For the last couple of years due the height of CoVid, we visited a few national and provincial parks both to preserve and highlight some of our natural beauty and historic sites. Everyone should try and visit some now that travel is opening up. These suggestions are more like a bucket list of places to visit to become better acquainted with our wild spaces.
Wood Buffalo National Park – Alberta/Northwest Territories
The largest national park in Canada, Wood Buffalo National Park was established in 1922 to protect what remained of the largest land animal in North America. Once on the brink of extinction, the nearly 10,000 wood bison alive today trace their ancestry back to Wood Buffalo National Park. Currently, the park is home to the largest free-roaming bison herd in the world.
The endangered Whooping crane also calls the forests and grasslands of Wood Buffalo National Park home. Although a secondary breeding population has been re-introduced in the United States, Wood Buffalo National Park was the large crane’s last stronghold.
In 1983, Wood Buffalo National Park was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its important biological diversity.
Kluane National Park and Reserve – Yukon
Kluane National Park contains 17 of Canada’s 20 tallest mountains, including the tallest (Mount Logan), and so is a paradise for hikers. It also has the world’s largest non-polar icefield, and heaps of wildlife including the most genetically diverse population of grizzly bears. It is also home to the Alsek River, which was granted status as a Canadian Heritage River.
Kluane National Park and Reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its “exceptional natural beauty.”
Grasslands National Park – Saskatchewan
Grasslands National Park protects one of the last remaining tracts of mixed-grass ecosystem.
The park protects several endangered species as well, such as the endangered burrowing owl. Also found in Grasslands National Park is Canada’s only population of Black-footed ferrets, a species thought extinct twice and re-introduced to the Canadian wilderness because of a successful captive breeding program 70 years after they disappeared from this country.
In 1874, Canada’s first dinosaur remains were discovered in a location now part of the park.
Saguenay–St. Lawrence Marine Park
This is one of only three national parks in Canada—and the first in Quebec—to protect a marine ecosystem
. It is a hotspot for whales who are drawn to the rich feeding grounds created where the St. Lawrence and Saguenay rivers meet. In fact, over 2200 species call this region home, from microscopic algae to the largest creature on earth: the blue whale. Among the other species of cetacean sighted in these waters are the St. Lawrence beluga whale, an ecologically isolated population of a species normally found in the arctic.
There are numerous opportunities to view wildlife, whether by boat or from shoreline hiking trails.
Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park – Nunavut
Only a 30 minute walk from the territorial capital of Iqaluit, Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park is home to a variety of wildlife, such as caribou and arctic foxes. The Woodsia fern—one of the rarest plants in the country—can also be found here. Fishing for Arctic char is one popular activity, as is exploring the historic sites left behind by early inhabitants of the region.
Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area, and Haida Heritage Site – British Columbia
Gwaii Haanas (“Islands of Beauty” in Haida) is located at the southern end of Haida Gwaii off the coast of British Columbia. The park is a protected archipelago of 138 islands. The Haida people have called the region home for over 12,000 years, and there are at least 500 Haida heritage sights on the islands. The village of Nang Sdins Llnagaay has even been granted UNESCO World Heritage status.
A visit to Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve is as close as you can come to stepping into an Emily Carr painting–her book Klee Wyck was based on her experiences in the region, which also influenced her art.
39 plants and animals found at Gwaii Haanas are found nowhere else on earth.
SUGGESTED TOUR: 10 DAY ALBERTA MOUNTAINS DISCOVERED
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