Special Places: Eco-lessons from the National Parks in Atlantic Canada

Student Information Sheet: Cape Breton Highlands National Park of Canada

Where the mountains meet the sea

What’s in the park?

The Highlands are the most spectacular part of Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The Highlands are old, flat mountains with no pointy tops or peaks. They cover most of the park and have many deep river valleys and cliffs. There are two great bodies of water on either side of the park: the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Cape Breton Highlands National Park is “where the mountains meet the sea”.

© Parks Canada / Don Pentz

The mountains and ocean create many different climates (weather conditions) and habitats (homes) for plants and animals to live.

There are three kinds of forests in the park: Acadian, Boreal and Taiga. Acadian mixed forest grows in the warmer valleys. Mixed forests have hardwood trees (with leaves) mixed with evergreens (trees with cones and needles). Boreal forest of evergreen trees grows on the top of the Highlands where it is colder. Taiga forest grows in the bogs (swamps) and rocky barrens (land where almost nothing grows) on the top; this area looks like the Arctic because the trees are so short.

Each of these forests is a different habitat or home. Each habitat has slightly different climate, soils, plants and animals. Other habitats are found at the ocean shoreline such as sandy beaches, rocky headlands (cliffs) and a small intertidal zone (the area of shoreline between the limits of high and low tide).

Some of the mammals here are moose, deer, lynx, bobcat, coyote, fox, snowshoe hare and red squirrel. In the early 1900s, moose became extinct here because of too much hunting. Back in 1949 the park re-introduced (brought in) moose from Alberta and now there are thousands of moose all over Cape Breton.

The Cabot Trail is a road that runs around the park. It is one of the most famous roads in Canada because of the great beauty of the mountains and ocean.

Visitors like to hike, swim, golf, camp and see wildlife such as whales, bald eagles and moose. More than 200,000 people visit the park every year.

In 1936 Cape Breton Highlands National Park of Canada was created to protect the mountains of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. The park protects a special part of Canada for our future.

Why is this park special?

The unique Highlands, or mountains, make this place special. The mountain cliffs at the ocean shore make this park a place of outstanding beauty. The mountains provide a place for three kinds of forests to grow and many animals to live.

Cape Breton Highlands is special because some of the oldest forests in Nova Scotia grow here. Some of the trees are more than 300 years old. They are so huge that it would take four students to make a circle around one tree. Old forests are special because there are not many left on our continent. It is very important to protect them.

The park also has plants that usually only grow in the Arctic and the high mountains of western Canada.

The park is special because it protects the habitat of species that have small populations, such as bald eagle, American marten, Atlantic salmon and Canada lynx.

The park is also special because of its interesting history. People of many cultures, including Mi’kmaq, Acadian and Scottish, all lived here.

What is the park concerned about?

The park was created to protect part of the Highlands for the future and also so that people can visit a special part of Canada. The park is concerned about how to let people visit the park without harming it too much.

Each year thousands of people visit Cape Breton Highlands and the Cabot Trail. Air pollution from cars kills certain plants such as lichens. Natural habitat is destroyed when the park makes roads, washrooms, lawns and campgrounds for visitors. When people don’t stay on trails they step on plants and damage them. Visitors also create lots of garbage and sewage.

National parks are supposed to stay natural. They are supposed to have all their plants and animals. They are supposed to have clean air and water. Some plants and animals are already missing from this park. The woodland caribou and the wolf are now both extinct in Cape Breton. Park managers need help to protect national parks. What can visitors do? What can you do?

References

Parks Canada Web site: www.parkscanada.gc.ca