Spruce Woods Park, Manitoba

The diverse, cross-country beauty of the nation is depicted on 12 provincial and territorial parks stamps to be issued for Canada Day 1993. "The glorious hills", a tract of 6,500 square kilometres southeast of Brandon contain many unique natural features. Designated a federal forest reserve in 1895, taken over by the province of Manitoba in 1930, the area became a provincial park in 1964. Glacial Lake Agassiz, larger than any lake found on Earth today, was created by the melting of ice and by water from northward flowing rivers which ran up against the huge ice dam. Over the next few thousand years the ice disappeared and the land, depressed by ice, rebounded. New drainage channels emerged and Lake Agassiz dried up, exposing the sandy bottom created earlier by the Assiniboine River. When whipped by winds, the sand formed dunes of 6-30 metres in height. Unsuited for farming due to the sand soil, the park exists as an island of natural beauty surrounded by farms and rural towns. Of the total geological area, plant life flourishes in all but 25 square kilometres. This area of open dunes, called "Muchie Manitou" or "Place of Evil Spirits" by the Cree is also known by several other names: Canada's Living Desert; the Carberry Desert; the Spirit Hills; or the Bald Head Hills. The stamp designs convey the feeling that the artist visited these spectacular locations and was awed by their beauty.