Places to Go • Things to Do • Where to Stay • What’s Happening
Photo: Parks Canada/Nigel Finney
Grasslands National Park is where descendants of the plains bison roam free, where you will find the black footed ferret, once considered to be extinct, and the only place in Canada where colonies of black-tailed prairie dogs still exist.
With its weathered badlands and untouched native prairie, Grasslands National Park preserves a wide expanse of the Frenchman River Valley. Unique combinations of landscape and climate create niches for rare plants, birds and animals. Within the park you will find the pronghorn antelope, sage grouse, burrowing owl, ferruginous hawk, short horned lizard and prairie rattlesnake.
Grasslands National Park is unique as it is the only one of our 39 national parks that represents prairie grasslands. The park has been designated as the Darkest Dark Sky Preserve in Canada, and the East Block of the park is the richest resource for dinosaur fossils in the country. The first recorded fossil discovery in Western Canada was made here in 1874.
IF YOU GO: Grasslands National Park is adjacent to the village of Val Marie and 117 km south of the City of Swift Current. Attractions in the area include Prairie Wind and Silver Sage Museum, Wood Mountain Rodeo Ranch Museum, and the Centre Cultural Royer & Notekeu Heritage Museum. Surrounding communities include Eastend, Shaunavon, Pontiex and Lafleche.
Grasslands
Places to Go • Things to Do • Where to Stay • What’s Happening
Photo: Parks Canada/Nigel Finney
Grasslands National Park is where descendants of the plains bison roam free, where you will find the black footed ferret, once considered to be extinct, and the only place in Canada where colonies of black-tailed prairie dogs still exist.
With its weathered badlands and untouched native prairie, Grasslands National Park preserves a wide expanse of the Frenchman River Valley. Unique combinations of landscape and climate create niches for rare plants, birds and animals. Within the park you will find the pronghorn antelope, sage grouse, burrowing owl, ferruginous hawk, short horned lizard and prairie rattlesnake.
Grasslands National Park is unique as it is the only one of our 39 national parks that represents prairie grasslands. The park has been designated as the Darkest Dark Sky Preserve in Canada, and the East Block of the park is the richest resource for dinosaur fossils in the country. The first recorded fossil discovery in Western Canada was made here in 1874.
IF YOU GO: Grasslands National Park is adjacent to the village of Val Marie and 117 km south of the City of Swift Current. Attractions in the area include Prairie Wind and Silver Sage Museum, Wood Mountain Rodeo Ranch Museum, and the Centre Cultural Royer & Notekeu Heritage Museum. Surrounding communities include Eastend, Shaunavon, Pontiex and Lafleche.