Operated by Parks Canada, Waterton is open all year, but the main tourist season is during July and August.

[3] William Pearce, a Dominion Land Surveyor, was the first to suggest a park be established in the vicinity of Waterton Lakes in his 1886 annual report, although no action was taken by the government.

In 1893, Frederick William Godsal, a rancher who resided north of the lakes, wrote Pearce referencing his 1886 report and suggested the area be turned into a park reserve.

Minister of the Interior Thomas Mayne Daly came across the proposal and directed a park reserve be created in the area.

Finally, on May 30, 1895, Order-in-Council 1895-1621 established a 140 km2 (54 sq mi) unnamed forest park under the Dominion Lands Act.

[4][5] While oil had been found in the area since the late 1880s, the government began approving reservation and sales of land for prospecting in 1898.

On September 21, 1905, Frederick William Godsal wrote the Secretary of the Interior requesting he consider expanding the park reserve for scenic and recreational purposes.

[9] In 1914, Frank Oliver's successor as Minister of the Interior, William James Roche, significantly expanded the area of Waterton Lakes Park to 1,096 km2 (423 sq mi).

It was dedicated to world peace by Sir Charles Arthur Mander on behalf of Rotary International on 18 June 1932, whose members from the Alberta and Montana chapters lobbied for the formation of the park.

[15] In terms of local governance, those lands within Waterton Lakes National Park were split between the Municipal District of Kerr No.

The Lewis Overthrust allowed sediment Proterozoic to move as a unit, more or less, horizontally on the rocks of the Cretaceous period dating from about 70 million years ago on a remote 100 km south-east of the mountain's present location.

[21] Although there are no glaciers left in Waterton, aside from a few expanses of eternal snow, the landscape has been greatly shaped by the Wisconsin glaciation.

[21] Waterton Lakes National Park spans four ecoregions, foothills parkland, montane, subalpine and alpine.

Over 50 species of plants that are found the park are rare in Canada such as Bolander's quillwort, Lyall's scorpionweed, and Brewer's monkeyflower.

[25] Animals that inhabit this national park include wolverines, bighorn sheep, bald eagles, white-tailed deer, mule deer, mountain goats, elk, moose, foxes, timber wolves, bison, coyotes, beavers, river otters, cougars, lynxes, bobcats, snowshoe hares, pikas, hoary marmots, grizzly bears and black bears.

[27] In 1979, Waterton and bordering Glacier National park in the US were designated as World Biosphere reserves, preserving mountains, prairie, lakes and freshwater wetlands ecosystems.