Waterton Glacier International Peace Park

Waterton Glacier International Peace Park

Waterton National Park covers 526 square kilometers, while Glacier National Park spans 4,051 square kilometers. The Lewis Range runs through both parks, featuring many classic glacial lakes, stunning alpine scenery, and abundant flora and fauna. Most peaks in the park exceed 10,000 feet in elevation, including nearly 50 glaciers, many lakes, and streams.

Proposed in 1931 by Alberta (a province in western Canada) and Montana, Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta and Glacier National Park in Montana were combined to form the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.

This was done not only to promote friendly relations between the two countries and share the benefits that would arise, but also to emphasize the international significance of pristine natural environments and the necessary cooperation required to protect them.

The parks are home to a diverse range of flora and fauna, naturally supporting large mammalian carnivores such as wolves, bears, and mountain lions. Waterton National Park is the only place within the contiguous United States where wolves, bears, and mountain lions naturally thrive. The parks boast a wealth of wildflowers and wildlife, including bighorn sheep and bald eagles. The area has been designated as a biosphere reserve due to its status as a prime example of a geological process, encompassing extraordinary natural phenomena and rich in both information and scenic beauty.

Waterton National Park has been inscribed on the World Heritage List. Situated at the narrowest point of the Rocky Mountains and spanning the U.S.-Canada border, the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park exemplifies the belief that natural resources know no borders — there is no official boundary line between the two parks in this region. The natural ecosystems of these two national parks are worthy of careful preservation, featuring high mountains and deep valleys, forested belts and grasslands, as well as deep glacial trough lakes and rivers that feed into three oceans.

In fact, it is quite rare for such a concentration of diverse ecological environments to exist within a single region. Moreover, the rapid elevation rise from the gentle prairie lands to the Rocky Mountains makes this national park a place where “the mountains meet the prairie.” The distribution of wildlife here corresponds to the variation in terrain, with species such as mountain goats, bighorn sheep, mule deer, coyotes, grizzly bears, black bears, over twenty species of birds, and the famous “international” elk herd. This elk population migrates annually, spending summers in the mountainous areas of Glacier National Park and returning to the prairies of Waterton in winter. Indigenous peoples have lived in this region for 12,000 years, and the park still preserves reserves that hold significant importance to the earliest nations in the area.

In fact, the International Peace Park has become a park shared by three nations: Canada, the United States, and the Blackfoot Confederacy.