Peter Lougheed Provincial Park
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Peter Lougheed Provincial Park
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 The Upper Lake in the north of the park |
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| location | Alberta (Canada) | |
| surface | 501.42 km² | |
| WDPA ID | 64957 | |
| Geographical location | 50 ° 42 ′ N , 115 ° 11 ′ W | |
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| Setup date | September 22, 1977 | |
The Peter Lougheed Provincial Park is a 501.42 square kilometers large nature park in the southwest of the Canadian province of Alberta , on the border with British Columbia . It is part of a larger park system in the Rocky Mountains west of Calgary , the so-called Kananaskis Country . The core of the park, which is also Alberta's largest provincial park , is formed by the area around two large lakes, Upper Kananaskis Lake and Lower Kananaskis Lake , i.e. Upper and Lower Kananaskis Lake. In the west, also in Alberta, is the Elbow-Sheep Wildland Provincial Park , in the north the Spray Valley Provincial Park and in the northwest the Banff National Park . Beyond the border with British Columbia, the park is immediately adjacent to the Elk Lakes Provincial Park to the south and the Height of the Rockies Provincial Park to the southwest .
The park is an IUCN Category II ( National Park ) protected area .
Surname
The park is named after Peter Lougheed , who was Prime Minister of the Province of Alberta from 1971 to 1985. Before it was renamed, the park was called Kananaskis Provincial Park .
Geology and landform
The mountain formations in the region lie between 1,600 m at the bottom of the Kananaskis Valley and over 3,000 m along the series of peaks of the continental divide (Great Divide), the watershed between the east and the west of North America.
Jagged rocks and elongated ridges made of limestone , dolomite and slate are predominant. There are also outcrops of sandstone , siltstone and coal . Several large thrusts can be seen.
Significant fossil remains have been discovered at 3218 m high Mount Rae , which lies across the eastern border of the park. Folding processes can be verified on Mount Foch at 3,180 m and at Mount Sarrail at 3,173 m in Peter Lougheed Park. The park contains 23 glaciers , many U-shaped valleys, basins , moraines and other glacial phenomena . Numerous landslides and rock slides can be documented, such as on Mount Palliser , where 8 million m³ slipped, and on Mount Indefatigable (2670 m). There is permafrost at Ptarmigan Cirque and Mount Sparrowhawk (3,121 m).
Investigations of the soil revealed five soil types in the park, namely Alfisol ( stored on well-draining, raw till under coniferous forest ), brown earth (Brunisol; on well-draining press hills under coniferous forest vegetation), Regosol , plus organic deposits and gleye .
Flora and fauna
Coastal pine ( Pinus contorta ) can be found in the lower-lying areas of the park , due to forest fires in 1858, 1890, 1904 and 1920. In contrast, alpine fir species and Engelmann spruce dominate the higher elevations . In the valleys and lower slopes, major forest fires have occurred roughly every 150 years.
Wooded wetlands are dominated in the lower elevations by coastal pines, Englemann spruces and sub-alpine fir species. Willows grow in a few areas , but mostly American bush birch (bog birch), lower willows, sour grasses and mosses dominate. The bush level is dominated by buffaloberries , which are extremely important for the bears. The higher regions are in turn dominated by pastures. At the tree line, alpine fir species and larch forests predominate, especially on the northeast slopes. These include the approximately 700 year old larch forests in the Maude Lawson and Little Highwood areas.
At the northern end of King Creek gorge, the King Creek Gorge, in the lower slope area of Mount Indefatigable and on the north shore of Upper Kananaskis Lake, there are three isolated stands of Douglas fir , as well as on the south and east sides of the Kananaskis Range. Scattered stocks of West American larch can be found on the southwestern shore of Upper Kananaskis Lake and in the inter-lake area.
There is alpine vegetation above 2300 m. Lichen- covered rocks, mat-like vegetation, meadows , bushes and crooked wood predominate here.
Wallis et al. (1987) and Brunton (1978 and 1979) created lists of rare species for the first time. The ungulates include the more common mule deer and the less common white-tailed deer , wapitis (elk); in smaller numbers also moose , bighorn sheep , (especially around Opal and Misty Ranges, but also in the Kananaskis Range, especially in the French Valley, in the Burstall and in the Upper Kananaskis River Valley), and maybe 100 to 120 mountain goats . Large carnivores include the puma (cougar) and wolf , as well as smaller species such as wolverine , Canadian lynx and coyote . The alpine and sub-alpine species include marmots , ochotona (pika) and Urocitellus columbianus (Columbian gound squirrel), and gold- mantled ground squirrel .
The number of grizzly bears in Kananaskis Country was estimated at 50 to 75 (as of 2006), with the park being of great importance for reproduction. Since the bears migrate into the valleys in July and August in search of buffaloberries, there are frequent encounters with people. Therefore, the Kananaskis Country Bear Management Plan was launched. Black bears and wolves are also common.
history
The Kananaskis valley was built no later than 6000 BC. Visited by humans, as can be proven at several sites along Highway 40. In the area of the Eau Claire campsite in the neighboring Spray Valley Provincial Park , continuous use over seven millennia has been demonstrated. Various groups from far and wide, for example from Idaho , hiked through the region in the summer. That was also true of First Nations members from British Columbia (probably Kootenai and Inland Salish ) who also came here to trade. In 1977 there were already 53 known sites in Peter Lougheed Park. Stoney (Nakoda) have sought out hunting and gathering, ceremonies and vision searches in the area since the 17th century. In the 17th century, the glaciers expanded significantly during the Little Ice Age ; they often reached their maximum extent - as the remaining moraines show. Another phase of expansion followed in the early 18th century. However, there is little evidence of this; in contrast to the expansion phase in the middle of the 19th century, from which most of the moraines come. Since then, the glaciers have been retreating.
From 1854 a first European expedition under James Sinclair penetrated the area either via the southern Kananaskis or the Elk Pass. John Palliser led a scientific expedition in 1858. George Dawson of the Geological Survey of Canada surveyed the region in 1881 and 1884; a more extensive investigation followed in 1903.
Power generation through reservoirs and wood production were soon in the foreground. Up until 1969, gypsum was extracted from the tree line at Mount Invincible , where trees were planted again in 1991. Roads have been laid since the 1980s so that tourists can more easily reach the region. Fur Management Areas as both are also in the spray Valley Park in the Peter-Lougheed- trapping rules.
literature
- Peter Lougheed & Spray Valley Provincial Parks. Management Plan , April 2006, issued by the Alberta Government. ( online, PDF )
- Jennifer Bidlake Schroeder: A User Study in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. A Look at Recreational Use and Perceptions , PhD, University of Calgary 1999. ( online )
- Daniel J. Smith, Daniel P. McCarthy, Margaret E. Colenutt: Little Ice Age glacial activity in Peter Lougheed and Elk Lakes provincial parks, Canadian Rocky Mountains , in: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 32.5 (1995) 579-589.
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ World Database on Protected Areas - Peter Lougheed Provincial Park (English)
- ↑ M. Sturzeneggera, D. Stead: The Palliser Rockslide, Canadian Rocky Mountains: Characterization and modeling of a stepped failure surface , in: Geomorphology 138.1 (2012) 145-161. Actually, there are two prehistoric events that took place around 10,000 ± 1200 and 7,700 ± 800 BP respectively (Matthieu Sturzenegger, Doug Stead, John Gosse, Brent Ward, Corey Froese: Reconstruction of the history of the Palliser Rockslide based on 36Cl terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide dating and debris volume estimations , in: Landslides , Springer, 2014).