Siffleur Wilderness Area

Last updated
Siffleur Wilderness Area
Lake of the Falls.jpg
Siffleur Wilderness Area in July 2016
Alberta County Point Locator.svg
Red pog.svg
Coordinates 51°53′59″N116°23′32″W / 51.8996860698°N 116.392128129°W / 51.8996860698; -116.392128129
Area41,214 hectares (101,840 acres) [1]
Established1961
Governing body Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation
www.albertaparks.ca/aboutparks.aspx

The Siffleur Wilderness Area is a provincially designated wilderness area in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta. [2] It was established in 1961 and it, as one of the three wilderness areas of Alberta, has the strictest form of government protection available in Canada. All development is forbidden and only travel by foot is permitted. Hunting and fishing are not allowed. [3] The other two wilderness areas are White Goat Wilderness Area and Ghost River Wilderness Area and together the three areas total 249,548.80 acres (100,988.82 ha). [4]

Siffleur is located near the west end and south side of Canadian Highway 11 and slightly south of the White Goat Wilderness area. It is near the north end of Banff National Park and the south end of Jasper National Park. [3] Mountains rise to 3,300 metres (10,800 ft). The area has rugged mountains, glacier-carved valleys, mountain lakes, and alpine meadows. There are two distinct vegetation zones. Above 2,100 metres (6,900 ft), the tree line, are grasses, sedges and wildflowers. Below that are subalpine forests of spruce, fir, and lodgepole pine. At even lower elevations there are aspen and balsam poplar. Animals in the lower regions include woodland caribou, moose, elk, white-tailed deer, mule deer, grizzly bear, black bear, cougar, coyote, timber wolf, and wolverine. Animals in the upper regions include golden-mantled ground squirrels, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, hoary marmot, pika, white-tailed ptarmigan, grey-crowned rosy finch, water pipit and horned lark. Eagles are seen in both the lower and upper regions. [1] [2]

Like Siffleur Mountain and Siffleur River, the name was chosen by James Hector in 1858 for the shrill whistles of the marmot which inhabit the area. [5] [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yoho National Park</span> National park in British Columbia, Canada

Yoho National Park is a national park of Canada. It is located within the Rocky Mountains along the western slope of the Continental Divide of the Americas in southeastern British Columbia, bordered by Kootenay National Park to the south and Banff National Park to the east in Alberta. The word Yoho is a Cree expression of amazement or awe, and it is an apt description for the park's spectacular landscape of massive ice fields and mountain peaks, which rank among the highest in the Canadian Rockies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jasper National Park</span> National park in Alberta, Canada

Jasper National Park is a national park in Alberta, Canada. It is the largest national park within Alberta's Rocky Mountains spanning 11,000 km2 (4,200 sq mi). It was established as a national park in 1930 and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. Its location is north of Banff National Park and west of Edmonton. The park contains the glaciers of the Columbia Icefield, springs, lakes, waterfalls and mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banff National Park</span> National park in Alberta, Canada

Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rocky Mountains, 110–180 kilometres (68–112 mi) west of Calgary, Banff encompasses 6,641 square kilometres (2,564 sq mi) of mountainous terrain, with many glaciers and ice fields, dense coniferous forest, and alpine landscapes. The Icefields Parkway extends from Lake Louise, connecting to Jasper National Park in the north. Provincial forests and Yoho National Park are neighbours to the west, while Kootenay National Park is located to the south and Kananaskis Country to the southeast. The main commercial centre of the park is the town of Banff, in the Bow River valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willmore Wilderness Park</span> Provincial park of Alberta, Canada

Willmore Wilderness Park, located in Alberta, Canada, is a 4,600-square-kilometre (1,800 sq mi) wilderness area adjacent to Jasper National Park. It is lesser known and less visited than Jasper National Park. There are no public roads, bridges or buildings. There are, however, several ranger cabins in the park that are available as a courtesy to visitors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waterton Lakes National Park</span> National park in Alberta, Canada

Waterton Lakes National Park is a national park located in the southwest corner of Alberta, Canada. It borders Glacier National Park in Montana, United States. Waterton was the fourth Canadian national park, formed in 1895 and named after Waterton Lake, in turn after the Victorian naturalist and conservationist Charles Waterton. Its range is between the Rocky Mountains and prairies. This park contains 505 km2 (195 sq mi) of rugged mountains and wilderness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crypt Lake Trail</span>

The Crypt Lake Trail is one of the premium hikes in Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is accessed by a dedicated ferry service operating from the Waterton Park Townsite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banff Sunshine</span> Ski resort in Alberta, Canada

Banff Sunshine Village is a ski resort in western Canada, located on the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies within Banff National Park in Alberta and Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park in British Columbia. It is one of three major ski resorts located in the Banff National Park. Because of its location straddling the Continental Divide, Sunshine receives more snow than the neighbouring ski resorts. The Sunshine base area is located 15 km (9 mi) southwest of the town of Banff. By car, it is about a ninety-minute drive from the city of Calgary; the Sunshine exit on the Trans Canada Highway is 8 km (5 mi) west of the town of Banff.

