Mount Revelstoke

Mount Revelstoke covers 260 km² in the Selkirk Mountains, next to the town of Revelstoke, in British Columbia. It is a small park by Canadian standards and has an unusual local origin: in 1908 residents cut a trail to the summit of Mount Revelstoke and, convinced of the value of its glaciers, peaks and waterfalls and of its potential as a scenic park, lobbied their members of parliament to obtain the declaration, which came in 1914, at a time when national parks barely existed anywhere in the world.

Its hallmark is the Meadows in the Sky Parkway, completed in 1927: a road that climbs from the valley floor to near the summit and makes this the only park in the Canadian system where a mountain top can be reached with a short walk from the car park. Up there unfold subalpine meadows whose brief but intense flowering draws visitors from around the world each summer. Below, on the valley floor, grows the interior rainforest, walkable on boardwalks among giant cedars.

That altitudinal gradient, from rainforest to alpine tundra, supports a varied fauna: grizzly bears, wolverines and mountain caribou move across the slopes with the seasons, and the birds change with height, from the tropical migrants of the valley forest to the grey jays of the subalpine. There are species at risk such as the olive-sided flycatcher, the rusty blackbird, Lewis's woodpecker, the Coeur d'Alene salamander and the western toad. At the foot of the mountain a ski jump operated that drew local and international athletes and where world records were set; ski jumping at Mount Revelstoke is recognised today as an event of national historic significance.