Banff National Park

Banff National Park, established in 1885, spans 6,641 square kilometers in the Canadian Rockies. As Canada's first national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Banff protects spectacular mountain landscapes, including glaciers, ice fields, alpine meadows, and pristine lakes. The park forms part of the larger Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site. The park supports healthy populations of grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, elk, bighorn sheep, and mountain goats. Banff plays a crucial role in wildlife conservation through its innovative wildlife crossing structures - overpasses and underpasses that allow animals to safely cross the Trans-Canada Highway. These crossings have become a global model for reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions. Conservation initiatives focus on protecting critical wildlife habitat, managing human-wildlife interactions, and balancing conservation with sustainable tourism. The park implements strict regulations on development, maintains wildlife corridors, and conducts extensive research on climate change impacts on mountain ecosystems.

Water Features

Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, Bow River, hot springs

Ecosystem

This destination features a mountain & alpine ecosystem.