|
|
| AUYUITTUQ NATIONAL
PARK NUNAVUT © Photos
& Text Parks Canada |
 |
| Sweeping glaciers and
polar sea
ice meet jagged
granite mountains in Auyuittuq National
Park of Canada. Established in 1976, Auyuittuq -
an Inuktitut word meaning "land that never
melts" protects 19,089
km 2 of glacier-scoured terrain. Located in the
eastern Arctic, on
|
|
| southern Baffin Island, the park includes the highest peaks of the Canadian
Shield, the Penny Ice
Cap, marine shorelines along coastal fiords, and
Akshayuk
Pass, a traditional travel
corridor used by the Inuit for thousands of
years. Whether you wish to climb Auyuittuq's
rugged peaks, ski on its pristine
icefields, or
hike.
|
|
|
|
|
© Photos &
Text Parks Canada |
Wildlife
Auyuittuq National Park
Eight species of terrestrial mammals
are found in Auyuittuq National
Park, along with six species of marine mammals.
Additional terrestrial and marine species may be found
on the Cumberland Peninsula and in the Cumberland Sound and
Davis Strait regions adjacent to the park. The most common
terrestrial mammals in Auyuittuq are the arctic hare, arctic fox,
ermine, and brown lemming. Less common species include the collared
lemming and barren-ground caribou. Gray wolves and red foxes
are also present, but are rare. The presence of
wolverines is suspected, but has never been confirmed. None
of the terrestrial mammals hibernate.
|
|
|
|
|
Birds Auyuittuq
National Park
There are 18 known species of
breeding birds in Auyuittuq.
11 other species have been
recorded, and an additional 11 species might be observed and
are referred to as "hypothetical". Half of the bird species in
the park are either seabirds or shorebirds and are associated
with the coastal marine environ-
ment. Bird species presence,
distributions, breeding status and relative abundance are not
well known in this park. Visitors are encouraged to contribute
to the Auyuittuq resource inventory by taking careful notes on
bird observations and reporting this information to the park
office. Visitors are also welcome to fill out a Northwest
Territories/Nunavut bird checklist form. |
© Photos &
Text Parks Canada |
|
© Photos &
Text Parks Canada |
Vegetation
Auyuittuq National Park
The arctic is famous for
its short but intense blooming season. Visitors in July and
early August will delight in the bright carpets of color
splashed across the tundra by numerous species of tiny, but
hardy, wildflowers. Auyuittuq National Park straddles the
Arctic Circle in an ecological transition between the High
Arctic and Low Arctic vegetation zones. The park's harsh
physical environment, dominated by rock and ice, limits both
the diversity and distribution of plants. Only 15% of the park
is covered by vegetation, with most of it occurring in valley
bottoms and on lower slopes less than 500 m above sea level.
Plant diversity in Auyuittuq
|
| is lower than in other
parts of the arctic. Only 112 species of
vascular plants have been documented, along with 97 species of
lichen and 136 species of bryophytes, or mosses. It is likely,
though, that additional species of lichens and mosses are
present but have not yet been found. Arctic plants face many
challenges for survival, yet are remarkably adapted to their
inhospitable environment. | |
Geology
Auyuittuq National Park
Visitors
to Auyuittuq will likely be awed by the impressive display of rock
in the park - from the sheer rock faces
of granite peaks, to ragged tumbles of giant boulders, and endless deposits of
glacial debris. A key feature of the park is the Penny
Ice Cap, a vast, 6000 km2 expanse of ice and snow. Outlet glaciers -
rivers of ice, some of which are up to 25
km long - radiate from the ice cap in
several directions. Baffin Island forms the northeastern edge of the
Precambrian or Canadian Shield, the ancient stable |
© Photos &
Text Parks Canada |
core of the North American continent. The Precambrian
era is the oldest period of geological time, going
from 570 million years ago back more than 3.5 billion years to
the oldest rocks known on the planet. Most Precambrian rocks
have been metamorphosed (altered by intense heat and pressure)
at various times during this period. The end product of
metamorphism is granite. In the Auyuittuq - Cumberland
Peninsula region, the oldest rocks were formed around 2.8
billion years ago, and metamorphosed into granite about 2.5
billion years ago. Early in the Paleozoic era, around 550
million years ago when life forms were first spreading across
the earth, the eastern Arctic was covered by a shallow sea and
thick layers of marine sediments were deposited over the
bedrock. Around 60 million years ago, a major upheaval
occurred as continental drift caused the separation of Baffin
Island and Greenland. The Cumberland Peninsula was uplifted
and subsequent erosion removed most of the sediments, exposing
the bare rock once again. The mountain peaks left in the park
today are the highest on Baffin Island, as well as some of the
highest in the Canadian Shield.
Effects of
Glaciation
Auyuittuq's unique and spectacular
landscape can be attributed to the more recent erosive
influences of ice and glaciation. The area has been scoured by
both continental ice (the Laurentide Ice Sheet of the
Wisconsin glaciation, which began its retreat from the area
around 8000 years ago), and localized alpine or cirque
glaciers. It is thought that the northwest portion of the
Penny Ice Cap might be a remnant of the Laurentide Ice Sheet.
