Wood Buffalo National Park

Infobox_protected_area | name = Wood Buffalo National Park
iucn_category = II

---

caption = Location of "Wood Buffalo National Park"
locator_x = 72
locator_y = 128
location = Alberta & Northwest Territories, Canada
nearest_city = Fort Smith
lat_degrees = 59
lat_minutes = 23
lat_seconds = 27
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 112
long_minutes = 59
long_seconds = 11
long_direction = W
area = 44,807 km²
established = 1922
visitation_num =
visitation_year =
governing_body = Parks Canada
world_heritage_site = 1983Infobox World Heritage Site
Name = Wood Buffalo National Park


imagecaption=
State Party = CAN
Type = Natural
Criteria = vii, ix, x
ID = 256
Link = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/256
Region = Europe and North America
Coordinates =
Year = 1983
Session = 7th
Extension =
Danger =

Wood Buffalo National Park, located in northeastern Alberta and southern Northwest Territories, is the largest national park in Canada at 44,807 km². The park was established in 1922 to protect the world's largest herd of free roaming Wood Bison, currently estimated at more than 5,000. It is the only known nesting site of whooping cranes.

The park ranges in elevation from 183 metres (600') at the Little Buffalo River to 945 metres (3,100') in the Caribou Mountains. The park headquarters is located in Fort Smith, with a smaller satellite office in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta. The park contains one of the world's largest fresh water deltas, formed by the Peace, Athabasca and Slave Rivers. It is also known for its karst sinkholes on the Northwest Territory side. The national park is also located directly north of the Athabasca Oil Sands.

Conservation

Wood Buffalo National Park contains a large variety of wildlife species, such as moose, black bear, wolf, lynx, brown bear, snowshoe hare, sandhill crane, Wood Buffalo, ruffed grouse, and the garter snake, which form famous communal dens within the park.

Wood Buffalo Park contains the only natural nesting habitat for the critically endangered whooping crane. Known as Whooping Crane Summer Range, it is classified as a Ramsar site. It was identified through the International Biological Program. The range is a complex of contiguous water bodies, primarily lakes and various wetlands, such as marshes and bogs, but also includes streams and ponds.

World Heritage Site

This area was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 for the biological diversity of the Peace-Athabasca Delta, the world's largest inland delta, as well as the massive population of wild bison.

Transportation

Year-round access is available to Fort Smith by road on the Mackenzie Highway, which connects to Highway 5 near Hay River, Northwest Territories. Commercial flights are available to Fort Smith and Fort Chipewyan from Edmonton. [ [http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nt/woodbuffalo/visit/visit1_E.asp Parks Canada - Wood Buffalo National Park of Canada - How to Get There ] ] Winter access is also available using winter and ice roads from Fort McMurray through Fort Chipewyan.

Gallery

ee also

*National Parks of Canada
*List of National Parks of Canada
*List of Northwest Territories parks

References

External links

* [http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nt/woodbuffalo/index_E.asp Parks Canada web site]
* [http://whc.unesco.org/sites/256.htm Park at UNESCO World Heritage Site]
* [http://greatcanadianparks.com/alberta/woodbufnp/index.htm Great Canadian Parks]
* [http://www.iucn.org/bookstore/HTML-books/BP4%20-%20Indigenous_and_Traditional_Peoples_and_Protected_%20Areas/casestudy4.html Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada] (IUCN)