Herschel Island

Qikiqtaruk, Herschel Island, lies in the Beaufort Sea off the Yukon coast and was the base for American whalers hunting bowhead from 1890; up to fifteen hundred people wintered here at the peak, in a settlement with buildings that still stand at Pauline Cove, and the contact was devastating for the Inuvialuit through disease and disruption. The island became the Yukon's first territorial park in 1987 and is co-managed with the Inuvialuit. It is now a reference site for climate change: the island is built of ice-rich permafrost, and as that thaws the coast is retreating rapidly, with buildings moved back from the edge.

History

The earliest traces of people are those of the Thule, ancestors of the Inuvialuit, about 1000 years ago, and Qikiqtaruk simply means island. Sir John Franklin was the first European to sight it and named it on 15 July 1826 after the Herschel family of scientists, when three Inuvialuit settlements stood on the island; commercial bowhead whaling in the Beaufort Sea began in 1889, a settlement was founded at Pauline Cove in 1890, and at the height of whaling in 1893-94 some 1,500 people lived here, then the largest community in the Yukon. The Community House built by the Pacific Steam Whaling Company in 1893 still stands, believed to be the oldest frame building in the Yukon, and serves as the park's visitor centre (Wikipedia, Herschel Island).

The landscape

• The whaling station - 1890s buildings still standing at Pauline Cove.
• The permafrost erosion - a coastline visibly retreating as ground ice thaws.
• The Inuvialuit co-management - the park run jointly with the community.
• The Arctic wildlife - muskoxen, caribou, bears and seabird colonies.

When to go

July and August only; sea ice and weather close access the rest of the year, and even in summer flights and boats are frequently cancelled by fog and wind.

What to expect

Access is expensive charter only and cancelled often. There are no services beyond ranger facilities. Polar bears are present and travel is with guides.

Nearby

Inuvik lies east in the Northwest Territories; the Beaufort Sea surrounds.

Key facts