Recreation and Places to Visit

One of Manitoba’s chief tourist attractions is Riding Mountain National Park (established in 1929), developed on one of the forested segments of the Manitoba Escarpment, which rises some 460 m (1,500 ft) above the prairie countryside. Within the park are camping facilities and lakes for swimming. Wapusk National Park (established in 1996) is located on the western shore of Hudson Bay. The park encompasses a vast expanse of tundra, muskeg, and lakes, and is home to polar bear, caribou, and many other animals. A third national park, the Manitoba Lowlands National Park, has been proposed for the sensitive ecological region that lies between Lake Winnipeg and Lake Winnipegosis in central Manitoba.

The federal government has also set aside five national historic sites in Manitoba. Lower Fort Garry, on the Red River near Winnipeg, is a stone fort constructed by the Hudson’s Bay Company in the 1830s. Prince of Wales Fort near Churchill contains the ruins of another Hudson’s Bay Company fort that was built in the 18th century and is now partly restored. Riel House, in Winnipeg, is the fully restored and furnished wood-frame home of Métis leader Louis Riel, a founder of Manitoba. St. Andrew's Rectory, on the lower Red River, preserves a historic church and grounds. The Forks is an expanse of parkland in the heart of Winnipeg that for thousands of years served as an important meeting place for indigenous peoples.

In the south of the province, at the geographic center of the continent, is the International Peace Garden. A joint United States-Canadian enterprise, it extends from the international border into Manitoba and North Dakota.

Provincial Parks

Manitoba maintains dozens of provincial parks. The largest are Atikaki, Whiteshell, Grass River, Nopiming, Duck Mountain, Clearwater, Spruce Woods, Hecla Island, and Paint Lake. Whiteshell, the most popular park, encompasses more than 200 lakes and streams and also contains the resort town of Falcon Lake, which has recreational facilities. In addition to the provincial parks, Manitoba maintains a variety of ecological reserves, wildlife management areas, heritage rivers, and other sites.

A variety of museums in the province preserve Manitoba’s natural and human history. Most provincial museums are in Winnipeg, including the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature, which offers interactive exhibits that explore the environment, space, science, and history; the Musée de Saint-Boniface (Saint Boniface Museum), which focuses on Manitoba’s French-Canadian and Métis cultures; the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, which preserves the records of the company and its subsidiaries; and the Living Prairie Museum, an interactive display that preserves a tract of the endangered tall-grass prairie ecosystem. The Manitoba Agricultural Museum and a restored pioneer village is located in Austin, and the Heritage North Museum, in Thompson, features exhibits on mining, the fur trade, and natural history.

Manitoba has 38 public libraries, including regional and municipal systems. The Winnipeg Public Library has 21 branches. The province is home to a number of academic libraries, including the University of Manitoba Library system—one of the major institutional libraries in the province. The Legislative Library of Manitoba, which contains official publications and government records, is in Winnipeg.

Source: MSN Encarta: Online Encyclopedia