Glacier National Park, British Columbia, Canada

Edit text   |   Edit all fields

Representing the Columbia Mountains Natural Region of Canada, it encompasses part of the Selkirks and a small portion of the Purcell Ranges along the southeastern border of British Columbia. It is classified into four life zones - alpine tundra, alpine meadows, sub-alpine forest and interior rainforest. There are more than 400 glaciers pouring over the mountaintops, covering over 12% of the total park area with ice. Glacier Park was designated in 1886.

At 1349 square km, it is not a particularly large park, but it contains critical habitat for wide ranging mammals such as grizzly and black bears, mountain caribou and wolverines. Multi-agency animal studies from 1994-1999 will give scientists and park managers a better idea of the health and viability of wildlife populations in the Park.

The Selkirks are located in the heart of the Columbia Mountains, surrounded by the Purcells to the east, the Monashees to the west and the Cariboos to the north. The rock here is some of the oldest on the planet, formed as much as 800 million years ago, much older than the predominantly sedimentary faces exposed in the Rocky Mountains to the east. It is a complex geological mix of metamorphic, sedimentary and igneous rock, characterized by towering, sharply angled peaks and narrow, steep-walled valleys.

The combination of heavy snowfall and steep terrain makes the area prone to avalanches. The slide paths stretch from the tree line to the valley floor. It is estimated that at least 20% of Glacier National Park is subject to avalanches, with snow roaring down the mountains at speeds up to 325 km/hour.

Flora

As you move below 2200 m in elevation there are only a few trees, but a wide variety of hardy wild flowers that put on a brief but brilliant show from late July to early August, carpeting the alpine meadows with dazzling colour. Further down the mountain the sub-alpine forest takes over. The Engelmann spruce and mountain hemlock create a dense cover for animals in winter, and are draped in the old man's beard lichen which is the caribou's winter staple.

In the valley bottoms, we find groves of old growth cedar and hemlock. Known as the Interior Rainforest, it is the least represented of the four life zones in Glacier National Park, but it holds some of nature's most precious secrets. Although it is located very far from the ocean, it resembles the rainforests of the Pacific Coast. This is due to the milder temperatures of the protected valleys and the extremely high amount of precipitation that falls here when warm air masses from the Pacific are forced to rise over the Columbia Mountains. Along with 500-year-old western red cedars, the forest includes a variety of ferns and lichens, truffles and other fungi, as well as rare species like the Pacific Yew, which can only survive in older forests.

Fauna

When the park was first protected in 1886, caribou were common in Glacier. The area between the park and the North Columbia Mountains is home to one of the major populations of the mountain caribou, a distinct eco-type of the woodland caribou. The numbers have declined, whether due to human intrusion on their habitat or natural cycles, but today there are fewer than 400 out of a total population of 2400 mountain caribou in and around the park. According to biologists Bruce McLellan and John Flaa, part of the problem may be food supply. The caribou rely on the boreal lichens, which grow almost exclusively on old trees, and those are the trees sought after by the forestry industry.

Smaller animals also play an important role in the ecosystem. Park researchers have been trapping wolverines to attach radio collars, which will allow them to track their movements through the park area and beyond. They know the smaller mammals are also subject to dwindling food supplies. Wolverines are mainly carion eaters, feeding on the carcasses of caribou, deer and elk, although they have been known to do some hunting.

Life in the steep, snow-covered mountains is difficult for large ungulates, but bears do very well here. Avalanches clear slide paths, which produce excellent feeding grounds for black bears and grizzlies. The bears den through the winter months, emerging in late March or April in time for early shoots of spring flowers, and by late summer are feasting on the abundant mountain berry supply. The bears here are primarily vegetarian, although that shouldn’t lull anyone into complacency about the dangers of travelling in bear country.