Elk Island National Park

Elk Island is small, entirely fenced and unusually consequential. A herd of plains bison bought from a Montana rancher was brought here in 1907 when the species was nearly gone, and because the park is enclosed and disease-free, its animals have since been shipped out to restart herds across North America and as far as Russia, making this one of the most important bison conservation sites anywhere. Wood bison are kept separately on the south side of the highway to keep the two subspecies apart. The aspen parkland here is dense with beaver ponds and lakes, elk and moose are common, and the park is a Dark Sky Preserve within an hour of a city of a million people.

History

The Beaver Hills, with their aspen thickets and easy water, sheltered wintering herds of elk, bison and moose, and although there was never a permanent Indigenous settlement here, more than 200 campsites and stone tool-making sites have been found, in country used by the Blackfoot, Sarcee and Cree. Commercial hunting had all but eliminated the beaver by the 1830s and the large hoofed animals by the 1860s; after a fire in 1894 the area became the Cooking Lake Forest Reserve in 1899, and in 1906 five men from Fort Saskatchewan put up $5000 and petitioned the federal government for an elk sanctuary, which gained federal park status in 1913 and became a national park under the National Parks Act of 1930 (Wikipedia, Elk Island National Park).

What you'll find

• Plains and wood bison - kept separately, both descended from founding herds.
• The dark sky preserve - unusually dark for somewhere so close to a city.
• Astotin Lake - the main lake with trails, canoeing and a beach.
• Aspen parkland - beaver ponds, elk and moose in a rare habitat type.

When to go

May to September for wildlife and trails, with the bison most visible in the open in early morning and evening. Autumn is the elk rut, which is loud and worth timing for. Winter brings the clearest dark sky nights and cross-country skiing.

Things to know

It is small and can be seen in a day, and visitors expecting mountain scenery will find flat aspen woodland and ponds. Bison are dangerous and the roadside viewing tempts people out of their cars; keep well back, particularly in the rut. Mosquitoes in June and July are severe. Wood bison viewing is far less reliable than plains bison.

Nearby

Edmonton is 45 minutes west; the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village is adjacent.

Key facts