Nahanni National Park Reserve: landscape and origins
Nahanni protects 30,050 square kilometres (11,602 sq mi) in the Northwest Territories, an area the park authority compares to the size of Belgium, and one without a single public road.
At its centre is the Nahʔą Dehé, the South Nahanni River. It starts as a small, clear stream in the remote Mackenzie Mountains, grows over 580 kilometres (360 mi) to the south-east and at Náįlįcho plunges over a drop that, according to the park authority, is twice the height of Niagara Falls. After that it cuts through a series of gorges that the park authority calls the deepest canyons in Canada.
Add to that landforms found almost nowhere else: the natural labyrinths of the Nahanni Karst, the mineral springs of Gahnįhthah with the largest tufa mounds in Canada, and the granite spires of the Cirque of the Unclimbables.
According to the park authority, in 1978 Nahanni was the first site in the world to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, for its natural beauty and for geological processes of global significance. In 1987 the river was also designated a Canadian Heritage River.
The Dene and their ancestors have used this land for up to 10,000 years; it is still hunting ground today. The reserve is managed by the Nahʔą Dehé Consensus Team, jointly by Parks Canada and the Dehcho First Nations.
The park explicitly keeps its reserve status until the region’s outstanding land claims are settled.
Nature: World Heritage, area and the Nahʔą Dehé ↗
The park in numbers
- Area
- 30,050 km² (11,602 sq mi), comparable to Belgium
- Expansion
- from 4,766 km² to over 30,000 km²
- Location
- Northwest Territories, Mackenzie Mountains
- Access
- no public roads; by air or on foot
- UNESCO World Heritage Site
- 1978, according to the park authority the first site in the world
- Canadian Heritage River
- since 1987, for the Nahʔą Dehé
- River
- 580 km (360 mi) to its confluence with the Liard River
- Human history
- Dene for up to 10,000 years
- Management
- Nahʔą Dehé Consensus Team with the Dehcho First Nations
- Status
- Reserve until land claims are settled
