Wapusk National Park

Wapusk National Park is a national park north of 53 in Manitoba, Canada.

Understand

Northern Lights

The park is in the Hudson Plains ecozone, 45 km (28 mi) south of Churchill in north-east Manitoba on the shores of Hudson Bay. Access to the park is limited due to its remote location and an effort to preserve the park. The name comes from the Cree word for polar bear (wâpask). The Park is also home to Cape Churchill, which is renowned as the best location in the world to view and photograph wild polar bears. The only way people can access Cape Churchill is by helicopter or Tundra Buggy.

Wapusk park covers 11,475 km² (4,430 sq mi) park - bigger than Jamaica - and protects one of the world's largest known polar bear maternity denning areas. It includes a large part of the Hudson Bay Lowlands, a subarctic region bordering Hudson Bay that is mostly muskeg and wet peatlands. It is one of the wildest and most remote of Canadian landscapes.

• 🌍 Parks Canada Visitor Centre, 1 Mantayo Seepee Meskanow, Churchill, ☎ [phone], toll-free: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Wapusk’s main entry point, Churchill, is the site of Parks Canada’s Visitor Centre. 

History

Landscape

Flora and fauna

Polar bear at Cape Churchill

Snowshoe hare

Willow ptarmigan

One of the world's largest known polar bear maternity denning areas is in Wapusk National Park. The park is in the range of the Western Hudson Bay population of polar bears, which has remained stable at about 1000 bears.

Sea ice is the natural habitat of polar bears, and it's where they hunt the ring seal, their major food source. In fall, from late September to November, many of the bears migrate along the coast to catch the first pack ice of the winter. The number of bears peaks in the areas around Cape Churchill in the park, and along the coast between the park and the town of Churchill.

When the ice of the Hudson Bay melts in late July, the bears come ashore. While on shore, they gather along the coast and fast for about four months, until they can hunt seals again when the bay freezes. Pregnant females remain on land through the winter to give birth to their cubs and will fast for about eight months.

The active polar bear season is usually mid-summer to late fall.

This national park is also home to great grey owls, timber wolves, lemmings, ivory gulls, arctic foxes, peregrine falcons, snowshoe hares, red foxes, moose, wolverines, Caspian terns, and a herd of 3 000 Cape Churchill caribou.

Numerous birds are found in the Wapusk National Park and it is a likely breeding area of the short-billed dowitcher.

Climate

Get in

Cape Churchill in summertime

Churchill is 1,400 km (870 miles) northeast of Winnipeg, accessible only by plane (the Via Rail train has been suspended indefinitely). Access to the park is possible by a short helicopter tour over the park from Churchill, or as a multi-day visit organized by a licensed operator.

Churchill is the “gateway” community to Wapusk National Park.

Travel to the park from either Churchill or Gillam can be arranged with local licensed commercial operators. Depending on the season, tour operators can take you to and from the park by boat, snowmobile, aircraft or dog team as there are no roads to the park. Weather conditions, ice, tides and seasonal conditions may affect your trip.

Fees and permits

There is no entry fee to this park.

Get around

See and do

Licensed tour operators

• Frontiers North Adventures, ☎ [phone], toll-free: [phone]. (updated Mar 2018)
• Wat’chee Expeditions, ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. (updated Mar 2018)

Aerial tours

• Hudson Bay Helicopters (Prairie Helicopters), e-mail: [e-mail]. (updated Mar 2018)
• Custom Helicopters, ☎ [phone], toll-free: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. (updated Mar 2018)

Buy, eat and drink

There are no facilities other than the two Parks Canada compounds.

Sleep

Camping

There are two multi-use fenced compounds owned by Parks Canada that can be used for safe camping in the park along on the Broad and Owl Rivers. They can be accessed by canoe, airplane or helicopter. These fenced compounds are bear-proof, have some limited facilities for fresh and waste water, and have washrooms.

Contact the park office to arrange for use of these areas.

Backcountry

In polar bear country? Just 'no'.

Stay safe

In addition to the Parks Canada bear-proof compounds, there is a privately-owned research camp south of Cape Churchill that is enclosed within a compound. It may be possible to use this camp in an emergency (i.e., equipment breakdown, severe weather event).

If you encounter a polar bear:

• Stay calm.
• Check that all people in your group are accounted for.
• Back away, facing the polar bear at all times.
• Get into your vehicle or a building as rapidly as possible.
• Do not run.
• Call for help by phoning Polar Bear Alert at: 204-675-2327

Call the Polar Bear Alert Line (204-675-2327) if you:

• See a bear within or near the town limits
• See a bear between the town and the airport
• Observe a bear near the outlying residential areas or businesses (i.e. Goose Creek, Camp Nanuk, Churchill Northern Studies Centre)
• See a bear that appears to be injured

If there were any injuries, call 911.

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