Glacier is a special place to many people. It is a national park and biosphere reserve. Together with Waterton Lakes National Park it is the world’s first international peace park and a world heritage site. No other place in America has those four designations.
These designations reflect the fact Waterton-Glacier provides an outstanding opportunity for ecological management and research in one of the most ecologically intact areas remaining in the temperate regions of the world. Waterton-Glacier lies at the core of the transboundary Crown of the Continent ecosystem. Due to wide variations in elevation, climate, and soil, five distinct vegetation zones have produced strikingly diverse habitats that sustain plant and animal populations, including threatened and endangered, rare, and sensitive species. Waterton-Glacier’s cultural resources chronicle the history of human activities that show that people have long placed high value on the area’s natural features.