Wikipedia:Today's featured article/May 11, 2010
Glacier National Park, located in the American state of Montana, was designated a national park on May 11, 1910. It borders the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. The park encompasses over 1,000,000 acres (4,047 km2) and includes parts of two mountain ranges (sub-ranges of the Rocky Mountains), over 130 named lakes, more than 1,000 different species of plants and hundreds of species of animals. This vast pristine ecosystem is the centerpiece of what has been referred to as the "Crown of the Continent Ecosystem", a region of protected land encompassing 16,000 square miles (41,440 km2). The mountains of Glacier National Park began forming 170 million years ago when ancient rocks were forced eastward up and over much younger rock strata. Known as the Lewis Overthrust, these sedimentary rocks are considered to have some of the finest fossilized examples of extremely early life found anywhere on Earth. Of the estimated 150 glaciers which existed in the park in the mid 1800s, only 25 remained by 2010. Glacier National Park borders Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada—the two parks are known as the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, and were designated as the world's first International Peace Park in 1932. Both parks were designated by the United Nations as Biosphere Reserves in 1976, and in 1995 as World Heritage Sites. (more...)
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