Height of the Rockies Provincial Park is a provincial park in the Canadian Rockies of south eastern British Columbia, Canada. It is located west of the Continental Divide, adjacent to Elk Lakes Provincial Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tourism in Alberta</span> Tourism in Alberta, Canada

Alberta has been a tourist destination since the early days of the 20th Century, with attractions including national parks, National Historic Sites of Canada, urban arts and cultural facilities, outdoor locales for skiing, hiking and camping, shopping locales such as West Edmonton Mall, outdoor festivals, professional athletic events, international sporting competitions such as the Commonwealth Games and Olympic Winter Games, as well as more eclectic attractions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghost River Wilderness Area</span> Protected area in the Canadian Rockies

The Ghost River Wilderness Area is a provincially designated wilderness area in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta protecting the headwaters of the Ghost River. It was established in 1967 and it, as one of the three wilderness areas of Alberta, has the strictest form of government protection available in Canada. All development is forbidden, and only travel by foot is permitted. Hunting and fishing are not allowed. The other two wilderness areas are White Goat Wilderness Area and Siffleur Wilderness Area and together the three areas total 1,009.8882 square kilometres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alberta's Rockies</span> Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada

Alberta's Rockies comprise the Canadian Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada. On the southwestern part of the province along the British Columbia border, the region covers all but the south of Census Division 15.

The Skyline Trail is a hiking trail in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. It is known for its views, with much of the hike being located above the tree line. It is also known for its challenging weather conditions above the tree line, which can be a problem for hikers, who can lose sight of trails.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecology of the North Cascades</span> Ecosystems of the Cascade mountain range in northern Washington state and southern British Columbia

The Ecology of the North Cascades is heavily influenced by the high elevation and rain shadow effects of the mountain range. The North Cascades is a section of the Cascade Range from the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River in Washington, United States, to the confluence of the Thompson and Fraser Rivers in British Columbia, Canada, where the range is officially called the Cascade Mountains but is usually referred to as the Canadian Cascades. The North Cascades Ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion in the Commission for Environmental Cooperation's classification system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alberta Mountain forests</span> Temperate coniferous forests ecoregion of Alberta and British Columbia, Canada

The Alberta Mountain forests are a temperate coniferous forests ecoregion of Western Canada, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Goat Wilderness Area</span> Protected natural area in Alberta, Canada

The White Goat Wilderness Area is a provincially designated wilderness area in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta. It was established in 1961 and it, as one of the three wilderness areas of Alberta, has the strictest form of government protection available in Canada. All development is forbidden and only travel by foot is permitted. Hunting and fishing are not allowed. The other two wilderness areas are Ghost River Wilderness Area and Siffleur Wilderness Area and together the three areas total 249,548.80 acres (100,988.82 ha).

The Rocky Mountains Forest Reserve is a tract of land owned by the government of Canadian province of Alberta along the eastern slopes and foothills of the Albertan section of the Canadian Rockies. It is a long strip of land just east of the more famous Canadian Rocky Mountain parks, which is managed for forest and water conservation, public recreation, and industrial goals, rather than aesthetic and preservation goals as in the rocky mountain parks. Forest reserves were established for "...(1) the reserving of timber supplies, (2) the reserving of areas unsuited to agriculture so that they would not be homesteaded, and (3) the preserving of the water level in streams by conserving the timber on the upper watersheds." Government of Canada (1911). “All forest reserves are set aside and constituted for the conservation of the forests and other vegetation in the forests and for the maintenance of conditions favourable to an optimum water supply in those reserves.” Province of Alberta (2004)

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cirrus Mountain</span>

Cirrus Mountain is a 3,270-metre (10,730-foot) mountain summit located in the upper North Saskatchewan River valley on the shared boundary between Banff National Park and White Goat Wilderness Area, in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta, Canada. Cirrus Mountain is situated along the east side the Icefields Parkway midway between Saskatchewan Crossing and Sunwapta Pass. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises 1,740 meters (5,708 ft) above the parkway in 3 km (1.9 mi). The nearest higher peak is Mount Stewart, 5.92 km (3.68 mi) to the north-northeast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siffleur Mountain</span> Mountain summit in Alberta, Canada

Siffleur Mountain is a 3,129-metre (10,266 ft) mountain summit located in the North Saskatchewan River valley of Alberta, Canada. Siffleur Mountain is situated in the Siffleur Wilderness Area of the Canadian Rockies. Its nearest higher peak is Mount Loudon, 3 km (1.9 mi) to the southwest. The mountain can be seen from Highway 11, the David Thompson Highway. Precipitation runoff from Siffleur Mountain flows north via Loudon Creek and Siffleur River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marmot Mountain</span> Mountain in the country of Canada

Marmot Mountain is a 2,608-metre (8,556-foot) mountain summit located in Alberta, Canada.

References

  1. 1 2 "White Goat and Siffleur Wilderness Area". Government of Alberta - Sustainable Resource Development. Retrieved 14 July 2011. with map of both areas
  2. 1 2 "Siffleur Wilderness Area". Alberta Parks. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  3. 1 2 Hempstead, Andrew (1995). Alberta: Including Banff, Jasper & the Canadian Rockies. Berkeley, CA: Perseus Books. pp. 333–334. ISBN   978-1-59880-371-6.
  4. "Alberta's Protected Areas". Bragg Creek. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  5. "Siffleur Mountain". cdnrockiesdatabases.ca. Retrieved 2023-08-06.
  6. Place-names of Alberta. Ottawa: Geographic Board of Canada. 1928. p. 116.