Northernmost national park gets new 10-year management plan
Quttinirpaaq National Park is located about 800 kilometres south of the North Pole, at the tip of Ellesmere Island
An aerial view of Quttinirpaaq National Park, located on Ellesmere Island. (Image courtesy of Parks Canada)
A new plan that aims for more collaboration with Inuit in managing Canada’s northernmost national park was tabled in the House of Commons this week.
The 10-year management plan for Quttinirpaaq National Park will “strengthen Inuit engagement” by collaborating with Inuit on research, tourism and infrastructure development,” according to a Parks Canada statement released Friday.
It said the plan, tabled Tuesday, will use Inuit knowledge to guide management decisions.
The plan was developed based on feedback from people in Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord, federal and territorial partners, Inuit organizations and academic researchers.
Quttinirpaaq Park is located on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island, about 800 kilometres south of the North Pole.
At 37,775 square kilometres, it is the second-largest national park in Canada. Quttinirpaaq means “land at the top of the world” in Inuktitut, according to Parks Canada.
The park is only accessible by charter flight or cruise ship. Between 2008 and 2017, in the absence of cruise ship travel the park averaged 17 visitors per year, according to Parks Canada.
When visited by cruise ships over a three-year period, that number increased to 215 visitors annually. On average, 20 researchers visit the park each year.
Park management plans are reviewed every 10 years as a requirement under the Canada National Parks Act.
This was a perfect example of political motivation. A park that almost nobody is able to visit, but is so big that the feds can claim how they are “protecting” vast areas of Canada’s wilderness. If it were not a park would anything be different?
Get out on the land, there are old geologic survey and mining exploration camps everywhere. They left all their crap all over the place.
Quttinirpaaq and all National Parks protect huge swaths of the Arctic from southern parasite companies.
I am extremely interested in taking one of the cruise ships to this ‘new’ National Park … does anyone know how I could book for summer 2025 or 2026? Perhaps the author of the article?