Beaver Hills

Prior to joining Canada in 1870, the Beaver Hills had been an important hunting and trapping area for the indigenous peoples of the area. By the time Canada began inviting Europeans to settle in the area after 1872, however, the region had become "trapped out" of beavers (they were locally extinct due to over-harvesting) because of the commercial demand for beaver pelts in England for making top hats.

The areas on all sides of the hills are good farmlands and were part of the general wave of settlement of this part of Alberta during the 1890s. However the park is composed of rocky, wet land not well suited for wheat growing. It was used for grazing, lumber, and hunting by surrounding farmers, but not much tilled.

The Canadian government started a timber reserve here in 1899 to preserve the remaining forests, making this one of Canada's oldest protected areas. At first it was only the trees that were deemed worth of protection from development but in 1906 the area officially became an elk sanctuary, then a federal park in 1916, and was a founding part of the Canadian national parks system when it began in 1930. Part of the old timber reserve then became the Cooking-Lake Blackfoot Grazing Reserve.

The area's claim to fame (the bison) originated in 1907, when the park was used as a temporary holding area for plains bison. This was a wild herd purchased by the Canadian government in Montana, one of the last such herds in existence. The bison were supposed to be shipped on to another park, but an estimated 40-70 bison evaded recapture, and their descendants have been there ever since.

Wood bison were thought to be completed extinct (or interbred with plains bison) at one point, but in 1957 a small, genetically pure herd was discovered in Wood Buffalo National Park. Then in 1965, 23 of those woodland bison were moved to Elk Island Park to start a second herd. The two subspecies are kept apart by the fences and highway to maintain genetic purity.

Elk Island is Canada's only entirely fenced national park, and home to Canada's most famous herds of wild bison, also known as "buffalo" (but not closely related to the Eastern hemisphere's water buffalo or African buffalo). These two herds are used as breed stock to repopulate other famous parks, in Canada (for example, Banff National Park in 2017), the USA (Yellowstone) and even Russia. Elk Island is a small park by Canadian standards at 194 km² (75 sq mi) and is an "island" (metaphorically, only) of protected forest surrounded by farmland. Because this is the closest park to the city of Edmonton and located on a major highway (Alberta 16, the "Yellowhead" route of the Trans-Canada Highway), it sees many Canadian visitors but because it lacks photogenic mountain vistas, it's not a common part of the itineraries of international visitors to Western Canada, unlike the more famous Banff National Park to the south.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Alberta was undergoing an economic boom fuelled by high prices of oil and gas, and development pushed eastwards from Edmonton rapidly into the region. Staff from Elk Island National Park conceived of the "Beaver Hills Initiative" as a way to connect the local region together and encourage preservation. Ultimately the decision was made to peruse UNESCO designation has other Canadian regions near national parks had done, including Waterton Lakes in southern Alberta 1979. In the end 14 local, provincial, and national government agencies and local groups signed the application to become a Biosphere with dozens more signing letters of support, and on March 19, 2016, the designation was made official. Since that time, new websites, trail maps, and signage have started to give a sense that the Beaver Hills Biosphere Reserve actually exists as a place on the map, rather than just a collection of ideas.

The biosphere reserve protects the "Southern Boreal Plains and Plateaus" natural region - a transitional zone between the aspen parkland to the south and the boreal forest to the north. The region has a "knob and kettle" topography rising 30-60 m above the surrounding plains of Alberta. The elevation is around 750 to 800 m above sea level which, while not high by Alberta standards, is significantly higher than the North Saskatchewan River's valley bottom at around 600 m just a few kilometres to the northeast of the hills.

Elk Island National Park is an island, not in the geographical sense, but in terms of its landscape of small hills and depressions surrounded by flat plains. When the glaciers retreated from the area, they left debris clustered around chunks of ice that formed the knobs, while the melting ice made shallow ponds or kettles. These are eutrophic ponds, meaning they have a very poor oxygen supply, but they contain rich accumulations of nutrients, making them an excellent habitat for plants and wildfowl. The park has more than 250 lakes, ponds and wetlands over 20% of its surface area.

Astotin Lake, near the park's north end is 3.9 km long, almost 3.1 km wide and 0.5-10 metres deep, and is the park's largest body of water, but the largest waterbodies in the Beaver Hills are Cooking Lake and Hastings Lake. Nearby is Beaverhill Lake, which, despite the name, is on the flat plains just east of the hills proper.

The climate of the area is continental (dry) and temperate (varies by season); the park is usually a degree or two cooler than Edmonton on a typical day, no matter the season.

See also: North American wildlife

The star attraction here are the two different sub-species of bison (also known as "buffalo"), wood bison on the south side of the highway, and plains bison on the north. As well there are the eponymous "elk" (a.k.a. wapiti), moose, other types of deer, coyotes, fishers, lynx, and so on.

• Tourism website (Beaver Hills)
• Park website (Elk Island National Park)

There are tourism information centres nearby in Sherwood Park and Camrose as well, but those inside the Biosphere are :

• 🌍 Wahkotowin Visitor Information Centre. Tourism information, public toilets, and a gift shop in Elk Island just off the highway. (updated Aug 2019)
• 🌍 Miquelon Park Centre, ☏ +1 780-672-7274. Tourism information, public toilets, and a gift shop in Miquelon. Only open seasonally. (updated Aug 2019)
• 🌍 Strathcona Wilderness Centre, ☏ +1 780-922-3939. Nature centre and skiing rentals. Open year-round. 

Daily (2024):

• Adult $9.00
• Senior $7.75
• Youth and children free
• Family/group $17.50

Seasonal passes are available for less than the cost of 5 day passes, and less than the cost of 4 day passes if purchased before March 31.

Parks Canada Passes

The Discovery Pass provides unlimited admission for a full year at over 80 Parks Canada places that charge a daily entrance fee. It provides faster entry and is valid for 12 months from date of purchase. Prices for 2024 (taxes included):

• Family/group (up to 7 people in a vehicle): $151.25
• Children and youth (0-17): free
• Adult (18-64): $75.25
• Senior (65+): $64.50

The Cultural Access Pass: people who have received their Canadian citizenship in the past year can qualify for free entry to some sites.

Remember that camping fees are in addition to entry fees.

Entry to provincial and local parks and are free. However, there is a charge to use the ski trails at the Strathcona Wilderness Centre. The Ukrainian Village charges: for a family (2 adults + youths, to maximum of 8 people), $40; for a single adult (18-64), $15; for a senior (65+), $13; for a youth (7-17), $10; for a child (0-6), free; for members of the Canadian military and their families, free (with CFOne card); for members of the Friends of the Ukrainian Village Society member, free.

No car rentals are available here, so plan ahead. There are several refilling stations scattered around, and repair shop in Ardrossan, however. There's only one, Y-shaped road going through the northern half Elk Island Park so it's hard to get lost inside the park in your car.