Waterton Lakes National Park of Canada grew from conservation efforts begun by local rancher F.W. Godsal, who wrote to Ottawa in 1893 urging that the area be reserved for public use, and it was protected in 1895 as Canada’s fourth national park. Representing the southern Rocky Mountains Natural Region, Waterton is a landscape where ancient mountains rise sharply from prairie and encircle a chain of lakes. Shaped by wind, fire, and flooding, it supports more than 1,000 plant species, more than 250 bird species, more than 60 kinds of mammals, 24 fish species, 10 reptile and amphibian species, thousands of invertebrates, and more than 300 cultural resources, while neighbouring places and people also help sustain this wildlife. Cameron Falls flows over ancient dolomitic rocks formed from sediments deposited more than 1,500 million years ago, when only simple life forms such as bacteria and algae existed.