Grasslands National Park

關於

Grasslands National Park is a Canadian national park located near the village of Val Marie, Saskatchewan, and one of 44 national parks and park reserves in Canada's national park system (though one of only two in Saskatchewan itself). This national park is north of the U.S. state of Montana and lies adjacent to the international boundary. It consists of two separate parcels, the East Block and West Block.

The park was established in 1981. Prior to this the province's only national park was Prince Albert National Park. Grasslands annually receives about 12,000 visitors.

Grasslands National Park represents the Prairie Grasslands natural region, protecting one of the nation's few remaining areas of undisturbed dry mixed-grass/shortgrass prairie grassland. The park is located in the World Wildlife Fund-defined Northern short grasslands ecoregion, which spans much of southern Saskatchewan, southern Alberta, and the northern Great Plains states in the US. The unique landscape and harsh, semi-arid climate provide niches for several adapted plants and animals. The park and surrounding area house the country's only black-tailed prairie dog colonies. Fauna found in the park include bison, pronghorn, greater sage-grouse, common pheasant, burrowing owl, coyote, ferruginous hawk, swift fox, prairie rattlesnake, black-footed ferret, eastern yellow-bellied racer, and greater short-horned lizard. Flora includes blue grama grass, needlegrass, plains cottonwood and silver sagebrush. Of the top 10 bird species that are most unique to Saskatchewan, eight of these are regularly found within the park — notably Baird's sparrow, lark bunting, and greater sage-grouse, each of which are >25 times more likely to be found in Saskatchewan than in the rest of Canada.

內容改寫自 Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。照片來自 Wikimedia Commons.