Height of the Rockies Provincial Park is a

provincial park Ischigualasto Provincial Park A provincial park (or territorial park) is a park administered by one of the provinces of a country, as opposed to a national park. They are similar to state parks in other countries. They are typically open to the ...

in the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part ...

of south eastern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is located west of the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

(in this region, the British Columbia/

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Border), adjacent to

Elk Lakes Provincial Park Elk Lakes Provincial Park is a provincial park in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, located west of the continental divide (the British Columbia/Alberta border). It is located adjacent to Height of the Rockies Provincial Park and is about 1 ...

Description and access

The park comprises Height of the Rockies Provincial Park
BC Parks, retrieved 21 June 2012. in

East Kootenay The Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) is a regional district in the Canadian province of British Columbia, Canada. In the 2016 census, the population was 60,439. Its area is . The regional district offices are in Cranbrook, the larges ...

on the western side of the Continental Divide, which in this region forms the border between British Columbia and Alberta. It borders

, also in British Columbia, to which it is linked by a trail, and

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada's oldest National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous terrain, wi ...

and

Peter Lougheed Provincial Park Peter Lougheed Provincial Park is a provincial park located in Alberta, Canada. The park is in Kananaskis Country about west of Calgary, along the Kananaskis Trail. This park is within Alberta's Rocky Mountains. The park was originally named K ...

in Alberta.Height of the Rockies Provincial Park
The Kootenay Rockies Region, BC Spaces for Nature, retrieved 21 June 2012. The park lies east of

Invermere Invermere is a community in eastern British Columbia, Canada, near the border of Alberta. It is the hub of the Columbia Valley between Golden to the north and Cranbrook to the south. Invermere sits on the northwest shore of Windermere Lake an ...

; the closest communities are

Elkford Elkford is a district municipality in the southeast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia in the Rocky Mountain range. It is north of the junction at Sparwood, on provincial Highway 43. Outdoor recreational activities take place ...

to the south and

Canal Flats Canal Flats is a village municipality in the East Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. This Columbia Valley community lies between the southern end of Columbia Lake and the northwest shore of the Kootenay River. The locality, on High ...

and

Radium Hot Springs Radium Hot Springs, informally and commonly called Radium, is a village of 1,339 residents situated in the East Kootenay region of British Columbia. The village is named for the hot springs located in the nearby Kootenay National Park. From Ban ...

to the west. The park is accessible on foot or horseback via logging roads and trails to 6 trailheads. All mechanized access is forbidden, and there are no campgrounds or other park services in the park.Bob Hahn, ''Kootenay National Park'', Calgary: Rocky Mountain Books, 2000,
p. 52
The

Great Divide Trail The Great Divide Trail (GDT) is a wilderness hiking trail in the Canadian Rockies. The trail closely follows the Great Divide between Alberta and British Columbia, crossing the divide more than 30 times. Its southern terminus is in Waterton La ...

passes through the park. The park is an Alpine environment with forested bottomland. It includes several lakes, the Palliser River valley, the Middle Fork of the White River, and the Royal Group of mountains. It encompasses 26 peaks over . The highest peak,

Mount Joffre Mount Joffre is a mountain located on the Continental Divide, in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Alberta, and Elk Lakes and Height of the Rockies Provincial Parks in British Columbia. The mountain was named in 1918 by the Interprovincial Bou ...

(), is on the border with Alberta. There are seven important mountain passes.

Wildlife

The park is important habitat for wildlife, in particular

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...

s, and also contains large numbers of

black bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...

bighorn sheep The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns might weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspec ...

, timber wolves, and

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...

s. There are more than 2,000

elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

and one of the highest densities of

mountain goat The mountain goat (''Oreamnos americanus''), also known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is a hoofed mammal endemic to mountainous areas of western North America. A subalpine to alpine species, it is a sure-footed climber commonly seen on cliffs and ...

s in the world.

Cutthroat trout The cutthroat trout is a fish species of the family Salmonidae native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. As a member of the genus '' Oncorhynchus'', it is one of the Pacific tro ...

are plentiful in many lakes and streams and are taken from the park for the Kootenay native species stocking program. Hunting, trapping, and fishing are permitted at controlled levels. The park is at one end of the Southern Rocky Mountain Management Plan, aimed at coordinating ecosystem preservation and providing wildlife corridors, in particular for grizzly bears. Also to provide more comprehensive protection of the environment and wildlife habitat, British Columbia has considered asking the United Nations to add Height of the Rockies and 5 other provincial parks to the

Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site The Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site is located in the Canadian Rockies. It consists of seven contiguous parks including four national parks: * Banff *Jasper *Kootenay * Yoho and three British Columbia provincial parks: *Hamber ...

History

The passes through what is now the park were used by the Kootenai Indians and by mid-19th-century European explorers. Two archaeological sites over 8,000 years old have been identified on the Middle Fork of the White River. A national park was proposed early in the 20th century. In 1936 the White River Game Reserve was established. However, construction of logging roads and clearcutting became so extensive in the Southern Canadian Rockies that by 1986, the area that is now the park had become the last major refuge for wildlife in the region. Two provincial environmental organisations, BC Spaces for Nature and the Palliser Wilderness Society, with guide outfitter Hiram Cody Tegart, led a campaign to protect it permanently by making it a wilderness park, and in 1987, after a twelve-year process of negotiation between government, conservationists, hunting guides and outfitters, and logging companies, it became the first Forest Wilderness Area in British Columbia. In 1995 it became a Class A Provincial Park. It was part of the Kootenays regional plan, which created 16 new provincial parks and sought to protect both logging jobs and wilderness areas.David Leyton-Brown, ''Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs, 1995'', Toronto: University of Toronto, 2002,
p. 181

References

External links

Height of the Rockies brochure from campaign to save the area
The Palliser Wilderness Society * {{DEFAULTSORT:Height Of The Rockies Provincial Park Provincial parks of British Columbia Provincial and state parks in the Rocky Mountains Parks in the Regional District of East Kootenay Parks in the Canadian Rockies 1995 establishments in British Columbia Protected areas established in 1995

Description and access

Wildlife

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links