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| QUTTINIRPAAQ NATIONAL
PARK NUNAVUT © Photos
& Text Parks Canada |
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| Welcome ... to the top of the
world!
During the
brief arctic summer
on Quttinirpaaq formerly known
as Ellesmere Island National Park - the sun remains
high in the sky bathing the land
in continuous
daylight. There is no darkness to mark the passage
of time telling you
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wake. There are no trees to remind you of
lands
further south. The
scale of the land is both immense and intimate at
the
same time. Intricate
patterns of rock, frost-cracked ground, willows and
wildflowers
at your feet extend
out from where you stand into endless vistas
in the clear, dry air and Glaciers
on a mountainside 15 km away
seem within
reach.
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Birds
Quttinirpaaq National Park
34 species of
birds have been recorded in Quttinirpaaq, and an
additional 5 species might be observed and are referred
to as “hypothetical”. Of the 34 species, only 21 are
confirmed to nest within the park, with a further three
species considered to be likely breeders. Most of the
birds found in Quttinirpaaq are either waterfowl,
shorebirds, or seabirds. The only raptors known to occur
in the park are gyrfalcons and snowy owls, both of which
are at the northernmost limit of their range. The
majority of breeding birds in the park are highly
migratory, arriving from long distances. Arctic terns
migrate from as far as Antarctica. Some species of
shorebirds migrate to southern South America, while
others fly to the European seaboard. Long-tailed jaegers
move to wintering areas in the Atlantic Ocean off
Africa, while Brant migrate to Europe. Rock ptarmigan
are the only bird species known to overwinter in the
park. The breeding season is short. Breeders arrive in
late May or early June, with egg-laying occurring in
June and fledging in July. Many shorebirds depart by
mid-July, leaving their young to follow at the end of
July or early August. Waterfowl and seabirds usually
depart a bit later, around the end of August or
September.
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Fish Quttinirpaaq
National Park
The only freshwater fish in
Quttinirpaaq National Park is the Arctic Char
(Salvelinus alpinus). Char have a circumpolar
distribution across Canada, from the Yukon in the west,
to Baffin Island in the east, and northward to Ellesmere
Island. Char are the most northerly freshwater fish
found in Canada. Generally, char spend the majority of
their lives in freshwater lakes, but where opportunities
exist, they will enter marine waters for short periods
to feed. These anadromous char, as they are known,
migrate downstream during ice break-up in the spring and
spend the summer feeding along the coast at sea. They
return upstream before freeze-up to spawn and overwinter
in freshwater. Spawning may begin as early as mid-August
and is completed by mid-October. The fish spawn over the
gravel bottoms of lakes that are deep enough to protect
against freezing. Eggs remain in the gravel for about
180 days, hatching in late March to early April. All
char spend their early lives in freshwater and it
appears that a combination of conditions play a role in
determining whether or not a fish will leave for the
sea. Although it is believed that some of the
Quttinirpaaq char are anadromous, it has yet to be
confirmed. The life histories of anadromous and nonanadromous
arctic char are very different since the anadromous char
can access the richer food resources of the ocean. Nonanadromous
char are smaller than anadromous char due to slower growth
rates, and are highly parasitized. Char within Quttinirpaaq seem
to have more colour variation than char
found elsewhere in the arctic. While most of the
char have spots on their sides, their colors range from dark
green backs with silvery sides, to dusky brown, or
almost black. During spawning, the sides and bellies turn
orange-red and the fin margins turn white.
Spawning males also develop a hooked lower jaw. While
small populations of arctic char occur in
several freshwater systems within the park, the main
population occurs at Lake Hazen. The char are the
only fish species within Lake Hazen and there
are only sparse populations of zooplankton and phytoplankton for them
to feed on. There is no bottom vegetation, even
in the shallows. It appears that the larger arctic
char must resort to cannibalism to obtain enough food.
The char in Lake Hazen have a relatively low reproductive
potential. They mature late in life, do not
spawn annually once mature, and females have a relatively low
fecundity.
