Mackenzie River east into the Churchill River. The eastern portion of the Mackenzie basin is dominated by vast reaches of lake-studded boreal forest and includes many of the largest lakes in North America. By both volume and surface area, Great Bear Lake is the biggest in the watershed and third largest on the continent, with a surface area of and a volume of . Great Slave Lake is slightly smaller, with an area of and containing of water, although it is significantly deeper than Great Bear. The third major lake, Athabasca, is less than a third that size with an area of
Ahuriri River Ahuriri River The Ahuriri River is a river in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. The headwaters are on the eastern flanks of the Southern Alps. The river flows for through the southernmost part of the Mackenzie Basin before reaching the Ahuriri Arm of Lake Benmore, one of the lakes in the Waitaki hydroelectric project. From there, the waters join with those of the Waitaki, which has its outflow in the Pacific Ocean. Much of the upper portion of the river is in the Ahuriri Conservation Park, and it is a well-regarded fly fishing river, supporting