Tuktut Nogait National Park

National Park Of About 18,181 Square Kilometres East Of Paulatuk, Established 1996 At The Request Of The Community To Protect The Calving Grounds Of The Bluenose West Caribou Herd; Tuktut Nogait Means Young Caribou · Paulatuk, Northwest Territories

Tuktut Nogait means young caribou, and the park exists because THE COMMUNITY OF PAULATUK ASKED FOR IT - Inuvialuit residents pressed for protection of the calving grounds of the BLUENOSE-WEST CARIBOU HERD, and the park was established in 1996 with the community holding a central role in managing it. It covers about eighteen thousand square kilometres of tundra east of Paulatuk on the Amundsen Gulf, and the landscape is not the flat barrens people expect: the HORNADAY RIVER has cut a canyon several hundred metres deep through it, with waterfalls including La Ronciere Falls, and the whole plateau is scored by canyons that do not show until you are on top of them. There are archaeological sites across the park going back thousands of years. THERE ARE NO FACILITIES, NO TRAILS AND NO ROADS, and the number of visitors in a year is typically in the low dozens.

East of Paulatuk, Amundsen Gulf coast, Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Paulatuk, Northwest Territories, Canada

NO GATE, NO FACILITIES AND NO STAFF ON SITE. The season is ROUGHLY LATE JUNE TO EARLY SEPTEMBER, when aircraft can land and the ground is walkable. ACCESS IS BY CHARTERED AIRCRAFT FROM PAULATUK, itself reached by scheduled flight from Inuvik, and there is no other way in. PARKS CANADA REQUIRES REGISTRATION AND DE-REGISTRATION and a mandatory orientation, and STRONGLY ADVISES TRAVELLING WITH EXPERIENCED INUVIALUIT GUIDES from Paulatuk - which is also how the community intended the park to be visited. EVERYTHING IS CARRIED IN AND OUT. Costs run into the thousands and weather cancels flights routinely. The Hornaday River canyon is the usual destination and most trips are hiking or paddling expeditions of a week or more. Confirm everything with the Western Arctic field unit.

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