Riding Mountain
National Park of Canada
On July 26, 1933, Riding Mountain National Park of Canada was officially dedicated. This 3000 km2 Manitoba park is a meeting place of wetlands with a large prairie-grass-meets-boreal-forest set of ecosystems.
As part of one of UNESCO’s Biosphere Reserves, Riding Mountain is committed to conservation and sustainable resource use.
The park has shared grassland grazing with domestic and wild herds and strives to foster and encourage a sustainable community-based regional economy and eco-tourism with high biodiversity.
From cross-country ski trails and winter camping to summer hiking, cycling, and backcountry camping on foot or on horseback, this is one of the strong and free parts of the North. The rough fescue grasses provide the food as the buffalo roam. Elks bugle from one of the largest elk herds in Canada. Moose call. And where there are ungulates, there are ungulate-weeding wildlife like wolves and black bears.
Riding Mountain provides its range of trails rated by difficulty. For the tenderfoot, park staff members and volunteers hold learn-to-camp weekends that encompass how to pitch a tent and cook responsibly outdoors. Young Naturalist and Explorer programs along with Citizen Science programs run on a regular timetable, usually lead by a researcher/scientist who might deal with topics from how to monitor water quality or invasive species to how to spot one of the hundreds of bird species that live or travel through wetlands, prairie, or forest.
BTW – Did you know that black bears here are dandelion snackers?
B Bondar / Real World Content Advantage