Old Man on His Back Plateau
Old Man on His Back Plateau is a small, oval-shaped plateau in southwest Saskatchewan, Canada. It lies south of the Cypress Hills and just north of the Montana border. The area is semi-arid grassland with rolling hills formed by glaciers. The plateau is about 12.9 kilometers long at its widest point and sits a little over 1,000 meters above sea level.
The name comes from its shape when viewed from the northwest: it looks like an old man lying on his back with his knees drawn up.
The plateau sits in the Rural Municipalities of Frontier No. 19 and Reno No. 51. Access is via Claydon Grid Road, about 15 kilometers west of Claydon, and Divide Road, which runs north from Divide. Highway 18 serves both Claydon and Divide.
In 1995, the Nature Conservancy of Canada created the Old Man on His Back Prairie and Heritage Conservation Area, protecting much of the plateau and surrounding prairie. Plains bison were introduced in 2003. In 2015, the site was designated a dark-sky preserve by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, the second such preserve in Canada and the NCC’s first.
The conservation area covers about 5,297 hectares (13,090 acres). The NCC runs the site as a protected area with sustainable grazing and bison management. There is a former ranch and an interpretive centre on site, and the area is the NCC’s flagship project. The land was previously owned by Peter and Sharon Butala.
Wildlife includes swift fox, burrowing owl, Sprague’s pipit, and pronghorn. There are also medicine wheels and teepee rings from past Indigenous camps.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:24 (CET).