Thoughts From a "Lost Canadian" About Grasslands National Park

When you hear there is a Grasslands National Park in Canada, you might think it may not be a very interesting place, but in this case, Grasslands National Park is extremely interesting as not only will there be nature to see and experience, but dinosaurs as well! Yes, dinosaurs!

• Grasslands National Park, located in southern Saskatchewan, is Canada's first National Park dedicated to preserving a mixed-grass prairie.
• The park features a conservation herd of wild plains bison which were reintroduced in 2005 to roam the prairies and help shape the local ecology.
• It is the only place in Canada where you can find black-tailed prairie dog colonies.
• In the Grasslands National Park you will also see pronghorns, greater sage-grouses, ring-necked pheasants, burrowing owls, coyotes, ferruginous hawks, swift foxes, prairie rattlesnakes, black-footed ferrets, eastern yellow-bellied racers, and greater short-horned lizards.
• Recognized as one of Canada's largest and darkest Dark Sky Preserves, the park offers virtually light-pollution-free night skies. On a clear night, the Milky Way is clearly visible to the naked eye, and during peak conditions, you can often see the Northern Lights. 
• The area is rich in prehistoric history. You can walk through ancient fossil beds and geologic formations.
• In 1874, Sir George Mercer Dawson discovered Western Canada's first dinosaur remains.
• Researchers and paleontologists continue to recover bones, teeth, and frills from some of the most famous Late Cretaceous dinosaurs in the park's sandstone and mudstone layer including T-Rex, Triceratops, Edmontosaurus (a large, 10-meter-long duck-billed dinosaur skeleton is actually being recovered here now).
• Teeth and claws belonging to smaller theropods, as well as marine reptiles (like the Prognathodon) and crocodiles, have also been discovered in the area!
• Grasslands National Park protects one of the most visible and accessible Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction boundaries in the world. You can actually walk up to the distinct coal seam which marks the exact point 66 million years ago when the dinosaurs disappeared and the age of mammals began.

Grasslands National Park certainly sounds very interesting for sure! You will find more about it at this link.