Willmore Wilderness Park
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Willmore Wilderness Park
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 Mount DeVeber |
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| location | Alberta (Canada) | |
| surface | 4597 km² | |
| WDPA ID | 18625 | |
| Geographical location | 53 ° 42 ' N , 119 ° 3' W | |
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| Setup date | 1959 | |
| administration | Alberta Parks | |
Willmore Wilderness Park is a nature reserve administered by Alberta Municipal Affairs on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains .
The park was created in 1959 and named after former provincial government minister Norman A. Willmore.
The 4,597 km² protected area is located immediately north of the much more easily accessible Jasper National Park , and there are other protected areas of various types in the other directions:
- Kakwa Wildland Park (north)
- Kakwa Provincial Park and Protected Area (west, in British Columbia )
- Rock Lake-Solomon Creek Wildland Park (southeast)
The park reaches a height of about 300 m in the valley of the Smoky River, the summit regions rise up to 3216 m (Mount Bess), Resthaven Icefield and Chown Glacier are in the border region to Jasper National Park.
There is no direct access to the park, motorized traffic is not permitted, so access is only possible on foot, by horse, ski, canoe or mountain bike. Apart from a few ranger stations, which can also be used by visitors, the park does not offer any tourist infrastructure; the most important access point is Grande Cache on the Bighorn Route .
The park is home to a fifth of all bighorn sheep found in Alberta and significant populations of mountain goats , grizzlies , mountain caribou , elk , pumas and wolves . White-tailed deer , mule deer , black bear , lynx , wolverine and coyote are also common in the subalpine areas ; the alpine region, on the other hand, is home to marmots , whistle hares and ptarmigan . There are also other small mammals and birds .
The trees are largely made up of white spruce , coastal pine , balsam fir and aspen .
There are also several culturally and historically interesting sites on the grounds of the park, for example a natives cemetery on the Big Grave Flats or some hard coal mines from the pioneering days.