The Stokes Point Steering Committee and their resource staff - June 2006 L to R: Glen Gordon (ACC), Roland Selamio (AHTC), Jacquie Bastick (PCA), Christy Miskelly (RMC), Don D. Storr (AHTC), Ed McLean (PCA), Dr. Ken Reimer (RMC), Mike Harlow (IRC), John Snell (PCA), Carol Arey (ACC), Kim Kalen (DND) – (Missing) Kyle Sherwin (IRC) and new replacement representatives for the AHTC, Dennis Arey and Billy Archie.

Ivvavik National Park of Canada
Stokes Point (Ikpikyuk) is located on the Yukon North Slope in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of Canada’s western Arctic. Over the past fifty years this site has had numerous federal land managers and seen a wide variety of uses. During the Cold War, the United States Air Force built and operated a short-lived Intermediate Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line Station known as BAR-B. In the 1980s, an exploration facility was established on site by Gulf-Beaudril during the last Beaufort Sea oil and gas boom. In 1984, Stokes Point became part of Ivvavik National Park of Canada, the first national park established in Canada through an Aboriginal land claim agreement – the Inuvialuit Final Agreement.

Over the period of occupancy, clean-up efforts at Stokes Point have been piecemeal and no detailed assessment of contamination has ever been conducted. In response to concerns raised by the community of Aklavik and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, the Parks Canada Agency (PCA) commissioned a preliminary study of the landfill at the former BAR-B site in 2000 and 2001. The study indicated the presence of contaminants such as heavy metals, fuel, and pesticides. As the current federal land manager responsible for Stokes Point, PCA is taking the lead to clean-up the former Stokes Point BAR-B DEW Line site in order to enhance the ecological integrity of Ivvavik National Park. In 2006, PCA partnered with the Department of National Defence to complete the first of two field seasons to investigate the nature and extent of possible contamination, and determine the risk posed by on-site contaminants to human health and the environment. As part of the investigation, geotechnical and archaeological assessments will provide additional information necessary to draft a site clean-up plan. Potential sites for future landfills and gravel sources will be identified; existing site infrastructure, such as roads and airstrips, will be assessed to support future clean-up activities; and cultural resources will be considered and protected as part of the remediation plan. A clean-up plan for the site will be developed in 2007 and 2008 by PCA in close consultation with the Stokes Point Steering Committee. The project advisory panel consists of representatives from Inuvialuit and Government of Canada organizations. Input from stakeholders will be sought, including the community of Aklavik and nearby Beaufort-Delta communities, various Inuvialuit comanagement boards, and federal and territorial government departments.

The work proposed in 2007 and 2008 is subject to approvals under the environment assessment processes in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region and receipt of additional funding from the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan Program.

For more information on this project contact please contact Ed McLean, Project Co-lead for Parks Canada Agency, at ed.mclean@pc.gc.ca or call 867.777.8803.

Tuktut Nogait National Park of Canada
A crew of six people conducted a ten-day archaeological field project north of Uyarsivik (Cache Lake) near the Hornaday River. Excavations of two small stone features at two sites were completed. The first excavation was a single tent ring on a high plateau, about 100 meters above the surrounding terrain. Inuit camped here within the last few hundred years for only a short time, as is evidenced by the aucity of artifact recoveries. A few flecks of wood charcoal, fish bone and quartzite flakes were found.

The second excavation was at a nearby hunting blind at a slightly higher elevation. It commands an extensive view of the countryside and the caribou which frequently pass through the area in large and small numbers. The socketed bone handle of a knife was found here in addition to some quartzite flakes.

Four wooden artifacts were also recovered from the ground surface in the area of the Many Caches Site. This site sits high above a bend of the Hornaday River and contains numerous caches as well as some qayaq rests, storage units and butchering stations. It was here that people would hunt caribou from their qayait as herds crossed the river in the fall. The butchered meat was frozen into large caches and the qayait were left for the next hunt. The wooden artifacts, which may be qayaq and bow fragments, are being conserved at the Parks Canada Agency office in Winnipeg to be analyzed at a later date.

A number of marker rocks on the higher ground around the long lake just north of the east end of Uyarsivik were recorded. These are small rocks placed on a larger boulder. Although there are a number of these in the area, their purpose is not clear, although some may have been used to funnel caribou.

Herschel Island Territorial Park
Herschel Island Territorial Park was created through the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, and is home to 12 historic buildings dating from as far back as 1893. Work in 2006 was carried out on the Rangers’ Quarters (formerly the Royal Canadian Corps of Signalers Transmitter Station) and the Northern Whaling and Trading Company (NW&TC) store/warehouse.

Work on the Rangers’ Quarters entailed the addition of insulation to the floors, replacement of the flooring and repairs to the storm windows and shutters to make them more energy efficient and the space more comfortable for the Rangers who occupy the building during the shoulder seasons. In addition, the roof of the NW&TC store/warehouse was reinforced.

The NW&TC building was one of three buildings relocated due to shoreline erosion – in 2003 and again in 2004. The erosion is being exacerbated by receding sea ice which allows increased wave action during late summer and fall storms. The situation continues to be monitored to see if further action will be necessary.

Shoreline erosion and permafrost erosion of interior portions of the historic settlement area at Pauline Cove was part of a presentation at the World Heritage Centre in Paris in the spring of 2006. This situation was one example of the effects of climate change on cultural resources in Yukon. Other examples presented included permafrost decay in the Klondike region and the melting of alpine ice patches in the area east of Kluane National Park and Reserve of Canada. The decay of permafrost threatens the stability of historic structures and community infrastructure, and the melting of alpine ice patches is exposing ancient hunting artifacts that have been buried and frozen for up to 9,000 years.

Learn more about Herschel Island at: http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Herschel/English/menu.html

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