Home > Facts > National Parks Facts > Nahanni National Park Facts

Nahanni National Park Facts

Nahanni National Park Facts
Nahanni National Park Reserve is an 11,602 square mile park located in the Northwest Territories in Canada, roughly 311 miles from Yellowknife. Nahanni National Park's region has been inhabited by the Dene people for thousands of years, and the first humans believed to live in the area were there as far back as 10,000 years ago. The first Europeans in the area were the fur traders who arrived in the 1700s. The park was established in 1972 by Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau and has since been expanded to its current size through agreements between the Canadian government and Dehcho First Nations.
Interesting Nahanni National Park Facts:
Nahanni National Park Reserve protects includes and protects parts of the Mackenzie Mountains, including Naha Dehe, which is also known as South Nahanni River.
There are four impressive canyons that line the whitewater Nahanni River including First, Second, Third, and Fourth Canyon. The canyons reach 1000 meters in height.
Nahanni National Park Reserve is home to sulphur springs, mountain ranges, aspen and spruce forests, and alpine tundra.
In 1978 UNESCO declared Nahanni National Park Reserve a World Heritage Site.
The wild South Nahanni River is considered to be one of North America's most spectacular rivers.
Nahanni National Park reserve features canyons and waterfalls as well as limestone caves, forests, rivers, and a wide variety of animals.
Nahanni National Park Reserve exists within three ecozones, which makes it one of Canada's most diverse parks. The ecozones include the Boreal Cordillera, the Taiga Plains, and the Taiga Cordillera.
Visitors to Nahanni National Park Reserve can enjoy scenic flights, whitewater rafting tours, canoeing tours, and kayaking tours, some that can last 28 days, camping, and other activities.
Visitors that choose to take a sightseeing flight may see caribou, Dall sheep, and trumpeter swans, among many other species in the park.
Animals that can be found in Nahanni National Park Reserve include grizzly bears, black bears, timber wolves, moose, minks, beavers, lynxes, martens, muskrats, river otters, woodland caribou, red foxes, wood bison, Arctic ground squirrels, whooping cranes, and snowshoe hares.
The only known nesting ground of the whooping crane is located in Nahanni National Park Reserve.
There are ten special concern, threatened, or endangered wildlife species located in Nahanni National Park Reserve as listed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.
The Nahanni aster is found only in Nahanni National Park Reserve. It is a subspecies of the aster.
There has been evidence of prehistoric humans in Yohin Lake and other spots in Nahanni National Park Reserve.
While some people hike to the park, the best way for visitors to reach Nahanni National Park Reserve is by helicopter or by floatplane. Those who wish to hike can do so from the west from Tungsten Rd.
Although Nahanni is open all year the most popular times for tourists to visit are in the months of June, July, and August. It snows in the summer sometimes in the park. Visitors must register and deregister for safety reasons when entering and leaving the park.


Related Links:
Facts
National Parks Facts
Animals Facts