Ukkusiksalik National Park is a national park in Nunavut, Canada.
Ukkusiksalik National Park is a 20,500 square kilometres (7,900 sq mi) tundra and coastal mudflat region extending south of the Arctic Circle and the hamlet of Repulse Bay, from Hudson Bay's Roes Welcome Sound towards the western Barrenlands and the source of Brown River. The park surrounds Wager Bay, a 100 kilometres (62 mi) long inlet on the Hudson Bay. Although the smallest of Nunavut's four national parks, it is the sixth largest in Canada. Its name relates to steatite found there: Ukkusiksalik means "where there is material for the stone pot" (from ukkusik, meaning pot or saucepan like qulliq).
In addition to a reversing waterfall and 500 archeological sites, including an old Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) trading post, the region is home to such species as polar bears, Grizzly Bears, the Arctic Wolf, caribou, seals and Peregrine Falcons. Vegetation in the park is typical low tundra, with dwarf birch, willow and mountain avens. Scattered patches of boreal forest can be encountered in river valleys.
The park is uninhabited now, but the Inuit lived there from 11th century to the 1960s. Remains of fox traps, tent rings, and food caches have been discovered in the area. The HBC had an operating trading post in the area from 1925 to 1947.
The park was created on August 23, 2003, becoming Canada's 41st national park, and the fourth in Nunavut. It can be reached by flights from Winnipeg, Manitoba and Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.
Read more about Ukkusiksalik National Park: History, Landscape, Climate, Fauna, Flora, Tourism, Books, Photo Gallery
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