Beaver Hills (Alberta)

A map of the Waskahegan Trail system. The green areas on the right are, from north to south, Elk Island National Park, Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area, Ministik Lake Game Bird Sanctuary, and Miquelon Lake Provincial Park.

The Beaver Hills (Cree: ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒋᐩ, romanized: amiskwaciy, lit. 'beaver hills'), also known as the Beaver Hills Moraine and the Cooking Lake Moraine, are a rolling upland region in Central Alberta, just to the east of Edmonton, the provincial capital. It consists of 1,572 square kilometres (607 sq mi) of "knob and kettle" terrain, containing many glacial moraines and depressions filled with small lakes. The landform lies partly within five different counties, Strathcona, Leduc, Beaver, Lamont and Camrose. The area is relatively undeveloped compared to the surrounding region, and is protected in part by Elk Island National Park, the Cooking Lake–Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area, the Ministik Lake Game Bird Sanctuary, Miquelon Lake Provincial Park and a number of smaller provincial natural areas.[1] Since 2016 Beaver Hills has been a UNESCO-designated biosphere reserve.[2]

  1. ^ "Ecological Primer – What Makes the Beaver Hills So Special?" (PDF). Beaver Hills Initiative. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 19, 2011. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
  2. ^ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-s-beaver-hills-great-bear-lake-in-n-w-t-join-unesco-biosphere-network-1.3501479 Alberta's Beaver Hills, Great Bear Lake in N.W.T. join UNESCO Biosphere Network, CBC, The Canadian Press Bob Weber, March 16, 2021