Wood Bison Gateway & the Matcheetawin Discovery Trails

Wood Bison Gateway & the Matcheetawin Discovery Trails, located north of Fort MacKay, offers interpretive walking trails through reclaimed boreal landscapes. Approximately 27 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, travellers are greeted by a massive stone sculpture of a wood bison herd that signals the start of this experience. The Wood Bison Gateway also marks the beginning of the Matcheetawin Discovery Trails, a Cree word meaning beginning place, and the Sagow Pematosowin Trail, Cree for living in peaceful co-existence with the land. This four-kilometre interpretive trail system spans 50 hectares and showcases several types of reclaimed land, including spruce and aspen forests, jack pine stands, grasslands and wetlands. Along the way, visitors can see how the landscape is recovering and changing over time, offering a quiet, reflective walk rooted in the local environment and language.