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It was the Rotary Clubs of Alberta and Montana that proposed in 1931 uniting Waterton Lakes and Glacier national parks to create the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, the first in the world.
It was intended to promote peace and good will between nations, but today it embodies the international nature of wilderness and the cooperation required for its protection.
Within 203 square-mile Waterton Lakes and 2,531 square-mile Glacier, nature has provided much that is worthy of protection, including high mountains and deep valleys, forest belts and prairie grasslands, deep glacial-trough lakes and rivers that feed three major North American watersheds.
Few areas can claim as much diversity within such a concentrated area. The abrupt rise of the Rockies from the prairie flatlands has made the twin parks the place "where the mountains meet the prairie."
Matching the range of eco-regions is a corresponding diversity of wildlife. The region hosts mountain goats, bighorn sheep, coyotes, grizzly bears, scores of birds, and a celebrated "international" herd of elk. Some elk migrate annually between summer mountain habitat in Glacier and winter prairie ranges in Waterton.
Human presence in the region goes back 12,000 years, and there remain places in both parks that hold deep significance for Native Americans.
Another park office is available at Box 128, West Glacier, Mont., 59936, phone 406-888-7800.
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