Recreation and Places to Visit

Recreational facilities, such as school gymnasiums and outdoor playgrounds, exist in all communities. More expensive indoor facilities, such as swimming pools, are only found in larger communities. For most northerners the main recreational activities are outdoors. Canoeing, hiking, and fishing are popular summer activities, and cross-country skiing and ice fishing are two popular winter sports.

Four national parks are located in the Northwest Territories. Aulavik National Park was established in 1992 and has an area of 12,200 sq km (4,700 sq mi). Wood Buffalo National Park, which is partly in Alberta, was established in 1922; it has an area of 44,807 sq km (17,300 sq mi). Nahanni National Park, established in 1976, has an area of 4,766 sq km (1,840 sq mi), and Tuktut Nogait National Park was established in 1998, with an area of 16,300 sq km (6,300 sq mi). Both Nahanni and Wood Buffalo parks have been designated as World Heritage Sites. The east arm of Great Slave Lake has been proposed as a new national park.

Natural Regions

The Northwest Territories has a variety of natural regions. The major physiographic regions are the Interior Plains, the Cordillera, the Canadian Shield, and the Arctic Lands. The Interior Plains are flat to gently rolling plains, bordered on the west by the Cordillera and on the east by the Canadian Shield. The Interior Plains extend from the territory’s southern border to the Arctic Ocean. The plains were formed more than 500 million years ago when sediments were deposited on an ancient sea bottom. Over time, these sediments were transformed into layers of sedimentary rock. In more recent geological history (25,000 to 18,000 years ago) a great ice sheet, known as the Wisconsin Ice Sheet, covered most of Canada. Then the climate warmed, causing the ice sheet to melt. As the ice sheet melted and retreated northward, the debris contained in the ice was deposited on these sedimentary rocks, covering the surface of the plains with a thin layer of glacial deposits.

To the west of the Interior Plains lies the Cordillera, a complex region characterized by mountains, plateaus, and valleys. The Mackenzie range was formed 40 to 80 million years ago by the severe bending (folding) and faulting (breaking) of sedimentary rock that was once part of the Interior Plains. During the Wisconsin Ice Age, alpine glaciers covered the Cordillera, and the movement of the glaciers created razor-sharp peaks and ridges in these mountains. The moving glaciers also created broad U-shaped valleys.

To the east of the Interior Plains, the ancient rocks of the Canadian Shield are exposed at the Earth’s surface, resulting in a rough, rolling terrain. The Canadian Shield was formed 2.5 billion years ago as Earth’s crust solidified from a molten, or liquid, state. At the surface the Canadian Shield is a solid rock mass composed of the oldest rocks in the world. The Wisconsin Ice Sheet covered all of the Canadian Shield, and as the ice sheet slowly moved over it, the shield’s hard rock surface was gouged and scratched.

The Arctic Lands lie in the Arctic Ocean in the northern part of the Northwest Territories. Banks, Prince Patrick, and Victoria islands consist of sedimentary rocks that form a series of plains and plateaus. Victoria Island is the second largest island in Canada, while Banks Island is the fifth largest. The Wisconsin Ice Sheet covered all of Victoria Island and part of Banks and Melville islands, but it did not reach Prince Patrick Island to the north.

Coastline

The coastline of the Northwest Territories can be divided into two parts, the mainland and the islands. The mainland coast stretches from the Yukon Territory to Nunavut for a total of 1,000 km (600 mi). The coastlines of the Arctic islands (Banks, Melville, Prince Patrick, and Victoria islands) are more than four times as long.

Rivers and Lakes

The Mackenzie River is the only large river in the Northwest Territories, stretching over 1,800 km (1,100 mi). It has a huge drainage basin of 1,800,000 sq km (700,000 sq mi), and many of its tributaries originate in Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan. The Mackenzie’s average width is 1.6 km (1 mi), but in some stretches it becomes 5 to 6 km (3 to 4 mi) wide. For the most part, the river’s depth is 8 to 9 m (25 to 30 ft). During the short summer, the Mackenzie River is an important transportation route.

The Mackenzie River flows out of Great Slave Lake as a clear stream and is joined farther west by the muddy Liard River. The waters of these two rivers do not mix for many miles, and the different colors are noticeable from the air. The Mackenzie empties its waters into the Beaufort Sea, which is part of the Arctic Ocean. Over time, the waters of the Mackenzie River have deposited large amounts of silt and sand at the mouth of the river, forming one of the world’s largest deltas.

The Mackenzie carries a large volume of water and ranks as one of the great rivers of the world. After the Mississippi River, it is the longest river in North America. Unlike the Mississippi River, the Mackenzie River is a cold river, and its surface is frozen for at least half the year. When the river ice breaks up in the spring, floods often occur, particularly at Fort Simpson (at the confluence of the Liard and Mackenzie rivers) and at Aklavik (in the Mackenzie River delta).

Libraries and Museums

The towns and cities of the Northwest Territories have community libraries and local museums, and the Aurora College campuses also have libraries. The Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife has the largest museum and archives in the territory. Its main collection focuses on indigenous peoples and the early history of the territory.

Arts

Canadian artists and writers living in southern Canada have written about the Canadian north for some time, but indigenous peoples are just beginning to reexamine their art and literature. Their artistic expressions often take the form of rejuvenated traditional art, such as the dancing and singing of the Inuvialuit Drum Dancers. Others are striving to find a place in the larger Canadian art community. Sponsored by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, the Inuvialuit Drum Dancers perform locally, regionally, and nationally. The Great Northern Arts Festival is held each summer in the territory and features artists from throughout northern Canada.

Source: MSN Encarta: Online Encyclopedia