For those that love the great outdoors, interesting wildlife, incredible geological structures and incredibly fun outdoor activities, one place that many Americans flock to are our great national parks. Our national parks are huge; some of them larger than many countries around the world and in these parks are pristine beauty with plenty of plants, trees and animal life. Perhaps one of America’s favorite national park is Glacier National Park- located in the northwest section of the state of Montana.
The Beauty of Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park includes incredible beauty with its two mountain ranges, over 130 lakes, an incredible diversity of plant life and trees and several hundred species of wildlife. Glacier National Park is absolutely huge, spreading over one million acres and comprising one of the largest ecosystems in the world. This park was part of the many areas of land dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt as national parks. Glacier National Park was created in 1910.
The Natural Beauty of Glacier National Park
The park gets its name from several glaciers that are at the park. During the ice age, about 15,000 years ago, this area had quite a few large glaciers, however as the climate changed, so did the glaciers in size. About 1550 to 1850, there was another small period where the climate was extremely cold and glaciers became more prominent again. However, as the climate once again becomes warmer, the size of the glaciers retreat.
The Big Horn Sheep
Glacier National Park has hundreds of species of animals and one of the most interesting is the big horn sheep. The big horn sheep gets their name from having horns that can extend over 42 inches in length. These sheep are extremely hardy and traverse steep cliffs. They can usually be spotted high above in the mountains. Unfortunately, for the last couple of hundred years, their numbers have dropped precipitously. From a once strong 2 million in North America, today there are about 28K in all of North America and about 800 at Glacier National Park. However, research is now being done on these great big horn sheep to help conserve the population and increase its numbers.
Read More About Glacier National Park
To read more about Glacier National Park, the Smithsonian Magazine offers an article on the subject. Please read it at the following link: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/
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