Sirmilik National Park

Parks Directory of the United States / Canadian National Parks

Address:PO Box 300
Pond Inlet, NU XOAOSO
Phone:867-899-8092
Fax:867-899-8104
Web: www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nu/sirmilik
Size: 22,200 sq. km.
Established: 1999.
Location:On northern Baffin Island, 700 km north of the Arctic Circle and 600 km west of Greenland in the High Arctic. Travel to and from Sirmilik from either Pond Inlet or Arctic Bay can be arranged with local outfitters, with service by either boat or snowmobile, depending on the season. Travel to Pond Inlet is generally through Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, which has direct connections with Montréal, Ottawa, and Yellowknife (First Air Ltd., Canadian North). First Air offers scheduled flights from Iqaluit to both Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay (via Nanisivik). Kenn Borek Air offers scheduled flights to Pond Inlet.
Facilities:None at the present time. Services are available in Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay, located at the northern end of Baffin Island.
Activities:Camping, hiking, dogsledding, snowmobiling, boating, canoeing, sea kayaking, fishing, cross-country skiing, wildlife viewing, mountain climbing, visiting archeological sites.
Special Features:Sirmilik ("The Place of Glaciers") features high sea cliffs, glaciers dropping into the sea, rugged mountains, and deep fjords. It is also one of the richest areas for marine mammals and birds in all of Nunavut. Its marine life includes bowhead and beluga whales, narwhals, walruses, and several types of seals. The park encompasses the Bylot Island Bird Sanctuary, which protect the nesting grounds and large concentrations of snow geese, kittiwakes, and murres. The numerous archeological sites in the park are evidence of the prehistoric lives of Inuit and earlier inhabitants.

See other parks in Nunavut.

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References in periodicals archive

The study was conducted on the south plain of Bylot Island in Sirmilik National Park, Nunavut (73[degrees]08' N, 80[degrees]00' W), and on Herschel Island, Yukon (69[degrees]34' N, 138[degrees]55' W).

The research benefited from the logistic assistance of the staff of the Polar Continental Shelf Program (PCSP, Natural Resources Canada), the Rangers of Yukon's Herschel Island Territorial Park, and the staff of Sirmilik National Park. The research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian federal government's International Polar Year program (Project MD-021), and the Northern Scientific Training Program (both administered by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada), the Fonds quebecois pour la nature et les technologies of the Quebec government, the Canadian Network of Centres of Excellence ArcticNet, and the PCSP.

Evaluation of a technique to trap lemmings under the snow