Have you ever been camping, kayaking or hiking in one of Canada’s 37 national parks? These places are really nice and peaceful, right? In addition to offering their visitors the enjoyment of the outdoors and the total zenitudethese wild territories are also guardians of ecology! Let me explain.
A national park is a looooong way different from your local park. They are natural areas that are protected. And Canada’s national parks are huge. The largest, Wood Buffalo in Alberta, covers 45,000 km2. That’s 71 times bigger than Toronto!
There are national parks in every province and territory in Canada. They have everything, including the country’s tallest mountain, Mount Logan! It’s located in the Yukon, in Kluane National Park, and is nearly six kilometres high. That’s twenty times taller than the Eiffel Tower.
Hands off nature!
Canada’s national parks were created to protect natural ecosystems. This conservation mission concerns all wild lands (forests, bodies of water), but also everything that lives there, such as animals, insects, plants and trees. This means that you can neither hunt there nor pick flowers that you find pretty!
Biodiversity is also being restored. For example, in Banff, Alberta, the bison had disappeared for 140 years. In 2017, the park reintroduced 31 of them to its territory. It’s a success! Today, the bison family is made up of at least 80 animals!
Nature as a teacher
In each park, you will find very interesting explanations about the fauna and the history of the places. Discover them by walking trails, following a guide or even by listening to the films that play in certain parks.
For example, on a beach in Forillon Park in Gaspésie, I handled (delicately) a sea cucumber and learned that this creature breathes… through its buttocks! I also discovered, while watching a film, that the large cliffs surrounding it were created in an ocean so old that it no longer exists today. Fascinating!
It only makes me want to do one thing: take care of these important parks!
Camille Lopez, The Aces of Info
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