Woodbuffalo
Dedicated travelers know the experience of setting out on the road loaded with supplies, coffee in hand, sun glasses on, and heading into remote areas of wilderness that humankind has not fouled or blemished.
Located in Alberta's vast boreal north country, Wood Buffalo National Park is Canada's largest national park and, in fact, one of the largest in the world. It was established way back in 1922 by a progressive government led by Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, to protect the last remaining herds of bison in northern Canada. Today the park is a UNESCO World Heritage site and supports and protects many unique natural and cultural resources - from diverse ecosystems and rare species to the traditional activities of Aboriginal residents.
Natural / Geological Heritage
Within Canada's system of national parks, Wood Buffalo National Park is home to representative examples of Northern Boreal Plain, Southern Boreal Plain, and Northwestern Boreal Upland geography. The majority of the park is within the Northern Boreal Plains natural region.
International Significance
In 1983, the park became the eighth site in Canada to be granted World Heritage status by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Being included on this list confirms that a cultural or historic site deserves protection for the benefit of all humanity. This is largely because the area is home to one of the largest free-roaming and self-regulating bison herds in the world; is the last remaining natural nesting area for the endangered whooping crane, it encompasses the Peace-Athabasca Delta - one of the largest inland freshwater deltas in the world, and it protects a unique salt plains and vast undisturbed expanses of boreal wilderness – all factors that led to it's designation as a UNESCO site.
Further to this, in 1982, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), acknowledged that Wood Buffalo, and the Peace-Athabasca at large, was home to two wetland areas that were of international significance — the Peace-Athabasca Delta and an ecologically sensitive whooping crane nesting area. As such, The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands were quick to follow suit, designating the park a critical habitat for migratory birds and a major nesting and staging area for migratory waterfowl in North America.
Cultural History
In order to conserve and protect the bison herds that were indigenous to the area, Plains Bison were shipped to the park from Wainwright, Alberta, between 1925 and 1928. The imported bison promptly moved south of the Peace River into the Peace-Athabasca Delta area. In 1926 the park boundaries were expanded to include this new bison range. Today, Wood Buffalo National Park is home to one of the largest free-roaming, self-regulating bison herds in the world.
Aboriginal people have also inhabited the Wood Buffalo region for more than 8000 years. When Europeans moved through the here in the 1700s, they encountered the Beaver, Slavey and Chipewyan First Nations. The Beaver and Slavey First Nations left the area as the fur trade grew insidious and continued to move west. Today the communities around the park are mostly made up of Cree, Chipewyan, Metis.
Subsistence hunting, fishing and trapping still occur in Wood Buffalo National Park, as they have for centuries, and commercial trapping continues as a legacy of the fur trade. It is recognized that traditional land and resource use by local Aboriginal groups is an important part of the park's cultural history.
In cooperation with Parks Canada Wood Buffalo Park and World Heritage Site