Riding Mountain Natural Area, Manitoba (Photo by NCC)
Species and habitats of northern, western and eastern Canada meet in this unique area. Prairie wildflowers give way to aspen parkland, which yields to highland evergreens, which in turn yield to lowland eastern hardwood forest. Large mammals roam the area's rolling, forested hills, meadows valleys, lakes and wetlands. Most of Manitoba's remaining fescue prairie occurs here.
Riding Mountain National Park lies at the centre of the Natural Area, but it is not large enough to support all of the area's species in perpetuity. Intensive agricultural development has occurred on all sides of the park, and the remaining natural areas rise like an island of wilderness in a sea of agriculture. Riding Mountain is one of only 15 United Nations Biosphere Reserves in Canada.
NCC is working to conserve lands in the area surrounding Riding Mountain National Park and in the areas between Riding Mountain National Park and Duck Mountain Provincial Forest. NCC owns a number of properties in this area, and maintains a field station north of the town of Rossburn. NCC has entered into conservation easement agreements with many of the landowners in the area, who have agreed to voluntarily limit the type and extent of development which will take place on their properties.
