What's your idea of a National Park?

A remote place focused on preservation or a popular tourist destination? An out-of-the-way destination where you can get away from it all or a piece of land close to home? A park that caters primarily to animals or preferably to humans? What would your ideal park look like?

Over the past several months, I’ve been reading about our national park system and have been fascinated by how our government attempts to balance park usage and preservation. As noted in my reference book, A Century of Parks Canada, 1911-2011, “By the middle of the twentieth century, the National Parks held a stated commitment to environmental protection but typically was preoccupied with managing parks for tourism and recreation.”

I’ll give you an excellent example of this balancing act. I recently had the opportunity to visit Elk Island National Park which is located about 40 minutes from Edmonton. Although the Park was initially created to protect wapiti herds (also known as Elk) it was over time transformed into a summer playground, which includes among other things a golf course.

Maybe it’s because I’m not a golfer but the idea of a golf course in a National Park just seems odd. I guess my idea of a National Park is a remote destination more focused on nature than on entertainment. But then again, maybe for some people, golfing is their idea of enjoying nature.

Fortunately, Elk Island’s main attraction isn’t its golf course but its wildlife. Elk Island National Park boasts some of North America’s best wildlife viewing as it is an important refuge for bison, elk and more than 250 bird species. Here are three more interesting facts about Elk Island National Park:

1. It is Canada's 8th smallest in area but largest fully fenced-in national park.

2. It is home to both the largest and the smallest terrestrial mammals in North America, the wood bison and pygmy shrew respectively.

3. It is also home to the densest population of hoofed mammals (also known as ungulates) in Canada. A variety of mammal species including coyote, bison, moose, mule deer, lynx, beaver, elk, white-tailed deer, porcupines, black bear and timer wolves live within the park’s boundaries.

I’ll tell you all about my trip to Elk Island National Park in my next blog.