This Underrated Canadian National Park Appears In John Wayne’s Most Iconic American Western

Canada’s many wonderful nationwide parks defend among the most vital pure websites in North America. Probably the most well-known Canadian nationwide parks are positioned inside the attractive Canadian Rockies, with iconic locations like Banff Nationwide Park simply taking the title of “crown jewel” of the Canadian Nationwide Park System. Banff, although, will not be proof against the results of extra reputation. Not too long ago, crowds within the park have gotten to the purpose the place Banff officials are advising advanced shuttle booking to see the park’s famed Lake Louise and Moraine Lake.

Space

9.98 million sq. kilometers (3.85 million sq. miles)

Inhabitants

35,000,000

Such penalties of overtourism might compel vacationers to hunt various locations. Elsewhere in Canada’s Mountain West, you have got different spectacular nationwide parks like Alberta’s Jasper National Park (featuring the largest lake in the Canadian Rockies) and British Columbia’s scenic lake and mountain paradise of Yoho National Park. Nevertheless, not each worthwhile Canadian nationwide park is discovered inside the mountains. Additional east, within the coronary heart of Alberta’s flat prairies (although just half an hour from Edmonton), sits the underrated however indispensable Elk Island National Park.

Although it lacks the spectacular mountain peaks of different nationwide parks additional west, Elk Island is a chic ecological wonderland that serves as the right illustration of the unsung fantastic thing about Canada’s Prairie Provinces. Extra importantly, Elk Island has performed an important function within the preservation of one among North America’s most iconic land animals. And in case you’re a fan of basic Westerns, you might even acknowledge Elk Island from a number of scenes in one among John Wayne’s most legendary movies.

Elk Island Nationwide Park Might Be Canada’s Greatest Nature Protect

The identify “Elk Island” most likely conjures up pictures of, effectively, elk. And the park does certainly have sizable populations of elk, notably inside its woodland areas. But it’s a fair bigger sort of North American megafauna that makes Elk Island such an vital pure protect. All through the twentieth Century and into the current day, Elk Island Nationwide Park was one of the vital areas for the conservation and re-population of American bison.

These days, bison, although nonetheless uncommon, have made a formidable sufficient return from the brink of extinction to populate a lot of North America’s greatest park websites. Along with the famed bison populations in locations like Yellowstone, there are also plenty of underrated parks in the United States where you can see bison herds. However this wasn’t all the time the case, and Elk Island Nationwide Park performed a serious function in altering the bison’s fortunes for the higher.

Following a century’s value of extreme looking and habitat destruction, the American bison was catastrophically near extinction on the flip of the twentieth Century. Nevertheless, between 1907 and 1912, the Canadian government purchased one of the few remaining bison herds and despatched them on a practice journey to what’s as we speak Elk Island Nationwide Park.

Right here, within the pristine wilderness of Alberta’s prairies, the bison herd not solely survived, however thrived. Protected inside the wealthy atmosphere of Elk Island and Parks Canada, the park’s bison herd grew to become a significant factor within the general comeback story of the American bison later within the twentieth Century. Most of the park’s bison have even been sent around the world to assist additional the species’ survival.

At present, Elk Island Nationwide Park is maybe the best place in Canada to see plains bison in the wild. And along with its resident plains bison, Elk Island can also be dwelling to another, rarer subspecies called the wood bison. Plus, the park additionally protects different outstanding examples of North American megafauna, together with its namesake elk, moose, and bears.

Elk Island’s Pure Magnificence Made Its Manner To Film Screens

Elk Island Nationwide Park boasts fairly a little bit of significance in terms of wildlife conservation. Nevertheless, Elk Island will not be solely notable for science nerds and animal lovers; the park has a little bit of pop-culture significance as effectively.

In line with many movie buffs, the 1956 epic film The Searchers often is the biggest Western ever made. Directed by the legendary John Ford and starring the much more legendary John Wayne, The Searchers was a crucial and business smash, and, for a lot of, serves because the consultant instance of a basic Western movie.

Being set primarily in West Texas, The Searchers was largely filmed in each Hollywood studios and a few iconic settings within the American Southwest. Like many John Ford motion pictures, The Searchers makes use of the famed Monument Valley between Arizona and Utah as a serious set piece, reinforcing the valley’s iconic East and West Mitten Buttes as the two most famous buttes in the world. However whereas many of the movie’s capturing areas have been within the American Southwest, Elk Island Nationwide Park up in Canada performed a small however important function as effectively.

Since bison (or buffalo, as up to date information name them) function prominently in most of the movie’s scenes, manufacturing wanted capturing areas that had giant bison populations. And since Elk Island was one of many few locations in North America that had giant bison populations within the Nineteen Fifties, the movie’s bison scenes were largely shot within the national park.

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Whereas John Wayne himself doubtless didn’t really go to the park, Elk Island’s resident bison did have a starring function in lots of scenes. The park’s superintendent even sent letters to the production staff in Hollywood detailing the dos and don’ts of applicable bison security. And whereas Elk Island performed a comparatively small function within the general manufacturing of the movie, this was sufficient to afford it the excellence of being one of many few nationwide parks in Canada to function in one of many biggest motion pictures of all time.

Elk Island Nationwide Park Is Wealthy In Recreation

Elk Island Nationwide Park’s roles in wildlife conservation and Hollywood historical past are definitely attention-grabbing. But the park additionally occurs to be one among Canada’s most underrated locations for unforgettable outdoor adventures and fun recreation. Because of the comparatively flat terrain of Alberta’s prairies, Elk Island affords much less challenging hiking trails than Rocky Mountains parks like Banff or Jasper, with out sacrificing lovely surroundings. The park’s Wood Bison Trail is, as you will have guessed, a superb route for seeing the genuine wooden bison within the wild.

The better Beaver Pond Trail is likewise an amazing route for seeing plains bison, in addition to moose, waterfowl, and (sure) beavers. Most of the park’s different trails provide peaceable strolls round attractive lakes, or extra exhilarating treks via unadulterated prairie forests, relying in your preferences.

Surprisingly, although it sits within the coronary heart of a landlocked province, Elk Island Nationwide Park additionally has some great beaches for swimming. The park’s Astotin Lake has a chosen swimming space, boat launches, picnic shelters, washrooms, and even a golf course.

For in a single day stays, Elk Island Nationwide Park additionally has excellent campsites at Astotin Lake, plus a backcountry tenting space at Oster Lake. So, whether or not you wish to get pleasure from a peaceable day on a seashore or golf course, or tough it within the pristine backcountry wilderness, Elk Island Nationwide Park affords the very best alternatives for exploring the underrated fantastic thing about Canada’s prairies, with loads of bison thrown in.