Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary

The Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary, at 26,000 square miles (67,000 km²), is the largest wildlife refuge in Canada. [ [http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-27356095_ITM "Snow man: John Hornby in the barren lands."] , "Arctic", March 1, 2000. Accessed January 21, 2008. "It was Hornby who planted the seed that grew into what is today Canada's oldest and largest fully protected pocket of wilderness, the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary."] It is located in northern Canada's Arctic region, north of the tree line, straddling the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, halfway between Baker Lake and Yellowknife. It is the namesake of the Thelon River, whose river valley is resplendent with boreal forest biological diversity, hence its identification as a "Biological Site of Universal Importance" by the International Biological Program (IBP) in the 1960s. [cite web |url=http://www.thelon.com/sanctuary.htm |title=The Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary, Northwest Territories & Nunavut, Canada, Canada's Wilderness Jewel |publisher=thelon.com |accessdate=2008-01-16]

Established in 1927 as the Thelon Game Sanctuary to conserve muskox populations, its original size was convert|39000|km2|sqmi|lk=on. It was expanded in 1956 to its present size of convert|56000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on, and is home to the most northernly known moose above the tree line. In addition, the wildlife sanctuary is home to Barren-ground Caribouu (Beverly and Bathurst herds), Arctic Wolf, Arctic Fox, wolverine, Arctic squirrel ("sicsic"), barren ground grizzly bear and waterfowl.cite web |url=http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:9ktjQuTc-AYJ:www.thelon.com/pdf/UpperThelonRiver.pdf+%22thelon+oasis%22+plants&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=us |title=The Upper Thelon River |publisher=thelon.com |accessdate=2008-01-17]

The "Thelon Oasis" is a section of the wildlife sanctuary along the Thelon River valley between Warden Grove (the Thelon's confluence with Hanbury River) and Hornby Point. Even though it is north of the Arctic tree line, the area supports thick white spruce tree groves, raspberry, currant, and columbine plants, along with tall alluvial dwarf willow thickets and tag alder. Scientists believe the causes of this unusual proliferation of plants more common to subarctic areas include favorable fine-textured soils and climatic oasis effect, higher summer temperatures due to northward elevation fall and the absence of large lakes.(Timoney, 1995)

The wildlife sanctuary is also the ancestral home of Akilinirmiut, Inuit of the Akiliniq, a hilly area by the shores of Beverly Lake ("Tipjalik"). While there are many lakes within the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary, Beverly Lake is notable as the widening of the Thelon River at its northeastern border within the wildlife sanctuary, and the end of the spruce tree groves.cite web |url=http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/news21_2/arctic.htm |title=Insect biodiversity in the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary |publisher=ualberta.ca |accessdate=2008-01-17] The wildlife sanctuary teems with game but is a hunting free zone, with support from the Inuit of Baker Lake. [cite web |url=http://64.26.129.36/on_the_land/thelon_wildlife_about.cfm |title=On the land |publisher=thelon_wildlife_about.cfm |accessdate=2008-01-16]

References

* Timoney, K. 1995. [http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:TtspOq_ZxM0J:pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic48-1-13.pdf+%22thelon+oasis%22+plants&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us "Tree and Tundra Cover Anomalies in the Subarctic Forest-Tundra of Northwestern Canada"] . "Arctic". 48, no. 1: 13.

Videography

* LaRose, John. "The Place Where God Began The Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary, a Northern Oasis". [Ottawa, Ont.] : Summerhill Entertainment, 2000.

External links

* [http://64.26.129.36/on_the_land/thelon_wildlife_about.cfm About the sanctuary]
* [http://www.thelon.com/thelon1.htm Map1] , [http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/news21_2/arctic.htm Map2]