Banff National Park is Canada's first national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park after natural hot springs were discovered near the site of present-day Banff townsite. Located in Alberta's Rocky Mountains roughly 110 to 180 kilometres west of Calgary, it protects glacier-fed turquoise lakes including Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, the Columbia Icefield and extensive alpine and subalpine forest, and it anchors the larger Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks UNESCO World Heritage Site. Banff draws millions of visitors annually and is managed by Parks Canada as part of the federal national park system it helped originate. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Designation Category Established Year Area (sq km) Governing Body IUCN Category Classification
Governance TypeGovernance by Government 1 International DesignationUNESCO World Heritage Site 1 Governing Body
Governing Body (category) FAQs
Was Banff National Park always called Banff and where does the name come from?
It was Rocky Mountains Park until 1930; Banff comes from a railway station named for Banffshire in Scotland.
No. The area began in 1885 as a small reserve around the hot springs at Cave and Basin, and the Rocky Mountains Park Act of 1887 expanded it and named it Rocky Mountains Park. The National Parks Act, which took effect on May 30, 1930, renamed it Banff National Park. The name comes from the Canadian Pacific Railway station, which was in turn named after the Banffshire region in Scotland.
Connections
Associated With
Source Banff National Park (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Banff National Park (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead section
Banff National Park is Canada's first national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rocky Mountains, 110-180 kilometres (68-112 mi) west of Calgary, Banff encompasses 6,641 square kilometres (2,564 sq mi) of mountainous terrain, with many glaciers and ice fields, dense coniferous forest, and alpine landscapes.
Lead section
Banff National Park is Canada's first national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park.
Governing body field (existing citation)
Parks Canada
entity-description, international-designation unesco-world-heritage-site
Located in Alberta's Rocky Mountains roughly 110 to 180 kilometres west of Calgary, it protects glacier-fed turquoise lakes including Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, the Columbia Icefield and extensive alpine and subalpine forest, and it anchors the larger Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks UNESCO World Heritage Site.
View the Source Wikidata: Banff National Park
- Wikidata Q41858, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
- Part Of: Canada, Wikidata item, property P17 (country)
View the SourceWikidata: Canada
On Continent: North America, Wikidata item for Canada, property P30 (continent)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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