Introduction

The 932 km² Parkland Dunes is located in east-central Alberta, southeast of the Town of Wainwright. This AWA Area of Concern stretches from CFB Wainwright in the north to Sounding Lake and Neutral Hills in the south, encompassing the Wainwright Dunes, the so-called Cluster of Unnamed Lakes, Sunken Lake, David Lake, and the hamlet of Metiskow (population ~100). An uncultivated island in a sea of agriculture, Parkland Dunes is a relatively undisturbed area that overlaps two rapidly vanishing, and generally unprotected, natural subregions, Central Parkland and Northern Fescue.

Status:

• A small portion of Parkland Dunes is protected under the Wilderness Areas, Ecological Reserves, Natural Areas and Heritage Rangelands Act. Intended to preserve public lands for ecological purposes, this act created the 28 km² Wainwright Dunes Ecological Reserve, designated in 1988. The reserve is located 40 km south of Wainwright and is accessible to the public by foot only.