Kananaskis

Kananaskis Country is an area to the west of Calgary in the front ranges of the Rocky Mountains, adjacent to Banff National Park. This 4,250km2 area is not only a popular recreation destination, but an area of high ecological significance.

Kananaskis is not one large park, as many people believe, but a series of parks, protected areas and unprotected areas. Recent years have seen the level of protection accorded to this area rise dramatically with the establishment of such areas as Elbow-Sheep Wildland Park in 1995, the Don Getty Wildland Park in 2001 and the Spray Valley Provincial Park in 2000. However, 44% of land in the Kananaskis is still unprotected, subject to logging, oil and gas development and other forms of resource extraction.