Height of the Rockies Provincial Park

Coordinates: 50°30′N 115°15′W / 50.5°N 115.25°W / 50.5; -115.25
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Height of the Rockies Provincial Park
wilderness area)[1]
Map showing the location of Height of the Rockies Provincial Park
Map showing the location of Height of the Rockies Provincial Park
Location in British Columbia
LocationEast Kootenay, British Columbia, Canada
Coordinates50°30′N 115°15′W / 50.5°N 115.25°W / 50.5; -115.25
Area54,170 ha (209.2 sq mi)
EstablishedJuly 12, 1995
Governing bodyBC Parks
WebsiteHeight of the Rockies Provincial Park

Height of the Rockies Provincial Park is a

Continental Divide (in this region, the British Columbia/Alberta Border), adjacent to Elk Lakes Provincial Park
.

Description and access

The park comprises 54,170 hectares (133,900 acres)

Radium Hot Springs to the west. The park is accessible on foot or horseback via logging roads and trails to 6 trailheads. All mechanized access is forbidden, and there are no campgrounds or other park services in the park.[2][3][4] The Great Divide Trail passes through the park.[5]

The park is an Alpine environment with forested bottomland. It includes several lakes, the Palliser River valley, the Middle Fork of the White River, and the Royal Group of mountains.[6] It encompasses 26 peaks over 3,000 metres (9,800 ft).[4] The highest peak, Mount Joffre (3,449 metres (11,316 ft)), is on the border with Alberta. There are seven important mountain passes.[2]

Wildlife

The park is important habitat for wildlife, in particular grizzly bears, and also contains large numbers of black bears, moose, mule deer, bighorn sheep, timber wolves, and cougars. There are more than 2,000 elk and one of the highest densities of mountain goats in the world.[2][3][4][7][8] Cutthroat trout are plentiful in many lakes and streams and are taken from the park for the Kootenay native species stocking program.[2][3] Hunting, trapping, and fishing are permitted at controlled levels.[2][3]

The park is at one end of the Southern Rocky Mountain Management Plan, aimed at coordinating ecosystem preservation and providing wildlife corridors, in particular for grizzly bears.[9][10][11] Also to provide more comprehensive protection of the environment and wildlife habitat, British Columbia has considered asking the United Nations to add Height of the Rockies and 5 other provincial parks to the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site.[12]

History

The passes through what is now the park were used by the

Kootenai Indians and by mid-19th-century European explorers. Two archaeological sites over 8,000 years old have been identified on the Middle Fork of the White River.[2][3]

A national park was proposed early in the 20th century. In 1936 the White River Game Reserve was established. However, construction of logging roads and clearcutting became so extensive in the Southern Canadian Rockies that by 1986, the area that is now the park had become the last major refuge for wildlife in the region. Two provincial environmental organisations, BC Spaces for Nature and the Palliser Wilderness Society, with guide outfitter Hiram Cody Tegart, led a campaign to protect it permanently by making it a wilderness park, and in 1987, after a twelve-year process of negotiation between government, conservationists, hunting guides and outfitters, and logging companies, it became the first Forest Wilderness Area in British Columbia.[13][14][15][16] In 1995 it became a Class A Provincial Park.[2][3][17] It was part of the Kootenays regional plan, which created 16 new provincial parks and sought to protect both logging jobs and wilderness areas.[18]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Protected Planet | Height Of The Rockies Park". Protected Planet. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Height of the Rockies Provincial Park, BC Parks, retrieved 21 June 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Height of the Rockies Provincial Park, The Kootenay Rockies Region, BC Spaces for Nature, retrieved 21 June 2012.
  4. ^
    ISBN 9780921102748, p. 52
    .
  5. ISBN 9781894765893, pp. 111–12
    .
  6. ISBN 9781894765794, p. 204
    .
  7. ISBN 9780898865677, p. 131
    .
  8. ISBN 9781897522516, p. 161
    .
  9. ISBN 9780772643483, pp. 898–99 (pdf pp. 4–5
    ).
  10. ISBN 9780969933861
    , pdf p. 7.
  11. ISBN 9780762726028, p. 182
    .
  12. ^ Ashley Wiebe, Parks Canada looking to expand heritage sites, iNews880, 22 November 2009.
  13. ISBN 9780774806695, p. 250 and note 55, pp. 399–400
    .
  14. ^ Rich Landers, "Elk Beyond the Bootprints: A hunter's primer to Northwest Wilderness Areas", Field & Stream Far West edition, n.d., pp. 78–79, p. 79.
  15. ISBN 9780898869835, pp. 95–96
    .
  16. ISBN 9781894384520, p. 230
    .
  17. ^ Careless, p. 146; review in Nature Canada volumes 26–27 (1997) p. 109.
  18. ISBN 9780802036735, p. 181
    .

Further reading

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Height_of_the_Rockies_Provincial_Park&oldid=1219860181"