Wood Buffalo

Straddling the border of Alberta and the North West Territories, Wood Buffalo is Canada’s largest national park and the second-largest in the world. It is home to Canada’s only nesting grounds for the endangered whooping cranes, is the summer range of white pelicans and of course the year-round home of its namesake, the threatened wood bison. For millennia First Nations like the Mikisew Cree and Athabasca Chipewyan also lived in harmony with the land, dancing through the ever-changing seasons in this beautiful yet often times harsh climate.

But now this UNESCO World Heritage Site is under threat thanks to the existing and proposed Peace River dams to the west and the Alberta tar sands to the south. The newest tar sands proposal, the Teck Frontier Mine, would also be Canada’s largest and would be located just 25 kilometres south of the park’s border.

These photographs were taken with the support of The Narwhal and Sierra Club BC and the photo essay, published on The Narwhal’s website, was nominated for a Canadian Publishing National Magazine Award as well as a Canadian Digital Publishing Award. To read the full in-depth articles by Narwhal reporter Judith Lavoie, click here.