Protected Areas through Time

A protected area is a geographically defined area that is designated, regulated and managed to achieve specific conservation objectives. Canada has a long history of establishing protected areas. The first such area, Banff National Park, was created in 1885. Although there was a conscious effort to establish policies to protect land and wildlife in the early years after Confederation, networks of protected areas have been created more systematically in more recent decades as a means to set aside areas free from resource-extraction activities. Over time, an increasing diversity of protected-area types has been created: forest reserves, national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and ecological reserves, to name but a few. This map illustrates the 1385 protected areas in Canada as of 2007, that are greater than 10 square kilometres and administered by the federal, provincial, territorial and Aboriginal governments. They are classified according to the year they were established, and together illustrate the progression through time in the growth of Canada’s protected areas.