The Great Sand Hills which cover an area of approximately 1,900 square kilometres (730 square miles), are aeolian landforms which originated from sediments leftover by glacial melt waters around 13,000 years ago. The rolling topography of the hills have been shaped and moved by the force of strong winds.
As an environmentally sensitive area due to the broken topography and sparse ground cover, the Great Sand Hills are recognised as a nationally significant ecological landscape and the majority the area is now protected under provincial legislation including the Wildlife Habitat Protection Act and the Ecological Reserves Act.
As the massive sand hills roll away from the predominant wind, vegetation takes hold and creeps...
... up on the sand dunes from the backside. This vegetation stabilizes the landforms. The number and size of open sand hills grow and shrink depending on climatic conditions.
The topography of the Great Sand Hills plays host to a variety of plants including at least 218 vascular plant species, and more common plants such as cottonwood, wolf willow, sage bush, rose, creeping juniper, several grasses - just to name a few. Several plants that are considered to be rare in Saskatchewan are also found here such as schweinitz's flat sedge, small lupine, slender mouse ear cress, spiny milk-vetch, beaked annual skeleton-weed, and arid goosefoot.
Sand dunes at the Great Sand Hills, near Sceptre, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Situated approximately 35 kilometres from the Great Sand Hills Museum in the remote town of Sceptre, the landforms with their rolling topography are an interesting place to visit if travelling through the province of Saskatchewan.
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