Aulavik National Park
Encyclopedia
Aulavik National Park is a national park
located on Banks Island
in the Northwest Territories
of Canada
. It is known for its access to the Thomsen River
, one of the most northerly navigable rivers in North America
. The park is a fly-in park, and protects approximately 12274 km (7,626.73 mi) of Arctic Lowlands at the northern end of the island. The most practical way to visit the park is to charter a plane, and currently the park has four landing sites. Aulavik is considered a polar desert
and often experiences high winds. Precipitation for the park is approximately 300 mm (11.8 in) per year. In the southern regions of the park a sparsely vegetated upland plateau reaches a height of 450 m (1,476.4 ft) above sea level.
The park has the highest concentration of muskoxen on earth, with estimates of 68,000 to 80,000 animals on the island, approximately 20% of which are thought to reside in the park. It is also home to the endangered Peary caribou
as well as the more common barren-ground caribou
. ptarmigan and raven
s are considered the only year-round birds in the park, although 43 different species make seasonal use of the area. The park is completely treeless, and arctic fox
es, brown
and northern collared lemming
s, arctic hare
s and wolves
roam the rugged terrain. Birds of prey in the park include snowy owl
s, rough-legged hawk
s, gyrfalcon
s, and Peregrine falcon
s, who feed on the lemmings.
Prior to the arrival of the Thule culture
in southern Banks Island there were some Pre-Dorset culture
people living in what is now the Aulavik National Park. Due to the cooling climate brought on by the Little Ice Age
Banks Island was most likely deserted until the arrival of the Inuvialuit
in the 17th century.
Aulavik National Park has two major bays, Castel Bay
and Mercy Bay
, and lies south of the McClure Strait
. Captain Robert McClure
, spent two winters in Mercy Bay on HMS Investigator
, while searching for the missing John Franklin
's lost expedition
between 1850 and 1853. McClure's team abandoned their ship in Mercy Bay and hiked across the sea-ice of the strait to board another ship, HMS Resolute.
The Mercy Bay area was visited by the Copper Inuit
of Victoria Island to salvage materials left by McClure's party. They also hunted the caribou and muskox in the area as evidenced by the large number of food caches. In the 20th century the area was popular with Inuvialuit due to the large numbers of foxes. Until the fur trade
went into decline, fox trapping provided a source of income for people from as far away as the Mackenzie Delta
and the North Slope
of Alaska
. This influx of people led to the establishment of Sachs Harbour
, the only community on the island.
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
located on Banks Island
Banks Island
One of the larger members of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Banks Island is situated in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is separated from Victoria Island to its east by the Prince of Wales Strait and from the mainland by Amundsen Gulf to its south. The Beaufort Sea lies...
in the Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It is known for its access to the Thomsen River
Thomsen River
The Thomsen River, located in the Northwest Territories of Canada, is the northernmost usable river of the country. It is famous for canoeing.It flows across Banks Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and flows northward through Aulavik National Park before it empties through the Castel Bay...
, one of the most northerly navigable rivers in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. The park is a fly-in park, and protects approximately 12274 km (7,626.73 mi) of Arctic Lowlands at the northern end of the island. The most practical way to visit the park is to charter a plane, and currently the park has four landing sites. Aulavik is considered a polar desert
Polar desert
Polar deserts are areas with annual precipitation less than 250 millimeters and a mean temperature during the warmest month of less than 10°C and in the coldest month has a mean temperature of 56degress Polar deserts on Earth cover nearly 5 million square kilometers and are mostly hard bedrock or...
and often experiences high winds. Precipitation for the park is approximately 300 mm (11.8 in) per year. In the southern regions of the park a sparsely vegetated upland plateau reaches a height of 450 m (1,476.4 ft) above sea level.
The park has the highest concentration of muskoxen on earth, with estimates of 68,000 to 80,000 animals on the island, approximately 20% of which are thought to reside in the park. It is also home to the endangered Peary caribou
Peary Caribou
The Peary Caribou is a caribou subspecies found in the high Arctic islands of Canada's Nunavut and Northwest territories. They are the smallest of the North American caribou, with the females weighing an average of 60 kg and the males 110 kg...
as well as the more common barren-ground caribou
Barren-ground Caribou
Barren-ground Caribou is a subspecies of the caribou that is found mainly in the Canadian territories Nunavut and the Northwest Territories and western Greenland. It sometimes includes the similar porcupine caribou, in which case the barren-ground caribou also is found in Alaska...
. ptarmigan and raven
Raven
Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...
s are considered the only year-round birds in the park, although 43 different species make seasonal use of the area. The park is completely treeless, and arctic fox
Arctic fox
The arctic fox , also known as the white fox, polar fox or snow fox, is a small fox native to Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and is common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. The Greek word alopex, means a fox and Vulpes is the Latin version...
es, brown
North American Brown Lemming
The North American brown lemming, Lemmus trimucronatus, is a small North American lemming. Originally called the Siberian Brown Lemming Lemmus sibiricus it was later decided that they formed two distinct species....
and northern collared lemming
Northern Collared Lemming
The Northern Collared Lemming , sometimes called the Peary Land Collared Lemming in Canada, is a small North American lemming. At one time, it was considered to be a subspecies of the Arctic Lemming...
s, arctic hare
Arctic Hare
The arctic hare , or polar rabbit is a species of hare which is adapted largely to polar and mountainous habitats. The arctic hare survives with a thick coat of fur and usually digs holes under the ground or snow to keep warm and sleep...
