Elk Island National Park / Beaver Hills

About half an hour's drive east of Edmonton, the Yellowhead Highway 16 traverses the park-like landscape of the Beaver Hills, an area once teeming with game. Today this oasis of unspoilt countryside is Elk Island National Park with its sparsely wooded hills, hidden lakes, beaver dams, grassland and moose.

The Beaver Hills area was originally the tribal home of the Sarcee Indians. They were driven out by the Crees who came hunting beaver and buffalo pelts for sale to the large fur-trading companies. By the close of the 19th c. these animals had been hunted virtually to extinction in the region. The Cree Indians were followed by white settlers who had to toil hard to survive here. In 1913 Elk Island was declared a Dominion Park, and later - after being extended several times - acquired National Park status as Elk Island National Park. The main attraction of Elk Island National Park is the large herd of buffalo (bison) which graze over a special enclosure. Anyone driving slowly along the road through the park cannot fail to catch sight of one of these massive shaggy beasts. A second herd of the somewhat smaller wood buffalo is kept in another enclosure south of the Yellowhead Highway. Many of the wood buffalo seen in zoos throughout the world have been bred from this herd.

Although almost wiped out by the start of the 20th c., some Beaver Hills buffalo, having escaped the hunters, are thought to have been captured in 1909 and placed in a reserve of their own. These are the forebears of the animals now living in Elk Island National Park.