Along the coast, glaciers have incised the valley floors below
sea level, creating deep, narrow fiords with vertical walls up
to 900 m in height. | |
© Photos & Text Parks Canada |
Natural Wonders
& Cultural Treasures & Heritage
Auyuittuq
National Park and its surrounding region has a rich legacy of
cultural resources that tell the story of human occupation of
the area - a story that dates back thousands of years.
Pre-Contact History
It is believed
that the earliest people on Baffin Island were from the
Pre-Dorset and Dorset cultures dating back more than three
thousand years from about 1700 B.C. to A.D.1000. The ancestors
of these people are believed to have originated in the Bering
Strait region of Alaska prior to migrating across the Canadian
arctic and into Greenland, from west to east.
| |
A
second wave of migration from Alaska resulted in the arrival
of Thule people into the eastern arctic around the end of the
11th century, about a thousand years ago. It is not known to
what extent the Thule Eskimos displaced or intermixed with the
Dorset Eskimos, but over time the Dorset culture disappeared,
and by A.D. 1200 the Thule culture was predominant. Modern
Inuit are direct descendents of the Thule people. Within the
park area, the earliest remains of human occupation are
generally those of the Thule culture, although some evidence
of the Dorset culture also exists. The Thule way of life was
highly adapted to a coastal marine and tundra environment.
With dogs, sleds, umiaqs (large skin boats), and kayaks, the
Thule people were highly mobile hunters of land and sea
animals. Seasonal activities were dictated by the abundance
and distribution of the hunted species. Seals, especially
ringed seals, were their main source of food and were hunted
year-round. Caribou were also hunted year-round, and the skins
used to make clothing for the winter. Fish were important in
the summer months, and in the spring ice fishing and waterfowl
hunting added variety to their diet. Bowhead whales and
narwhals were also prized and hunted, and there is some
evidence that walruses were hunted as well. Thule people
usually used the same winter settlements year after year.
Early Thule winter houses were built with sod, stone, and
whalebone. The roofs were built with whale ribs and covered
with skins and sod. The inside of the dwelling would be
slightly below ground level, with a tunnel from the outside
leading in. The rear of the dwelling would contain a sleeping
platform with small storage compartments underneath. Side
platforms would hold the seal-oil lamps and would serve as
tables for cooking and drying clothes. Over the centuries
there were some variations in the Thule lifestyle in response
to environmental conditions. For example, a cold climatic
episode dubbed the "little ice age" occurred over a period of
about 400 years, affecting the hunting patterns of the Thule
people and forcing them to become more nomadic and to
disperse. Despite the environmental changes, the Thule culture
persisted until the period of earliest contact with Europeans,
a period that also coincided with the end of the "little ice
age". The transition from Thule to Inuit culture occurred
between 1600 and 1850.
Post-Contact History
Early Contact Period (1585 - late
1800's)
Europeans began entering the region as
early as 1585, although there are no records of actual contact
during that time. John Davis, who arrived in 1585, was the
first European to explore the Cumberland Peninsula region.
According to expedition reports, the explorers saw no people
although they did see signs of human habitation. William
Baffin's 1616 voyage into Baffin Bay opened the door for
increasing numbers of European whalers between Baffin Island
and Greenland. While some contact with European whalers may
have occurred sooner, the first recorded contact between
Europeans and the Inuit occurred in 1839 when William Penny
entered Cumberland Sound. By 1852, American whalers had
established a winter camp in Cumberland Sound, and the British
followed soon after. With the advent of whaling in the area,
the Inuit culture began to change. Seasonal hunting continued,
but patterns changed to accommodate the whaling season as many
Inuit were employed by the whalers. Settlement patterns also
changed as the whaling stations became a focal point for the
availability and distribution of European goods.
The Twentieth Century
By the early
1900's, whaling was no longer profitable, and most of the
whaling stations closed. Inuit who had settled near the
stations now had to move onto the land in search of food and
furs for trade. They lived in small, semi-permanent camps,
many of which were located in the same areas as the old Thule
sites. A trading post was established in Pangnirtung by the
Hudson Bay Company in 1921. This was followed by an RCMP
detachment in 1923, and an Anglican church in 1925. A hospital
was opened in 1930. Many years later the hospital closed when
air travel made it cheaper to fly patients to Iqaluit. A
nursing station remains in Pangnirtung today. School and
government departments were opened in Pangnirtung in the early
1950's, and by the early 1960's most Inuit in the area had
permanently relocated into the community. North of the park,
the permanent settlement of Qikiqtarjuaq wasn't established
until the early 1960's, prior to which Inuit of the Broughton
Island region lived in semi-permanent camps on the land. The
establishment of Qikiqtarjuaq was tied in with the
construction of a DEW Line site in
1955. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 
|
| | |
