Crown of the Continent - A Magical Landscape

The 10-million-acre Crown of the Continent is a rare and special place - an ecological crossroads where plant and animal communities from the Pacific Northwest, eastern prairies, southern Rockies, and boreal forests mingle. This spine of glacier-carved mountains is also the headwaters for North America, where pristine rivers originate and flow to the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Hudson Bay. Nowhere else on the continent retains its full complement of native habitat and native predators - wolves, grizzly and black bears, cougar, coyote, fox, wolverine, bobcat, and lynx - as well as large populations of moose, elk, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, and deer.

The Crown is also a place where nations and cultures meet. Across this vast landscape, Native American cultures have thrived for thousands of years. At the core of the region are Waterton Lakes and Glacier national parks, designated by the U.S. Congress and Canadian Parliament in 1932 as the world's first international peace park. More than 21 federal, First Nations, state, and provincial agencies strive to cooperatively manage the Crown's wildlands, wildlife, timber, minerals, oil and gas, and other resources. Increasingly, the region's rural communities are diversifying, blending amenity and knowledge-based economies with agriculture, logging, and energy development. All of this makes the Crown a rare and special place - a vibrant home for people held here by a quality of life not found outside the region. It is a magical landscape worthy of long-term public-private stewardship for present and future generations.

Check out photos of this magical landscape.