Wood Mountain Hills

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Wood Mountain Hills
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Wood Mountain Hills
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Wood Mountain Hills
Wood Mountain Hills (Canada)
Highest point
Elevation 1,013 m (3,323 ft)
Prominence 200 m (660 ft)
Coordinates 49°14′00″N106°30′02″W / 49.2334°N 106.5006°W / 49.2334; -106.5006
Geography
LocationFlag of Saskatchewan.svg  Saskatchewan, Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
Parent range Missouri Coteau

Wood Mountain Hills [1] are a hilly plateau in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The hills are located in the southern part of the province and are part of the Missouri Coteau, which is part of the Laurentian Divide between the watersheds of the Hudson Bay drainage basin of the Arctic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico of the Atlantic Ocean. [2] The hills are in a semi-arid region known as Palliser's Triangle in the Great Plains ecoregion of North America.

Contents

The Wood Mountain Hills are known locally as "the Bench" and, at a height of 1,013 metres (3,323 ft) above sea level, are the second highest point of land in Western Canada east of the Rocky Mountains. The highest point is just to the west in the neighbouring Cypress Hills. [3]

Geography

The Rock Creek Badlands on the southern slope of the plateau Killdeer Badlands.jpg
The Rock Creek Badlands on the southern slope of the plateau

The south-eastern part of the Wood Mountain Hills was one of the few places in Canada that wasn't covered in ice during the Last Glacial Period. This preserved tertiary sands and gravels at higher the elevations while other parts of the hills have glacial drift and deep-cut valleys and coulees carved by glacial meltwaters that are separated by flat-topped buttes. The Rock Creek Badlands, also called Killdeer Badlands, [4] were formed by these melting glaciers. The badlands run along the southern slopes of the plateau.

The highest point of the upland at 1,013 metres above sea level is Pinto Butte, [5] which is located at the western end and straddles the watershed divide. Most of the watershed to the north of the hills is in the Old Wives Lake endorheic drainage basin with Wood River and its tributaries being the primary water course. The southern slopes drain primarily into the Milk River drainage basin. Some of the tributaries that flow south from the hills include Frenchman River, Denniel Creek, Breed Creek, Little Breed Creek, Otter Creek, Bluff Creek, McEachern Creek, West Poplar River, Poplar River, East Poplar River, Weatherall Creek, Rock Creek, [6] and Johnson Creek. [7]

Flora and fauna

The Wood Mountain Hills are mostly covered in grasses and are in the mixed-grass prairie ecozone of Canada. Common grasses include spear grass, wheatgrass, and blue grama grass. In areas with more moisture, such as at the bottom of coulees and alongside streams, trees and shrubs, such as aspen, green ash, wolf willow, and buffalo berry, grow. In drier locations, plants such as sage, rabbitbrush, greasewood, mosses, lichens, and cacti can be found. [8]

Throughout the hills and in the East Block of Grasslands National Park, wildlife such as bats, black-tailed prairie dogs, swift foxes, burrowing owls, greater sage-grouses, eastern yellow-bellied racers, and greater short-horned lizards can be found. [9]

Parks and recreation

There are several Saskatchewan parks located throughout the Wood Mountain Hills.

See also

Related Research Articles

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Highway 58 is an oiled surface provincial highway in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan which handles approximately 100 vehicles per day. It runs from Highway 18 3 kilometres west of Fir Mountain until Highway 1 / Highway 19 near Chaplin in the south-central area of the province. Highway 58 is about 132 kilometres (82 mi) long traversing through the Missouri Coteau. There are multiplexes of 1.6 km (1.0 mi) with Highway 13, 300 m (980 ft) with Highway 43, and 4.9 km (3.0 mi) with Highway 363.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan</span> Community in Saskatchewan, Canada

Wood Mountain is a village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the Rural Municipality of Old Post No. 43 and Census Division No. 3. Its name is derived from the Red River Métis words "montagne de bois", due to the abundance of poplar trees in the otherwise barren region. Highway 18 and Highway 358 intersect south of the community.

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Moose Mountain Upland, Moose Mountain Uplands, or commonly Moose Mountain, is a hilly plateau located in the south-east corner of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, that covers an area of about 13,000 km2 (5,000 sq mi). The upland rises about 200 m (660 ft) above the broad, flat prairie which is about 600 m (2,000 ft) above sea level. The highest peak is "Moose Mountain" at 830 m (2,720 ft) above sea level. The area was named Moose Mountain because of the large number of moose that lived in the area. When it was originally used by fur traders, Métis, and the Indigenous peoples, the plateau was called Montagne a la Bosse, which is French for "The Mountain of The Bump or Knob."

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Bob Creek Wildland Provincial Park is a wildland provincial park located in the Municipal District of Ranchland, in southern Alberta, Canada. It was established on 12 May 1999, modified slightly on 24 June 2003, and is 20,777.69 hectares in area. The park is included in the South Saskatchewan Region Land Use Framework and administered by the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan. Because they are so intertwined, Bob Creek Wildland and Black Creek Heritage Rangeland are managed through the same Management Plan. The park gets its name from the Bob Creek that runs through the center of the park and drains the surrounding hills.

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St. Victor Petroglyphs Provincial Historic Park is an historical provincial park in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The park is located in the RM of Willow Bunch No. 42, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south of St. Victor. The 3.9 ha park is situated on the northern slope of the Wood Mountain Upland on a cliff at the top of a partially wooded coulee. The Wood Mountain Hills are a plateau east of the Cypress Hills along the Missouri Coteau in the semi-arid Palliser's Triangle. The site was designated an historic site in the 1960s and became a provincial park in 1986.

Wood River is a river in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It has its source in the Wood Mountain Hills of south-western Saskatchewan and flows in a north-easterly direction to its mouth at Old Wives Lake. Old Wives Lake is a salt water lake with no outflow. As a result, the drainage basin of Wood River is an endorheic one. Along the course of the river, there are several parks, historical sites, and small towns.

References

  1. "Wood Mountain". Canadian Geographical Names Database. Government of Canada. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  2. Penner, Lynden. "Missouri Coteau". The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. University of Regina. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  3. "Wood Mountain, SK: Our History". Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan. Wood Mountain Community Access Program. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  4. "Rock Creek Badlands - Badlands Parkway". Tourism Saskatchewan. Government of Saskatchewan. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  5. "Pinto Butte". Canadian Geographical Names Database. Government of Canada. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  6. "Rock Creek". Canadian Geographical Names Database. Government of Canada. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  7. "Wood Mountain Plateau". The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. University of Regina. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  8. "Plants". Grasslands National Park. Parks Canada. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  9. "Wildlife". Grasslands National Park. Parks Canada. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  10. "Badlands Parkway – East Block". Grasslands National Park. Parks Canada. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  11. "Wood Mountain Creek". Canadian Geographical Names Database. Government of Canada. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  12. "Wood Mountain Post Provincial Historic Park". Tourism Saskatchewan. Government of Saskatchewan. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  13. "Wood Mountain Regional Park". Tourism Saskatchewan. Government of Saskatchewan. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  14. "St. Victor Petroglyphs Provincial Historic Park". Tourism Saskatchewan. Government of Saskatchewan. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  15. "Rockin Beach Park". Rockglensk. South Sask Ready. Retrieved 7 January 2023.