Its name derives from the large plateau in the middle of the park, 200 m (660 ft) above the Red Deer River, which has never been developed by humans and retains virgin prairie grasses.

It is the site of an ancient buffalo jump, where Cree native people drove bison over the cliffs in large numbers to provide for their tribes.

The hills also contain unique flora and fauna that are not found this far east of Alberta's Rocky Mountains in as large numbers as at Dry Island.

The park contains the most important Albertosaurus bone bed in the world, which was first discovered by Barnum Brown in 1910 and rediscovered by Dr. Phil Currie in 1997.

Dr. Currie left the Royal Tyrrell Museum in October 2005 to become the Canada Research Chair with the Biological Sciences Department at the University of Alberta.