National Park Essay

From catus to glacier, bear to lynx, hiking trails and massaging hot springs. Kootenay National Park, established in 1920, is one of Canada's thirty-nine national parks. It protects the diversity of one of Canada's greatest landscapes. {Parks Canada} representing the south-western Region of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. It contains many valuable resources including its landscape, wildlife, and history.

Kootenay's landscape includes worthy resources. The Rocky Mountains which add beauty to Canada and include over one hundred individual mountain ranges, including Mt. Elbert, the highest point in the Rockies at 14,433ft.{World Atlas} the landscape also includes glaciers which prove as a valuable resource to Canada's fresh water abundance. These features can not be found in any other area of Canada and are priceless to the Canadian people.

The wildlife in Kootenay National Park is meaningful to the land. It includes elk, white-tailed deer, mule deer, mountain goats, bighorn goats, moose, grizzly and black bears.

The mountain goat is the parks wildlife symbol. A large proportion of these goats inhabit the slopes of Mount Wardle year-round. This area is one of four "Special Presentation" management zones within Kootenay and provides the highest degree of park protection. {Parks Canada} Another significant animal is the grizzly bear, they are becoming endangered and there are 6-12 in the park being protected. Accordingly this land is protecting many species that are valuable to Canada and almost endangered or extinct.

The history of Kootenay National Park is very valuable to help people learn about Canadian Natives. The land the park is on use to be part of traditional lands, lived on by the Ktunaxa and Kinbasket First Nation people. The mountains were used as seasonal hunting grounds by the natives, then they would go to the plains to haunt bison.{Parks Canada} It was once used for a...