Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park (1932) - Canada's 4th national park, the smallest in the Canadian Rockies. The Peace Park was originally created as a symbol of peace and goodwill between the United States and Canada, but has evolved to represent cooperation in a world of shared resources. Both Waterton and Glacier National Parks strive to protect the ecosystem through shared management, not only between themselves, but also with their other neighbours.
On December 6, 1995 UNESCO designated the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park as a World Heritage Site because it has a distinctive climate, physiographic setting, mountain-prairie interface, and tri-ocean hydrographical divide. It is an area of fantastic scenery with abundant and diverse flora and fauna.
The townsite sits at 1280 m (4200 ft) above sea level and the park's highest peak, Mt. Blakiston, is 2940 m (9645 ft) above sea level or approximately 1,490 m (4900 ft) tall.
The park is open year round with most facilities closed in winter. Annual visitors to the park average around 425,000. The year round residency is about 100 people, which increases in the summer to about 2,000.
