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Canadian National Parks and Wild Places

Some of Canada's natural treasures that I've explored

Grasslands National Park

Province: Saskatchewan Size: 907 km² Habitat: Mixed grass prairie

Grasslands is rural Canada in the raw. There are no tourist towns or swimming pools or fancy boutiques, and there is no way to travel there that does not involve lengthy journeys on lonely prairie roads. The weather is amongst the most extreme on the planet, with up to 90C variation between winter and summer. What this off-the-beaten-track park offers in return is a rare glimpse into the prairie of the past.

Star species

Black-tailed prairie dogs are found nowhere else in Canada; neither are black-footed ferrets, which were reintroduced in October 2009. Prairie rattlesnakes are fairly common, and ferruginous hawks can be seen.

Conservation issues

The industrialisation of the prairies over the last two centuries has been hugely detrimental to their once innumerable herds, and this small, largely unknown park on the Saskatchewan-Montana border is of huge ecological importance. Grasslands is still a park "in progress" - much land within the proposed boundaries is privately owned, and is gradually being purchased by Parks Canada as it becomes available.

Wildlife photos (click to enlarge)

Scenery photos (click to enlarge)

Jasper National Park

Province: Alberta Size: 10,878 km² Habitat: Eastern slope Rockies, alpine

The beleaguered jewel of Canada's Rockies and the largest fully protected park in the country, Jasper is a spectacular mountain wilderness bisected by a commercial trunk road. Its roll call of sights for tourists includes some of the grandest on the continent -the Columbia Icefield, Mt Athabasca, Medicine Lake - but the wildlife is also of great importance.

Star species

Jasper is used by a few dozen wolves; it is also home to grizzlies, wolverines and a declining population of woodland caribou.

Conservation issues

The promotion of mass tourism in a sensitive wilderness is an increasing concern; the wildlife mortality and displacement caused by Highway 16 has been a long-standing problem. Trappers on the park's eastern boundary have killed a significant number of wolves, and bear conservation in the increasingly crowded valleys is not always simple.

Please visit the Jasper Environmental Association for more information.  

Wildlife photos (click to enlarge)

Scenery photos (click to enlarge)

Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island

Province: British Columbia Size: N/A Habitat: Temperate rainforest

Nootka Sound is not a protected region, but rather the remote west coast inlet where I lived in 2007. This is an infamously wet part of the world, with some 14 feet of rain a year being dumped by the Pacific winds. The result is a towering temperate coniferous rainforest, complete with Spanish moss and giant slugs and a dense understory of ferns. Above the trees, low rocky mountains pierce the frequent clouds.

Star species

Sea otters have been reintroduced; cougars are present, but are very hard to find; humpback whales can be seen off shore.

Conservation issues

Much of Vancouver Island is subject to clear-cut logging, which depletes the forest's nutritional value for deer, consequently leading to declines in the populations of their predators. The wolf population is extremely low, and cougars are also in decline. Highly intolerant attitudes towards bears are the norm in some regions; many bears are shot by the police, even when they are presenting no threat. Poaching of sea otters and golden eagles also occurs, and reporting wildlife crime to conservation officers is bureaucratic and difficult.

NB The photos below come from various regions of northern Vancouver Island.

Wildlife photos (click to enlarge)

Scenery photos (click to enlarge)

Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park

Province: Alberta (also Montana) Size: 4,576 km² Habitat: Fescue prairie, eastern slope Rockies

Waterton is the place of boundary lines: in few places on earth do two ecosystems collide with such abruptness. Snow-capped mountains rise directly out of the prairie grasslands, offering an incredible diversity of habitats within a remarkably small area. But Waterton is also known for its extraordinary winds - the chinooks that melt the snows in winter, and the storms that are funnelled by the valleys into hurricane-force blasts. It is an austere, often intimidating place, staggeringly beautiful but also prone to keep its visitors nervously on their toes.

Star species

All native mammals are present except for bison, although wolf numbers are very low.

Conservation issues

Waterton's western frontier is the Flathead Valley, one of southern Canada's last regions in limbo - it is neither protected nor developed. Conservationists have long campaigned to add the Flathead to Canada's national park system, and the British Columbian government has unexpectedly suspended mining, oil and gas development, raising hopes that the area will indeed be gazetted.

On the Waterton's other side - the eastern border - cattle ranching is a serious threat to wolf recovery.

Wildlife photos (click to enlarge)

Scenery photos (click to enlarge)

All photos, text and other content © Adele B. (www.thesittingfox.co.uk) 2006 - 2010. Inspired by stuff found at www.webcodingtech.com.