To name a few, the Athabasca river flows through Jasper National Park and Wood Buffalo National Park. Also, it winds its way through the wildland provincial parks of Fort Assiniboine Sandhills, Hubert Lake, La Biche River, Grand Rapids, and Richardson River Dunes. In Jasper National Park, the Athabasca River drops 75 feet, turning into a roaring, foaming, well-known waterfall named Athabasca Falls.
The Athabasca river played an important part in history. It had a key part in the main fur trade route from about 1778 that lead from the Mackenzie River to the Great lakes, along with the Clearwater River and the Methye Portage. Along the banks of the river, the Sekani, Shuswap, Salish, Stoney, Kootenay, and Cree tribes hunted and fished. The Athabasca River was also important to European Colonization.
Many plants and animals live along the banks of the Athabasca River. There are also many fish that make their homes in the river, too, such as the arctic grayling, burbot, goldeye, walleye, and mountain whitefish. The many animals include the plains bison, bighorn sheep, grizzly bear, caribou, elk, black bears, wolves, moose, beaver, and deer. The vegetation, consisting of the alpine fir, engelmann spruce, douglas fir, lodgepole pine, aspen balsam poplar, white spruce, balsam fir, and more provides the many wildlife with a home and