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Vegetation Quttinirpaaq National Park
Most of Quttinirpaaq National Park is classified
as an arctic desert. Vegetation cover is sparse because of low
precipitation, and a terrain largely covered by snow, ice, and
coarse rock debris. Cool temperatures greatly retard organic
decay and chemical weathering, so soil development is minimal.
Even in summer, snow-free areas thaw only to a depth of
between 10 cm and 1 metre. Arctic poppy and saxifrage are the
most common flowering plants, occurring wherever nutrients and
moisture are available. Hummocky tundra vegetation or wet
tundra meadows are found in lowland |
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areas such as Lake Hazen, Tanquary Fiord, and the
Lady Franklin Bay lowlands, where surface moisture is available for
much of the growing season. 154 species of vascular plants have been documented in
Quttinirpaaq, along with 44 species of lichens and 193 species
of bryophytes (mosses and liverworts). Arctic plants face many
challenges for survival, yet are remarkably adapted to their
inhospitable environment. |
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Geology
Quttinirpaaq National Park
Quttinirpaaq National
Park contains a wide variety of sedimentary, volcanic,
metamorphic, and intrusive rocks and structures, formed during
a time span of more than one billion years. The park lies
within the northernmost portion of the Innuitian Orogen, a
belt of deformed rocks of Precambrian to early Tertiary age
that extends along the arctic continental margin from
southwestern Prince Patrick Island to northernmost
Greenland. |
© Photos &
Text Parks Canada |
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© Photos & Text Parks Canada |
Natural Wonders
& Cultural Treasures &
Heritage
Quttinirpaaq 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. It
is believed that the Paleo-Eskimos of the Indepen-
dence I culture (2000
– 4000 B.C.) were the first to arrive in Quttinirpaaq
after crossing the Bering Strait from Siberia. Their campsites in
the park, characterized by box-shaped hearths, tell us that
their numbers were low and that they only
occupied the area for 300 – 400 years. These people hunted muskox
and caribou and survived the long dark arctic winters with
very little that could be used to produce heat.
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For
many centuries afterward, it appears no humans lived on Quttinirpaaq. Then about 3000 years ago, a second wave
of Paleo-Eskimo people, the Independence II culture (1000 –
500 B.C.) migrated across the arctic islands and reached
Quttinirpaaq. A third distinct culture, the Dorset culture
(A.D.800 – A.D.1000), endured on Quttinirpaaq until about a
1000 years ago. They in turn were supplanted by the Thule
people who were skillful hunters of whales and other marine
mammals. While the Thule culture survived elsewhere in the
arctic, Quttinirpaaq was abandoned by the Thule as the climate
became colder leading up to the Little Ice Age (A.D.1600 –
1850).
Post-Contact History Early Contact
Period (1875 - 1935)
Northern Ellesmere Island
was first visited by Europeans in 1875. In that year, the
British Arctic Expedition sailed through the Nares Strait and
established wintering quarters for the ship HMS Discovery in
the sheltered harbour off Lady Franklin Bay. Its sister ship,
the HMS Alert wintered 160 km to the north on the shore of the
Arctic Ocean. In the spring of 1876 various sledging parties
struck out from the ships to explore the northern terrain. The
expedition was forced to return to England later that year
when the explorers became ill with scurvy. Five years later,
in 1881, the United States Army’s Lady Franklin Bay Expedition
arrived at the same site under the leadership of Lieutenant
Adolphus Greely. The expedition was one of two staged by the
United States to contribute to International Polar Year, an
undertaking by twelve countries to establish scientific
stations in regions bordering the North Pole. The expedition
established a polar station for scientific research that they
named Fort Conger. But the expedition, ill-prepared for the
harsh conditions, was doomed to fail. When supply ships failed
to reach the group in 1882 and 1883, the group retreated, only
to become stranded on Pim Island on Ellesmere Island’s eastern
coast. Only seven of the original party of 26 men survived. In
1899, American explorer Robert Peary arrived at the abandoned
Fort Conger, planning to use it as a base station from which
to reach the North Pole. The Peary expedition was accompanied
by Inughuit guides from north-western Greenland, used
traditional knowledge, used fur and ate local food and was
thus much better able to cope with the harsh conditions. Using
a combination of European technology and Aboriginal
traditional knowledge, the base camp structures were modified
in ways that allowed them to function well within the cold
arctic environment. Fort Conger was the base for Peary’s
expeditions in 1900-01, and again in 1905-06 and 1908-09.
