Quttinirpaaq National Park

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Quttinirpaaq National Park
Quttinirtaaq 6 1997-08-05.jpg
Aerial view of Quttinirpaaq National Park, 1997
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Location of Quttinirpaaq National Park in Canada
Location Nunavut, Canada
Nearest town Resolute
Coordinates 82°13′N072°13′W / 82.217°N 72.217°W / 82.217; -72.217 (Quttinirpaaq National Park)
Area37,775 km2 (14,585 sq mi)
Established1988
Governing body Parks Canada
Website Quttinirpaaq National Park

Quttinirpaaq National Park is located on the northeastern corner of Ellesmere Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. It is the second most northerly park on Earth after Northeast Greenland National Park. [2] In Inuktitut, Quttinirpaaq means "top of the world". [3] [4] It was established as Ellesmere Island National Park Reserve in 1988, and the name was changed to Quttinirpaaq in 1999, [5] when Nunavut was created, and became a national park in 2000. [6] The reserve covers 37,775 km2 (14,585 sq mi), [7] making it the second largest park in Canada, after Wood Buffalo National Park.

Contents

The park is remarkable for its extensive glaciers and ice caps, desert-like conditions, and life forms that are uniquely adapted to the extreme polar environment. [8] Only about 50 people visit the park each year. [9]

Landscape

The land is dominated by rock and ice. It is a polar desert with very little annual precipitation.

Much of the highlands of the park are covered in ice caps. These ice caps, and the glaciers that descend from them, date back at least to the last episode of glaciation.

The park includes Barbeau Peak, which at 2,616 m (8,583 ft) is the highest mountain in Nunavut.

Wildlife

Some wildlife, notably Arctic hares, lemmings, muskoxen and Arctic wolves reside in this national park, but sparse vegetation and low temperatures support only small populations. There is a very small Peary caribou population as well. Other animal inhabitants include ringed seals, bearded seals, walruses, polar bears, and narwhals. During summer months, birds nest in the park including semipalmated plovers, red knots, gyrfalcons and long-tailed jaegers. Common plants include dwarf willow, arctic willow, and Arctic cotton, in addition to grasses and lichens. Plant and animal life is more concentrated in the Lake Hazen region, which has a milder climate than the surrounding ice cap-covered mountains and valleys.

Human history

Due to its high latitude and limited wildlife, there has never been any significant human presence within this part of Ellesmere Island. The pass from Tanquary Fiord through to Lake Hazen shows evidence of being used by Arctic people since about 5000 years ago. Tent rings and food caches show that the area was visited by pre-Dorset, Dorset and Thule people, the ancestors of modern Inuit.

The east and north end of the island was used as a starting point for various polar explorations. Fort Conger was an early Arctic exploration research base, and is now maintained as a Federal Heritage Building. [10]

Park

Parks Canada maintains warden stations and gravel air strips at Tanquary Fiord Airport, Lake Hazen and Ward Island. Tanquary Fiord and Lake Hazen are the main access points for tourists. [11] Beyond these warden stations, there are no facilities within the park itself. Two backpacking routes are the route between Lake Hazen and Tanquary Fiord, and a loop around the Ad Astra and Viking ice caps, both approximately 100 km (62 mi).

In 2004, the park was one of nine sites added to Canada's tentative list of potential World Heritage Sites. [12]

The park was honoured on a postage stamp issued by Canada Post on January 14, 2019. [13] It was a first-class rate stamp, issued at a value of 90 cents, and part of a nine-stamp definitive (regular) set issued the same day, in a series which debuted in 2018.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellesmere Island</span> Island of the Arctic Archipelago in Nunavut, Canada

Ellesmere Island is Canada's northernmost and third largest island, and the tenth largest in the world. It comprises an area of 196,236 km2 (75,767 sq mi), slightly smaller than Great Britain, and the total length of the island is 830 km (520 mi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qikiqtaaluk Region</span> Region of Nunavut, Canada

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Elizabeth Islands</span> Northernmost group of islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago

The Queen Elizabeth Islands are the northernmost cluster of islands in Canada's Arctic Archipelago, split between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories in Northern Canada. The Queen Elizabeth Islands contain approximately 14% of the global glacier and ice cap area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Axel Heiberg Island</span> Uninhabited island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auyuittuq National Park</span> National park in Nunavut, Canada

Auyuittuq National Park is a national park located on Baffin Island's Cumberland Peninsula, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, the largest political subdivision of Canada. The park was initially known as Baffin Island National Park when it was established in 1972, but the name was changed in 1976 to its current name to better reflect the region and its history. It features many terrains of Arctic wilderness, such as fjords, glaciers, and ice fields. Although Auyuittuq was established in 1972 as a national park reserve, it was upgraded to a full national park in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanquary Fiord Airport</span> Airport in Tanquary Fiord, Nunavut

Tanquary Fiord Airport is located at the southern side of Tanquary Fiord, Nunavut, Canada, close to the end of the fiord. It is located within Quttinirpaaq National Park and is maintained by Parks Canada. It serves as the main access to the park for tourists. Hikers to Lake Hazen, which is located 70 km (43 mi) to the northeast, start from Tanquary Camp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Hazen</span> Lake on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada

Lake Hazen is a freshwater lake in the northern part of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada, north of the Arctic Circle. It is the largest lake north of the Arctic Circle by volume. By surface area it is third largest, after Lake Taymyr in Russia and Lake Inari in Finland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arctic Cordillera</span> Terrestrial ecozone in northern Canada

