Waterton Glacier International Peace Park

The combination of Waterton Lakes and Glacier national parks form the world’s first International Peace Park since 1932. It has a spectacular mountain landscape.

Among its recorded plusses are a unique geological feature in the form of the Lewis overthrust. There are also superb examples of Precambrian rock formations, six species stromatolites (fossil algae) and 98% of the world’s remaining stock of genetically pure Westslope Cutthroat Trout.

There have been three evaluations of a proposals of this site. Reservations were expressed and the site was rated as of secondary importance. It duplicates many values that can be seen in the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks.

Year	Decision	Comments
1995	Inscribed	Reasons for inscription
1994	Referred	Bureau - Still issues regarding comparison with other sites in W Cordillera. New nomination required
1985	Deferred	Has featrures already on list. Better if linked to Waterton in Canada. But Waterton is not on Canada's Tentative List! Canada indicated it would add it!

Reviews

Emilia Bautista King (U.S.A.):

At the Waterton National Park's visitor centre, we were told that two of the most scenic drives are along the Akamina and Red Rock Parkways. The Akamina Parkway begins at Waterton Townsite and runs 10 miles along Cameron Valley with views into Cameron Creek. The parkway ends at Cameron Lake, which had a snowy mountain in the background. It was beginning to rain and very windy so we didn't stay long. Red Rock Parkway is 9 miles long and runs along the prairie. The park's highest peak, Mt. Blakiston (9580 ft.) is seen here. We also saw many samples of red rocks but were disappointed not to see any wildlife, which is said to be common in this part of the park. A new exhibit has been built in the marina and it is here that you will find the World Heritage Site plaque. It's in a hidden corner and the exhibit, which I found odd, but I was happy to locate it anyway. The Prince of Wales Hotel is worth a visit. It is a grand chalet-type establishment with a beautiful view of Upper Waterton Lake and snow-capped mountains. It was on the premises of the hotel that we spotted our first mule deer.

We camped at Glacier National Park (in Montana) for two nights and absolutely fell in love with the place! The Going to the Sun Road is worth the drive, although we could only drive up to Logan Pass, due to a rock slide the had taken place the day before. If you are up for a challenge, hike along the Hidden Lake trail (pictured above), which is 1.5 km each way. It is challenging because you are not only hiking on snow almost all of the way, but you are also on the side of a mountain. I was proud of myself for having completed the trail without injuring myself. I think hiking boots are a must for this, but my husband managed to do the hike in his sneakers without feeling any kind of discomfort. In the parking lot of the Logan Pass Visitor Centre we saw our first bighorn sheep, 5 of them. Lots of people had their cameras to take pictures of the sheep. Some of them were too close, I thought, but no one was harmed. During our stay in the park, we also saw moose, mountain goats, a beaver, and coyotes. Another hike we enjoyed was to Redrock Falls, which was much easier than Hidden Lake. This is the place where we saw a mother moose and her two calves. I started to panic about coming face to face with a bear but it didn't happen!

I can recommend both of the campsites where we stayed, Rising Sun and Many Glacier. When you wake up in the morning and get out of your tent, the mountains greet you and it is an indescribable feeling. One place to eat that I highly recommend is the Park Cafe in St. Mary, which had excellent choices of salads and buffalo burgers and is famous for its homemade pies. If you leave Glacier to return to Waterton, stop in Babb, Montana at The Babb Press for a meal. We enjoyed their "presses" (toasted hot sandwiches) and their vegetable soup.

Date posted: June 2006

Paul Tanner (UK):

Don’t go to Waterton/Glacier expecting to see glaciers – for that you want Rainier or Alaska! The title is somewhat misleading and seems to relate more to its post glacial scenery with deep valleys and lakes with forests of Aspen and Lodgepole Pine, flower filled meadows and rocky peaks up to 3190 metres than to current glaciers (there is at least 1 at Grinell which apparently you can get to though we didn't). The Park lies at the point where the Rockies meet the Prairies and thus covers a variety of ecological niches. You should see both bighorn sheep and mountain goats. It is undoubtedly attractive scenery but not really among the very top scenic highlights of this part of N America which has a number of other nearby parks as good or better many of which have already been inscribed (Particularly the Canadian Rocky Parks) or are on Tentative Lists

There are highways around and 1 across the Park (the romantically named “Going to the Sun Highway”!) but this is primarily a park for walking/camping. We did a very pleasant return walk from near the summit of this highway at 2036 metres along a glacial arete known as “The Garden Wall” which forms the Continental Divide to Granite Chalet where there is a small restaurant serving “home cooking” (I remember how good everything tasted after the exercise of getting there!)

I guess that the “International Peace Park” aspect appealed to the UNESCO committee (the US part is 8x as big as the Canadian) though that doesn’t feature specifically in the 2 purely “natural” criteria on which inscription was based. Reading the 1995 IUCN report after the third nomination attempt by USA/Canada you can almost feel the arms being twisted to accept it - “All 6 external reviewers expressed reservations over the merits of the proposal” followed by a long discussion about what is meant by “Universal outstanding value” which certainly doesn’t convince that this Park meets it. Mention is also made of the fact that the US has included 9 other sites from the “Western Cordillera” in its Tentative List. Nevertheless the Park apparently contains “98% of the world’s remaining stock of genetically pure Westslope Cutthroat Trout” so perhaps it is of “Universal Outstanding Value” after all!

Date posted: June 2005

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