Brilliant Silver Dollar - 100th Anniversary of Parks Canada (2011)

Check out the video on artist Luc Normandin
Highlights:
This coin is a masterpiece of frosted details, executed with artistry and skill. It’s an inspiring keepsake that’s rich in tradition as the latest issue in the Mint’s most enduring coin series. Perfect for nature lovers!

Coin design:
Four endangered ecological treasures are cradled in the hands of a young Canadian; a Whooping Crane, the Southern Maidenhair Fern, the Western Prairie- Fringed Orchid and a Kentucky Coffee Tree.

Conserving Canada’s Natural Treasures
Although green thinking is familiar to us today, at the dawn of the twentieth century people saw the economic good sense of managing resources for efficiency and profit. Increasingly, though, this pragmatic conservationism was bolstered by the growing conviction that the government had a responsibility to conserve wilderness for Canadians, and that citizens should be free to visit, explore, and enjoy Canada’s unrivalled wild landscapes. The Dominion Parks Branch—known today as Parks Canada—was founded in 1911, and mandated to conserve Canada’s unrivalled wilderness for Canadians to explore, and enjoy. Parks Canada is the world’s first system of national parks. From these seeds of sustainable thinking, Canada has—through the innovation of Parks Canada—nurtured a legacy of conservation that has blossomed to include 300,000 square kilometres of protected land and places of outstanding cultural and natural importance to the common heritage of humanity.

For a century, Parks Canada has remained the dedicated steward and steadfast guardian of Canada’s vast stores of magnificent natural treasures, maintaining them for the pleasure not only of Canadians, but of the world, and of generations yet to come.

Special Features:
• Commemorate a world first: Canada’s immense system of 42 National Parks, 167 National Historical Sites, and four National Marine Conservation Areas. Parks Canada also tends to ten of Canada’s fourteen UNESCO world heritage sites, from the Viking settlements of Newfoundland’s L’Anse aux Meadows to the North Coast Mountains of Kluane National Park and Reserve.
• Intricate and elegant design reveals the exceptional talents of the designer and unparalleled RCM craftsmanship.