Riding Mountain Natural Area

Riding Mountain Aspen Parkland in the Fall (Photo by NCC)

The Riding Mountain Natural Area is home to wildflowers, aspen parkland, highland evergreens and lowland eastern hardwood forest. Large mammals roam the area's rolling, forested hills, meadows, valleys, lakes and wetlands. 

The natural area is home to most of Manitoba's remaining fescue prairie and includes one of only 18 UNESCO-designated Biosphere Reserves in Canada. 

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is working to conserve lands in the area surrounding Riding Mountain National Park and in the areas between Riding Mountain National Park and Duck Mountain Provincial Forest. NCC owns a number of properties in this area, and maintains a field station north of the town of Rossburn. NCC has entered into conservation agreements with many of the landowners in the area, who have agreed to voluntarily limit the type and extent of development that will take place on their properties.

For more information about the Riding Mountain Natural Area and the conservation work NCC is undertaking in the region, see NCC’s Riding Mountain Natural Area Conservation Plan.