Elk Island National Park, Alberta - Canada's Serengeti
You don't have to go to Africa to experience the highest density of ungulates in the world - no, the record goes to Elk Island National Park, 45 kilometers east of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Edmonton is the capital of Alberta and has a metropolitan population of about 1 million people. It's the number one tourist destination in the province.
In 2006, the park quietly celebrated 100 years of what's been a huge conservation success story primarily for elk, plains and woods bison, as well as trumpeter swans.
The history of the park is a celebration of conservation, and Elk Island National Park has set an important benchmark of ecological diversity in the Canadian "parklands" - which represents the interface between the northern boreal forest and the grasslands to the south. Parks Canada has maintained an ongoing prescribed burning program since 1979 to sustain ecological diversity of the park by managing invasion of aspen into the grasslands to sustain grazing land for bison and elk, in particular.
Elk Island National Park was Canada's first federal wildlife sanctuary for elk, set aside to preserve 20 native elk in 1906 that roamed in the Beaver Hills area. Since then the park has protected other threatened and endangered species, including the wood bison, plains bison, and - most recently - the trumpeter swan.
It is a relatively small park - by western Canada standards - 195 square kilometers in area.
The park is open year round, and is bisected by the scenic Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16) from east to west, and Highway 15 from the north to south. It's surrounded by an 8' high page wire fence which is necessary to keep wildlife off busy Highway 16. There's vehicular road access north of Highway 16 but hiking only is permitted to the south of Highway 16, along the circular Wood Bison Trail, one of my favorites.
The park is traversed by eleven popular hiking trails which wind their way through the aspen parkland, black spruce bogs, and stands of birch and sedge meadows - there are more than 100 km of trails throughout the park, available for summer hikes and cross country skiing in the winter.
The history of the park can only be heralded as a conservation success story. You'll see plenty of wildlife, often from the road.
Elk Island National Park wildlife truly are wild, however, contrary to what one might expect - if not actually a bit wired. They can be wary and difficult to approach at times!
With the assistance of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the receiving agency in both Canada and the United States, the park has served as a nursery for elk transplants across Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, the Yukon and Northwest Territories) and the United States (Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina). About 200 elk annually have been transplanted over the past several years at peak times.
The area abounds in elk, moose, white-tailed deer (with some mule deer), coyotes, beavers, muskrats and waterfowl, down to the tiny boreal chorus frog, with recent (new) sightings of cougar. Yikes!
It's one of the best places in Alberta for wildlife viewing - no place in North America has as many hoofed animals in such a small area.
There's much local literature to the park of interest to the itinerant naturalist: "The Discover's Guide to Elk Island National Park", "Nature Walks Sunday Drives 'Round Edmonton", "Alberta Wildlife Viewing Guide" and additional resource material such as the Elk Island National Park Web site: http://www.pc.gc.ca/elkisland.
Elk Island National Park, its plants and animals are a naturalist's and photographer's treasure, throughout various the seasons, and an outdoorsman's delight!