The Caribou Mountains are a mountain range in

Northern Alberta Northern Alberta is a geographic region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. An informally defined cultural region, the boundaries of Northern Alberta are not fixed. Under some schemes, the region encompasses everything north of the cent ...

, Canada, surrounding a saucer-shaped elevated plateau that rises above the surrounding lowlands. The Caribou Mountains reach an elevation of up to , making them the highest in northern Alberta. They rise north of the lower

Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in th ...

and are bounded to the north and east by

Wood Buffalo National Park Wood Buffalo National Park is the largest National Parks of Canada, national park of Canada at . It is located in northeastern Alberta and the southern Northwest Territories. Larger in area than Switzerland, it is the second-largest national park ...

. The area was unglaciated during the last glacial period. Because of their unique environment, the Caribou Mountains Wildland Park () was created in 2001 as part of the Special Places program. The largest provincial wildland park in the province, its fragile ecosystem contains sensitive

wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

, permafrost habitat and rich bird breeding habitat. "A population of up to 120

wood bison The wood bison (''Bison bison athabascae'') or mountain bison (often called the wood buffalo or mountain buffalo), is a distinct northern subspecies or ecotype of the American bison. Its original range included much of the boreal forest regions ...

, an endangered species, lives in the Wentzel Lake area in small groups of up to 15 animals."

Geography

The region is an upland region surrounded by lowlands, but both are forested and are considered part of the

Boreal Plains Ecozone The Boreal Plains Ecozone, as defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), is a terrestrial ecozone in the western Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. It also has minor extensions into northeastern British ...

by the

Commission for Environmental Cooperation The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC; es, Comisión para la Cooperación Ambiental; french: Commission de coopération environnementale) was established by Canada, Mexico, and the United States to implement the North American Agree ...

and the

Mid-Continental Canadian forests The Mid-Continental Canadian forests are a taiga ecoregion of Western Canada, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system. Setting This ecoregion extends from south of the Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories throug ...

by the

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wo ...

Boreal woodland caribou

"The Park contains relatively undisturbed and lichen-rich forests, favoured habitat for

woodland caribou Woodland caribou may refer to two North American reindeer (''Rangifer tarandus'') populations: * Boreal woodland caribou The boreal woodland caribou (''Rangifer tarandus caribou''; but subject to a recent taxonomic revision. See Reindeer: taxon ...

. About 80 percent of the range of an important population of woodland caribou is contained within the Park, and about a third of Alberta's population of this threatened species is dependent on the Park."

Citations

References

* Mountain ranges of Alberta Northern Alberta Physiographic regions of Canada {{NorthernAlberta-geo-stub

Geography

Boreal woodland caribou

See also

Citations

References