Menissawok National Park
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Menissawok National Park was created in 1922 in southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada, primarily as a pronghorn antelope reservation. It was one of several national parks created in the Prairies expressly to protect and regenerate populations of bison and antelope whose numbers were dangerously small.[1]
Menissawok is a Cree Indian word meaning "common or national property" (the nearest Indian term for "national park"). The name was given to the national park established six miles southeast of Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. The area had functioned as an antelope reserve beginning in 1914, along with two others in the province: one east of Old Wives Lake, became an active reserve, 15 miles southwest of Moose Jaw. The other, east of Big Stick Lake, in the area of Maple Creek, was a temporary reservation, but was cancelled. Menissawok was the only one of the group to become a national park, comprising 17 square miles, in 1922.
But its life was short. With the rebound of antelope herds in southern Saskatchwan and Alberta, Menissawok was abolished, along with several small "Dominion Parks", when the National Parks Act came into force on May 30, 1930. It was felt that other similar remaining national parks, namely Wawaskesy and Nemiskam, would provide enough range for the antelope, which was no longer in danger of extinction. The land comprising Menissawok National Park was turned over to the province of Saskatchewan.
[edit] References
- ^ Others included Buffalo National Park, Wawaskesy National Park, and Nemiskam National Park, all in Alberta. They were all abolished by 1947.
