To visit Elk Island National Park a personal vehicle or tour service is recommended; there is no convenient public transportation to and from the Park.

Entrance fees apply in all National Parks in Canada. Parks Canada does not offer personal wildlife viewing tours in Elk Island.

Watchable Wildlife Tours Group is pleased to offer guided services to introduce you to the 8th best wildlife viewing area in the world, as rated by National Geographic.

Elk Island National Park is located 45 minutes east of Alberta's capital city, Edmonton; The Park is bordered by Strathcona County and the County of Lamont.

As part of the original Beaver Hills landscape, Elk Island is adjacent to and north of the Cooking Lake - Blackfoot Grazing, Wildlife and Provincial Recreation Area, also known as Blackfoot, Canada's first forest reserve, established in 1899.

Originally founded in 1906 as a wildlife refuge for preservation of the elk herds in the area, Elk Island National Park has grown to be a wildlife sanctuary for bison, moose, elk, white tail and mule deer, beaver, porcupine, Canadian lynx and other small animals. It is home and migratory stopover to 250 species of birds, including pelicans, great blue herons, a large assortment of ducks, and birds of prey … bald eagles, great horned owls and osprey.

Elk Island National Park has been the most influential organization in re-establishing bison in not only Western Canada and the United States, but has contributed to growing bison herds all over the world.

The Park has also been instrumental in the protection of and growth of an endangered species, the Trumpeter Swan. Since 1987, Canadian biologists have attempted with some success to re-introduce trumpeters to their former breeding area in Elk Island National Park. They take family groups from around Grande Prairie, then mark and release them in the park. The adults will return to Grande Prairie the following year while the young will return to the park, where they learned to fly.

After the African Serengeti, Elk Island has the 2nd highest population density of grazing animals in the world.

The Park celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2006.