Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park is a natural park in Canada straddling the Alberta / Saskatchewan boundary and jointly administered by the two provinces. Located south-east of Medicine Hat in the Cypress Hills, it became Canada's first interprovincial park in 1989. The park consists of two protected areas, the west block, that straddles the Alberta / Saskatchewan boundary between Alberta Highway 41, the townsite of Elkwater, Saskatchewan Highway 615, Saskatchewan Highway 271, and Fort Walsh, and the centre block, an additional area of in Saskatchewan, west of Saskatchewan Highway 21. Geography The Cypress Hills plateau rises up to 200 metres above the surrounding prairie, to a maximum elevation of at "Head of the Mountain" at the west end in Alberta, making it Canada's highest point between the Canadian Rockies and the Labrador Peninsula. Eastward across the boundary is the highest point in Saskatchewan, at . The "West Block" of the Cypress Hills spans the provincial boundary. Battle Creek runs through the central part of the park. Although the hills seem relatively low, in a larger geographic context the plateau does rise gradually from many kilometres away so that the total elevation gain from Medicine Hat is approximately . History 1931 - Cypress Hills Provincial Park was established in Saskatchewan. 1951 - Cypress Hills Provincial Park was established in Alberta. 1989 - On August 25, the governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan signed an agreement committing themselves to cooperation on ecosystem management, education, and park promotion. 2000 - Fort Walsh National Historic Site (located on the Saskatchewan side of the West Block) joined the collective. Together, these three partner agencies make up the park. Both Alberta and Saskatchewan provincial governments signed the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park agreement, establishing the first interprovincial park in Canada. 2001 - On August 18, Vance Petriew discovered a comet from Cypress Hills during the Saskatchewan Summer Star Party. The comet was later named 185P/Petriew. 2004 - On September 28, Saskatchewan Parks, Alberta Community Development, Parks Canada and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada signed an agreement that declared the park a dark-sky preserve. 2011 - On August 25, the Park opened the Cypress Hills Observatory and Yurt classroom. Nature Approximately 700 species of plants and animals thrive in the park, including 14 species of orchids. The park protects the majority of the Cypress Hills landscape, which consists of three separate elevated blocks of lush forest and fescue grassland