On August 23, 2003 Canadaricher by a national park. This is the founding date of Ukkusiksalik National Park. It belongs to the Nunavut Territory. Located directly south of the Arctic Circle, the region of the park covers an area of 20,000 square kilometers.
Naming of the park
Understandably, it is difficult for outsiders to pronounce the name of the park. This comes from the occurrence of the steatite minerals. The term Ukkkusiksalik means nothing else than “Where there is material for the stone pot”. Simple but applicable.
History of the Ukkkusiksalik National Park
The people who lived and hunted at Wager Bay and its banks have handed down little to the present day. So little is known how life ended at that time or who these people were. However, it is known that the Inuit were nomadic until the 19th century lived in the area. These passed on their events and wisdom orally to their descendants. A surprising number of stone relics have been found throughout the area. Including tent rings or the remains of storage facilities. Protective shelters with stone elements were also discovered during archaeological investigations. These contemporary witnesses are proof that people must have settled here thousands of years ago.
Over 500 sites were archaeologically analyzed. These come from the time of the Dorset culture or from the Thule culture.
We also know that the Inuit are here in the Barrenlands were not a single ethnic tribe, but rather a composition of families from different tribes.
According to tradition, the first European was Christopher Middleton in 1742. He was stuck in the drift ice of the fjord before he could go ashore after several weeks. He gave the inlet the name of the British Admiral Sir Charles Wager. He dedicated a bay to his sponsors, who made his expedition possible. It’s still called Douglas Harbor. However, it was decided that the bay and the entire area were insignificant and too remote for the Europeans. It wasn’t mentioned again until a hundred years later. Charles Francis Hall arrived here in 1864. He was looking for an expedition team that had gone missing. Hall had to hibernate with the Inuit.
It was only when the fur trade flourished that Wager Bay also became important for foreign countries.
Around 1900 the American whaler George Washington Cleveland began building a whaling station. However, he had to close it again after four years. The Scots remained loyal to whaling for a while before they too left. Their long iron harpoon tips, with which they slaughtered the marine mammals, can still be found on the Savage Islands today.
The Inuit tried from 1979 to 1981 to revive their ancestral territory. However, all efforts were unsuccessful. Then in 1987 they created a lodge for nature lovers. The Sila Lodge was only open for a few weeks in the summer months. Unfortunately, visitors only got to the area by plane, which in 2002 was no longer worthwhile.
Animals and plants in the Ukkkusiksalik National Park
16 different species of mammals live in the park area. Including polar bears, lemmings, ground squirrels, caribou and arctic foxes. There are also various marine mammals, such as whales and seal species.
Only four species of fish have been counted so far.
But the bird world is also represented. 40 different species of birds live in the tundra.
Since the entire area is a rocky tundrag region, there is also predominantly vegetation typical of this area, such as algae, moss, lichens and another 25 different plant families.
