Wapusk National Park

Located in northern Manitoba, Wapusk National Park protects one of the world's largest known polar bear denning areas and offers a great representation of the Hudson-James lowlands.

The park joined Canada's family of national parks on April 24, 1996, when a federal-provincial agreement was signed.

The park extends to the east and south of Churchill and preserves 4,450 square miles. As in most remote areas, access to the park is difficult for most visitors. Several commercial tour operators are authorized to provide tour services in the park.

High concentrations of polar bears congregate along the Hudson Bay coast between Cape Churchill and the Nelson River because the Hudson Bay ice melts for five months of the year and the bears must move onshore.

Male bears remain on the coast, while pregnant female bears move up to 50 miles inland to dig earth dens in the permafrost to keep cool.

The park area is of great importance to wildlife. While species diversity is less than in southern regions, critical habitat is found here that has led to an abundance of certain wildlife species.

In particular, the area is known for its polar bears, huge numbers of nesting and feeding waterfowl and shorebirds, a variety of birds of prey, woodland caribou, beaver, red fox, arctic fox, wolverine, martin, ermine, otter, mink, lynx, timber wolf and black bear.

Along the coast and in the northern part of the park, a treeless tundra of low arctic vegetation such as heath willows, cotton grass, and other sedges predominates, gradually giving way inland to an open woodland of black spruce, tamarack and moss or in the well-drained upland areas and along rivers, of white spruce woodlands.

The park encompasses a major transitional region between the boreal forest region and the sub-arctic taiga/tundra regions. This transition is well illustrated within the park and results in diverse vegetation and high number of rare plant species for this latitude.

Particularly significant are the wetland communities and plant species associated with the boreal forest at the northern limit of its range.

The only activity at this park is guided wildlife viewing. The park service itself has no guides. At present visitors can only enter the park through a licensed tour company.