Head-Smashed-In awarded Special Places designation

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Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is not only one of the world's largest, best preserved buffalo hunting grounds, but last month it also became the latest area to receive designation under the province's Special Places 2000 program.

In a special ceremony, Environmental Protection Minister Ty Lund announced that the 1,800 acres surrounding the Head-Smashed-In interpretive centre, located west of Fort Macleod, was receiving a provincial historic resources designation under the Special Places 2000 program.

The designation is the highest degree of legislative protection available for historic resources in Alberta.

"In order for any special recognition, as a First Nations you are recognizing our relationship with something that is very special to us," said Peter Strikes With A Gun, chief of the nearby Peigan Nation.

"The most important part of our way of life is the spiritual content. When we look towards these hills, we see the power, the history of our peoples, how they have maintained and preserved a way of life," he said.

"This is an excellent example of the incredible wealth and cultural heritage and human history that exists in southwest Alberta," said local MLA David Coutts, also chair of the provincial co-ordinating committee for Special Places 2000.

"This facility, tucked away so unobtrusively in the side of the cliff, is living proof that preservation, heritage appreciation and tourism can go hand in hand," he said.

Lund agreed.

"Special Places is mainly about preservation, but it's also about. . . heritage appreciation, recreation, and tourism slash economic development," said Lund. "In addition to helping us meet our preservation goal, the designation of a large portion of Head-Smashed-In will contribute to the other three goals of the program."

Protecting the land around the interpretive centre is just a small part of the larger picture, said George Gaschler, chair of the Head-Smashed-In advisory committee. Gaschler said the government could soon be recognizing more of the Foothills rough fescue grassland ecosystem under Special Places 2000.

Gaschler, also chair of a committee comprised of local residents, lease and grazing holders, is in the process of making recommendations to the government surrounding Crown grasslands that fall within the east-west boundaries of Highways 2 and 22 and south-north boundaries of Highways 3 and 533.

"This site is the leader in this program," said Gaschler.

Coutts acknowledged Gaschler's hopes, noting that grazing on the land around the building demonstrated a balance between preservation and sustainable use of resources.

Special Places 2000 is a program undertaken by the provincial government which aims to preserve representative examples of Alberta's six natural regions and 20 sub-regions.

In 1981, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization named the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump as one of Canada's 12 World Heritage Sites.