Canoes: A Natural History in North America

Two paddlers are photographed in 1952 at Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. Photograph by Gar Lunney, National Film Board of Canada Collection, Library and Archives of Canada, R1196-14-7-E.

Canoes in a splash of colors await paddlers on Moraine Lake at Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada.

Frank S. Nicholson, poster for the National Park Service, c. 1936–1940. This poster is from the NYC Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which sponsored artists of almost all stripes during the Great Depression. Nicholson was among almost ten thousand artists who were supported by the WPA’s Federal Art Project.

Canoes and kayaks line the shore at Everglades National Park. The park’s Nine Mile Pond Canoe Trail has long been a popular route for paddlers.

The Missouri National Recreation River, established in 1964, is administered by the U.S. National Park Service.

John McPhee’s 1975 canoe trip to Alaska’s Salmon River was featured in his book, Coming Into the Country. The river’s headwaters pass through Kobuk Valley National Park.