the three parks protect over of wilderness. Bowron Lake Park contains three main groups of rock. The oldest is known as the Kaza Group, which is made up of mud and sand deposits that formed during the Precambrian period 600 million years ago, in a sea at the continental margin of what is now the Canadian Shield. The second group of rock, known today as the Cariboo Group, was formed 440 to 600 million years ago in the Cambrian period, when materials from the continental landmass were eroded by changing conditions in the sea. The third and youngest group, formed about 250 million years ago, is made up of sedimentary volcanic rocks, parts of which today are exposed in various parts of the park. This third group is known as the Slide Mountain Group. Most of the visible geological features of the park were formed during mountain-building processes that started about 100 million years after the sedimentary and volcanic material was deposited. This process formed the Quesnel highlands, to the northwest of the park, and the more rugged Cariboo Mountains to the southeast of the park. Both mountain groups were largely shaped in the Cretaceous period, alongside most of British Columbia's modern drainage channels. This continued into the Eocene, until roughly 25,000 years ago when the area was covered in a 2,000-metre ice sheet. The sheet was largely static at its center over the Cariboo Mountains, resulting in the sharp features and rugged peaks that characterize the Cariboo Range. The ice covering the Quesnel Highlands, however, was much more mobile, grinding the rock down and forming broad and rounded mountains with summits between – more subdued than the summits of the Cariboo Mountains, most of which are over 2,100 meters. 12,000 years ago, the glaciers in the area retreated, forming the park as it exists today. Glacial till remains visible in many areas of the park, and some small glaciers still exist on its higher slopes. The retreat of the glaciers formed the park's main sequence of lakes in a roughly quadrilateral arrangement, as viewed from space. Some examples include Indianpoint lake, formed when water from the Cariboo river was diverted by a blockage into the Indianpoint Valley, Unna Lake, which was formed from a melting kettle, and Sandy Lake and Spectacle lake, which were formed partially by meltwater streams. Ecology Flora The park spans sub-alpine and alpine ecosystems, and