s and wolves
Gray Wolf
The gray wolf , also known as the wolf, is the largest extant wild member of the Canidae family...
roam the rugged terrain. Birds of prey in the park include snowy owl
Snowy Owl
The Snowy Owl is a large owl of the typical owl family Strigidae. The Snowy Owl was first classified in 1758 by Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish naturalist who developed binomial nomenclature to classify and organize plants and animals. The bird is also known in North America as the Arctic Owl, Great...
s, rough-legged hawk
Rough-legged Buzzard
The Rough-legged Buzzard , called the Rough-legged Hawk in North America, is a medium-large bird of prey. It is found in Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Eurasia during the breeding season and migrates south for the winter.The species exhibits a wide variety of plumage patterns...
s, gyrfalcon
Gyrfalcon
The Gyrfalcon — Falco rusticolus — is the largest of the falcon species. The Gyrfalcon breeds on Arctic coasts and the islands of North America, Europe, and Asia. It is mainly resident there also, but some Gyrfalcons disperse more widely after the breeding season, or in winter.Individual vagrancy...
s, and Peregrine falcon
Peregrine Falcon
The Peregrine Falcon , also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the Duck Hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache"...
s, who feed on the lemmings.
Prior to the arrival of the Thule culture
Thule people
The Thule or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by AD 1000 and expanded eastwards across Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people of the earlier Dorset culture that had previously inhabited the region...
in southern Banks Island there were some Pre-Dorset culture
Dorset culture
The Dorset culture was a Paleo-Eskimo culture that preceded the Inuit culture in Arctic North America. It has been defined as having four phases, with distinct technology related to the people's hunting and tool making...
people living in what is now the Aulavik National Park. Due to the cooling climate brought on by the Little Ice Age
Little Ice Age
The Little Ice Age was a period of cooling that occurred after the Medieval Warm Period . While not a true ice age, the term was introduced into the scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939...
Banks Island was most likely deserted until the arrival of the Inuvialuit
Inuvialuit
The Inuvialuit or Western Canadian Inuit are Inuit people who live in the western Canadian Arctic region. They, like all other Inuit, are descendants of the Thule who migrated eastward from Alaska...
in the 17th century.
Aulavik National Park has two major bays, Castel Bay
Castel Bay
Castel Bay is a Canadian Arctic waterway in the Northwest Territories. It is a southern arm of M'Clure Strait on northeast Banks Island. The mouth of the larger Mercy Bay is less than to the east. These bays are a part of Aulavik National Park....
and Mercy Bay
Mercy Bay
Mercy Bay is a Canadian Arctic waterway in the Northwest Territories. It is a southern arm of M'Clure Strait on northeast Banks Island. The mouth of Castel Bay is less than to the west...
, and lies south of the McClure Strait
McClure Strait
The M'Clure Strait is a strait on the edge of the Canadian Northwest Territories. It forms the northwestern end of one of the routes through the Northwest Passage. The strait was named for Robert McClure, an Irish Arctic explorer serving in the Royal Navy...
. Captain Robert McClure
Robert McClure
Sir Robert John Le Mesurier McClure was an Irish explorer of the Arctic.In 1854, he was the first to transit the Northwest Passage , as well as the first to circumnavigate the Americas.-Early life and career:He was born at Wexford, in Ireland, the posthumous son of one of Abercrombie's captains,...
, spent two winters in Mercy Bay on HMS Investigator
HMS Investigator (1848)
HMS Investigator was a merchant ship purchased in 1848 to search for Sir John Franklin's lost expedition. She made two voyages to the Arctic and had to be abandoned in 1853 after becoming trapped in the ice. Her wreckage was found in July 2010 on Banks Island, in the Beaufort Sea...
, while searching for the missing John Franklin
John Franklin
Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...
's lost expedition
Franklin's lost expedition
Franklin's lost expedition was a doomed British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England in 1845. A Royal Navy officer and experienced explorer, Franklin had served on three previous Arctic expeditions, the latter two as commanding officer...
between 1850 and 1853. McClure's team abandoned their ship in Mercy Bay and hiked across the sea-ice of the strait to board another ship, HMS Resolute.
The Mercy Bay area was visited by the Copper Inuit
Copper Inuit
Copper Inuit are a Canadian Inuit group who live north of the tree line, in Nunavut's Kitikmeot Region and the Northwest Territories's Inuvik Region. Most historically lived in the area around Coronation Gulf, on Victoria Island, and southern Banks Island.Their western boundary was Wise Point,...
of Victoria Island to salvage materials left by McClure's party. They also hunted the caribou and muskox in the area as evidenced by the large number of food caches. In the 20th century the area was popular with Inuvialuit due to the large numbers of foxes. Until the fur trade
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
went into decline, fox trapping provided a source of income for people from as far away as the Mackenzie Delta
Mackenzie River
The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories...
and the North Slope
Alaska North Slope
The Alaska North Slope is the region of the U.S. state of Alaska located on the northern slope of the Brooks Range along the coast of two marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean, the Chukchi Sea being on the western side of Point Barrow, and the Beaufort Sea on the eastern.The region contains the...
of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
. This influx of people led to the establishment of Sachs Harbour
Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories
Sachs Harbour is a hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Situated on the southwestern coast of Banks Island in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, the population according to the 2006 census count was 122 people. The two principal languages in the town are...
, the only community on the island.
See also
- National Parks of Canada
- List of National Parks of Canada
- List of Northwest Territories parks