Ivvavik National Park

The First National Park In Canada Created Through An Indigenous Land Claim Agreement, Established In 1984 Under The Inuvialuit Final Agreement; About 10,170 Square Kilometres Protecting Calving Grounds Of The Porcupine Caribou Herd · Inuvik, Yukon

Ivvavik means a place for giving birth, and the park exists to protect exactly that: the calving grounds of the PORCUPINE CARIBOU HERD, which numbers in the hundreds of thousands and makes one of the longest land migrations of any animal on earth. It was established in 1984 under the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, making it THE FIRST NATIONAL PARK IN CANADA CREATED THROUGH AN INDIGENOUS LAND CLAIM SETTLEMENT - a genuine first, and the model for much of what followed. It covers about ten thousand one hundred and seventy square kilometres of the British Mountains and the Yukon North Slope down to the Beaufort Sea, and MUCH OF IT WAS NEVER GLACIATED, which gives it landforms and plant communities that exist almost nowhere else in North America. The FIRTH RIVER, among the oldest rivers on the continent, runs through it and is a serious wilderness rafting trip. Access is by chartered aircraft from Inuvik.

North Slope, northern Yukon, on the Beaufort Sea, Inuvik, Yukon, Canada

A SHORT SUMMER SEASON AND CHARTER-ONLY ACCESS. The practical window is ROUGHLY LATE JUNE TO EARLY SEPTEMBER, when aircraft can land and the ground is walkable. ACCESS IS BY CHARTERED AIRCRAFT FROM INUVIK to the airstrip at Sheep Creek, and there is no other way in. PARKS CANADA HAS RUN A SMALL GUIDED BASE-CAMP PROGRAMME at Sheep Creek in some years, with a handful of week-long trips each summer that INCLUDE THE FLIGHT, GUIDING AND INUVIALUIT CULTURAL INTERPRETATION - this is by far the easiest way to visit and it books out quickly; CONFIRM IT IS RUNNING, because the programme has varied between years. INDEPENDENT AND RAFTING PARTIES MUST REGISTER AND DE-REGISTER with Parks Canada. Costs run into thousands. Weather cancels flights routinely; spare days are essential.

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