After the Peary era, the site provided shelter to American,
Norwegian, Danish, and British/Canadian expeditions in 1915,
1920, 1921, and 1935. Today, the Fort Conger shelters have
been designated as Classified Federal Heritage Buildings and
are protected by Quttinirpaaq National Park as important
cultural resources and a tangible reminder of the role of both
Aboriginal people and Europeans in the history of this region.
The mid-Twentieth
Century
Ellesmere Island has long been a focal
point for Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic. The main
interests of the Canadian government in the high arctic have
been (and continue to be) scientific research and military
defense. Between 1953 and the mid-1970’s, the Defense Research
Board (DRB) of the Canadian Department of National Defense
played a leading role in high arctic science. A Joint
Canada-US Weather Station was established on the northern
coast of Ellesmere Island at Alert in 1950. The weather
station is still operated by the military today In 1959, a
research base camp was established on Ward Hunt Island as a
cooperative initiative by the Terrestrial Sciences Laboratory
of the United States Air Force, the Arctic Institute of North
America, and Canada’s Defence Research Board. It was the
height of the Cold War, and Canadian and American military
planners wished to develop logistical capability for military
operations in the region. The initial mission was to determine
the suitability of the Ward Hunt Island Ice Shelf as a landing
surface for aircraft. A meteorological station was also
established on the ice shelf. Throughout the 1960’s, the Ward
Hunt Island DRB Camp continued to be used for scientific
research on ice shelf movements
Ward Hunt
Island DRB Camp
In 1959, a research base camp was
established on Ward Hunt Island as a cooperative initiative by
the Terrestrial Sciences Laboratory of the United States Air
Force, the Arctic Institute of North America, and Canada’s
Defence Research Board. It was the height of the Cold War, and
Canadian and American military planners wished to develop
logistical capability for military operations in the region.
The initial mission was to determine the suitability of the
Ward Hunt Island Ice Shelf as a landing surface for aircraft.
A meteorological station was also established on the ice
shelf. Throughout the 1960’s, the Ward Hunt Island DRB Camp
continued to be used for scientific research on ice shelf
movements and climatic history of the region.
Lake Hazen DRB Camp
A research
base camp was established by the DRB at Lake Hazen in 1957-58
as part of Canada’s contribution to International Geophysical
Year. This initiative, sponsored by the International Council
of Scientific Unions and supported by 67 countries, was an
effort to gain an integrated picture of the world’s physical
environment. Operation Hazen focussed on glaciological studies
and was one of the most comprehensive scientific research
projects ever to be carried out in the Canadian high arctic.
The original DBR building still stands from 1958. Today Lake
Hazen, with its base camp and surviving artifacts, is used as
a Warden Station and air access point to Quttinirpaaq National
Park.
Tanquary Fiord DRB Camp
Operation
Tanquary was initiated by the DRB in 1962 with the
establishment of another research base camp at Tanquary Fiord.
From this base, the DRB coordinated a wide-ranging program of
scientific research, for which studies were undertaken over
much of northern Ellesmere Island. Much of the program
focussed on sea ice research, but also included studies in
meteorology, oceanography, glaciology, biology, and
archaeology. While Operation Tanquary concluded in 1972, the
Defence Research Establishment Pacific continued to sponsor
research in the region into the 1990’s. Since 1973, the
coordination of high arctic research has been carried out by
the Polar Continental Shelf Project of Natural Resources
Canada. Today, Tanquary Fiord base camp is used as a Warden
Station and air access point to Quttinirpaaq National
Park.
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