The Arctic Cordillera is a terrestrial ecozone in northern Canada characterized by a vast, deeply dissected chain of mountain ranges extending along the northeastern flank of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago from Ellesmere Island to the northeasternmost part of the Labrador Peninsula in northern Labrador and northern Quebec, Canada. It spans most of the eastern coast of Nunavut with high glaciated peaks rising through ice fields and some of Canada's largest ice caps, including the Penny Ice Cap on Baffin Island. It is bounded to the east by Baffin Bay, Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea while its northern portion is bounded by the Arctic Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garfield Range</span> Mountain range in Nunavut, Canada

The Garfield Range is a mountain range on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. The mountains are made of Paleozoic rocks and rise to heights between 1,067 m (3,501 ft) and 1,433 m (4,701 ft) and are separated by valleys through which flow the major rivers fed by the ice fields and glaciers. Like most of the mountain ranges in the Arctic, it is one of the world's northernmost mountain ranges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conger Range</span>

The Conger Range, also called the Conger Mountains, is a mountain range in Quttinirpaaq National Park on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada, beginning about 16 km (10 mi) west of Mount Osborne. It is part of the Arctic Cordillera which is a vast dissected mountain system extending from Ellesmere Island to the northernmost tip of Labrador and northeastern Quebec. The Conger Range is a structural extension of the Garfield Range and continues into the highlands north of the head of Hare Fiord. The overall extent of the range is about 180 km (112 mi). Most of its peaks are ice-covered, although nearly all of the southern slopes are ice-free. Many of the valleys between the peaks are filled with glacial tongues spilling out to the south from the Grand Land Ice Cap. Its highest point is Mount Biederbick at 1,542 m (5,059 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osborn Range</span>

The Osborn Range is a small mountain range located on the northwest flank of Tanquary Fiord on north-central Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. It lies just outside Quttinirpaaq National Park and is one of the northernmost mountain ranges in the world forming part of the Arctic Cordillera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gull Glacier</span> Glacier in Nunavut, Canada

Gull Glacier is a glacier in the Osborn Range of north-central Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. It lies in the Tanquary Fiord in Quttinirpaaq National Park.

Disraeli Glacier is a glacier on northern Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. It lies in Quttinirpaaq National Park, South-West of the Disraeli Fiord. It is believed to have been named after Benjamin Disraeli, a British politician in the mid 1800s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ward Hunt Island</span> Island in Nunavut, Canada

Ward Hunt Island is a small, uninhabited island in the Arctic Ocean, located off the north coast of Ellesmere Island near the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf. The island is located just 750 km (470 mi) from the geographical North Pole. The northern cape of Ward Hunt Island is one of the northernmost elements of land in Canada. Only a 17 km (11 mi) stretch of northern coast of Ellesmere Island around Cape Columbia is more northerly. The island is 5.0 km (3.1 mi) long, east to west, and 3.0 km (1.9 mi) wide. The first known sighting was in 1876 by Pelham Aldrich, a lieutenant with the George Nares expedition, and named for George Ward Hunt, who was First Lord of the Admiralty at the time (1874–1877). Today, the Island is part of the Quttinirpaaq National Park.

The uninhabited Marvin Islands are located in the Arctic Ocean across the mouth of Disraeli Fiord, in northern Ellesmere Island within the Quttinirpaaq National Park. Ward Hunt Island lies to the northwest. The island group is a part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada.

Greely Fiord is a natural inlet in the west of Ellesmere Island, Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut in the Arctic Archipelago. To the south lies the Cañon Fiord and the Agassiz Ice Cap. To the northwest is Borup Fiord and Tanquary Fiord is northeast.

Johns Island is an uninhabited island within Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. An island within an island, it is located in Lake Hazen on Ellesmere Island within Quttinirpaaq National Park.

The Ruggles River is a waterway in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located within Ellesmere Island's Quttinirpaaq National Park. The Ruggles River flows southeast to Chandler Fiord and out to Lady Franklin Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanquary Fiord</span> Fjord on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada

Tanquary Fiord is a fjord on the north coast of the Arctic Archipelago's Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. It is located in the Quttinirpaaq National Park and extends 48 km (30 mi) in a north-westerly direction from Greely Fiord.

Hazen Camp is a shelter maintained and operated by Parks Canada. It contains many all-weather shelters for the park staff. The visiting researchers set up tents in the camp area.

References

  1. ↑ "Protected Planet | Quttinirpaaq National Park Of Canada". Protected Planet. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
  2. ↑ "Google Street View and Parks Canada Make It to Quttinirpaaq National Park". 2017-10-16.
  3. ↑ Quttinirpaaq National Park at Nunavut Tourism
  4. ↑ Quttinirpaaq National Park in Nunavut at CBC Kids
  5. ↑ "Quttinirpaaq National Park". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  6. ↑ Stewart, Emma J.; Howell, S. E. L.; Draper, D.; Yackel, J.; Tivy, A. (2008). Cruise tourism in a warming Arctic: Implications for northern National Parks (PDF). Contributed paper for the Canadian Parks for Tomorrow: 40th Anniversary Conference, May 8 to 11, 2008. Calgary, Canada: University of Calgary. p. 1. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  7. ↑ "Quttinirpaaq National Park of Canada". Parks Canada. 13 April 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  8. ↑ Parks Canada Agency, Government of Canada (2019-05-06). "Nature and science - Quttinirpaaq National Park". www.pc.gc.ca. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  9. ↑ Daley, Jason (October 18, 2017). "Now You Can Virtually Visit Quttinirpaaq National Park, One of the Most Remote Places on Earth". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Cultural Heritage". Quttinirpaaq National Park of Canada. Parks Canada. 18 September 2009. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
  11. ↑ "How to Get There". Quttinirpaaq National Park of Canada. Parks Canada. 20 December 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  12. ↑ "Quttinirpaaq". UNESCO - Tentative List. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  13. ↑ From Far and Wide returns: nine more stamps celebrating coast-to-coast-to-coast splendor, Canada Post news release, January 14, 2019
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