Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada

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The Kootenay and the Blackfoot were early inhabitants of this region in the southwest corner of Alberta, represented by Waterton Lakes National Park. They battled over the dwindling herds of buffalo that roamed the plains, though most were gone by the time The Boundary Commission mapped out the 49th parallel between 1858 and 1874.

An area of 140 sq. km. was designated the Kootenay Lakes Forest Reserve in 1895, becoming the 525 square kilometre Waterton Lakes National Park in 1911.

From a peak attendance of more than 600,000, Waterton Lakes National Park today receives about 350,000 visitors annually. There are boat rentals and stables, an 18-hole golf course, and a cruise to Goat Haunt Visitor Centre in Montana. And for the traditionalists, there are over 250 kilometres of hiking trails that range from short strolls to multi-day backpacking adventures.

Unlike Banff, Waterton's townsite has retained a small town character, and happily so. The year-round population peaked at 250; now it hovers around 80. The town maintains architectural design codes to ensure any re-building will stay in character. And the residents, many of whom are now third and fourth generation, are committed to peaceful co-existence with the wilderness.

Where is it?

Waterton Lakes National Park is located 270 km south of Calgary, Alberta, and 130 km Southwest of Lethbridge, Alberta.

Geology

The mountainous terrain of Canada’s west is the result of intense pressure from deep within the earth thrusting and folding layers of rock. The evidence of the early sea-beds that covered the area over 700 million years ago is visible in the ripples, fossils and sedimentary layers in the rock. The weight of the sediments, said to be in excess of 9000 m thick, metamorphosed the shale, limestone and sandstone into harder, more resistant rocks in the bottom layers, occasionally broken by igneous rock of volcanic origin.

The forces that fold rock can also break it, creating fault lines. This phenomenon is responsible for a feature called the Lewis Overthrust, which stretches over 320 kilometres, from Marias Pass in the United States to just south of the Bow River. Here, one sheet of rock overrode another, forcing the lower, metamorphic layer to slide over the upper sedimentary rocks.

Fauna

The bison paddock is a reminder that these beasts once roamed the fescue prairie along with the elk and coyotes, muskrats and mink. Mountain species such as Bighorn sheep, mountain goats and cougars thrive here, utilizing the variety of habitats available to them on a seasonal basis. While the mountain goats tend to keep to the craggy ridges of the alpine, bighorn sheep are frequently seen in town in late summer, taking advantage of cultivated gardens, and preparing for the fall rut. Moose frequent lakes and ponds throughout the park area; black bears can be found emerging from the forest quite unexpectedly. Grizzly bear and wolves are more elusive, but increasingly dependent on this small island of protected habitat.

More unlikely inhabitants are the Harlequin duck, normally found on the West Coast and, occasionally, nesting Trumpeter swans.

Flora

Diversity is perhaps even more evident in the flora of Waterton Lakes. Comprising six ‘life zones', wetland, prairie and parkland at the lower elevations, montane in the mountain valleys and lower slopes, up to the sub-alpine and alpine zones, the park protects over 900 catalogued species of wildflowers, more than half the known species in all of Alberta. At least one reason for this abundance is the climate Waterton receives more precipitation than the rest of the province by virtue of its meeting of prairie with the mountains of the Divide. The influences of westerly weather also bring more chinooks, those unseasonably warm winds, to the eastern faces of the park, as Pacific air masses rapidly descend down the mountains, gaining in temperature and melting away all traces of winter in a matter of minutes.