Riding Mountain National Park Trivia Quiz

Answer: a biosphere reserve by UNESCO

At various stages between 1929 and 1933, Riding Mountain National Park was established by the federal government of Canada. In 1986, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) established the Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve.

The designation is in recognition of the diversity of ecosystems present, as well as for maintaining the biodiversity and conservation.

Answer: Tundra

The combinations of boreal forest, Eastern deciduous forest, and the resulting mixed forest provides many opportunities for a great diversity of organisms. Though grasslands do not make up a large area of the park, their presence is significant for the biodiversity of the area. There is no tundra anywhere near the Riding Mountain.

Conifers in the park are largely white spruce, black spruce, jack pine, and tamarack, while the deciduous trees are largely trembling aspen or poplar and birch, along with some maple, ash, oak, and elm.

Answer: World War II prisoner of war camp

The P.O.W. camp at Whitewater Lake housed about 450 German prisoners in the minimum security camp. Guards were unarmed and the prisoners were rumoured to have often slipped away to local dances in nearby communities and to have worked for local farmers. Remnants of the camp can be still be seen.

Answer: Bison

While the Riding Mountain area hosts a wide variety of wildlife, there is no record of rattlesnakes in the area. The Lake Audy bison enclosure contains about thirty animals in 500 hectares. Animals such as deer, bear, fox, and coyotes can get in and out of holes in the enclosure which are too small for bison to slip through. Wolves, though naturally predators of bison, do not go near the man-made structure.

Answer: Tuberculosis

The presence of bovine tuberculosis in the elk and deer in Riding Mountain has been prominent in 1991, 1997, and 2001. Reports in 2003 called for culling of elk to keep the population at about 2500 animals until bovine tuberculosis was eradicated in the Riding Mountain area. Bovine tuberculosis is not naturally found in elk and deer and was likely introduced from contact with domestic livestock. Bovine tuberculosis is a highly contagious disease which often infects the lungs. The bacteria is easily airborne during normal respiration, coughing and sneezing. When animals share feed and water, they can easily infect each other. Tuberculosis has periodically required the destruction of the park's bison herd, as well.

(Source: House of Commons Canada, "Bovine Tuberculosis in the Immediate Vicinity of Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba", Report of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, April 2003.)

Answer: Clear Lake

Clear Lake is the largest lake in Riding Mountain Park. The lake is popular for its beaches, boating, fishing, water sports, and the trails that meander along its shoreline.

Answer: Beaver

Born in England, Belaney came to Canada in 1906. He returned to Europe in 1915 for World War I, but later journeyed back to Canada where he learned the ways of the Ojibway people. In 1931, now known as Grey Owl, Belaney began work in Riding Mountain Park as a naturalist to help re-establish the beaver population in the park. With him he brought his beavers, Jellyroll and Rawhide. Though he only stayed in the park for aboutsix months before moving west to Ajawaan Lake in Prince Albert National Park, he is recognized in Riding Mountain as a "keeper of native animals".

Answer: Ground squirrels

The mounds in Riding Mountain do resemble "mole hills", but moles have never been found in the park. Ground squirrels are the culprits!

Answer: Snowmobiling

Located on the Manitoba Escarpment, Riding Mountain is approximately 3000 square kilometres of forests and grasslands and more than 900 lakes. The majestic area contains over 400 kilometres of trails for hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, and horses.

Snowmobiling is restricted to the surface of Clear Lake (and along the park boundary where trails are maintained in partnership with Snoman). No other areas within the Park are designated for this activity.

Answer: Wood stork

Prominent birds found in the park are loons, grey jays, various owls, waterfowl, and many too numerous to list. Storks are not indigenous to the area.

Riding Mountain is home to 61 different species of mammal, more than 270 species of bird, 14 species of reptile, thirty species of fish, as well as 728 different species of plants.

Mammals found in Riding Mountain include the black bear, grey or timber wolf, elk, moose, deer, beaver, red fox, cougar, lynx, bison, and raccoon.