest in the Lake Athabasca region include American Bittern, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Common Snipe, Spotted Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Common Loon, and Horned and Red-necked Grebes. A variety of passerines including flycatchers, thrushes, Cedar Waxwings, warblers and sparrows which breed in the area.