Northeast Greenland National Park

Northeast Greenland National Park

Northeast Greenland National Park is the world's largest national park. It was set up in 1974 and grew to its present size in 1988. The park covers 972,000 km² (375,000 mi²) of Greenland's interior and northeastern coast. This makes it bigger than many countries, like Tanzania, though smaller than Egypt.

It was the first national park made in the Kingdom of Denmark and is Greenland’s only national park. The park is the northernmost national park in the world and the second-largest region in a country, just after the Qikiqtaaluk Region in Nunavut, Canada. It protects a huge, wild area with special plants, animals, and landscapes.

Geography

Northeast Greenland National Park has straight borders. It touches the Sermersooq municipality to the south and the Avannaata municipality to the west, partly along the 45° West meridian on the ice cap. Most of the park is covered by the Greenland Ice Sheet, but there are large ice-free areas along the coast and on Peary Land in the north. The park includes the areas known as King Frederick VIII Land and King Christian X Land.

History

Northeast Greenland National Park was created on May 22, 1974. It used land from the northern part of the old Ittoqqortoormiit Municipality in Tunu (East Greenland). In 1988, the park grew to include more land from the northeastern part of the former county of Avannaa (North Greenland). In January 1977, it was named an international biosphere reserve. Today, the park is managed by the Greenland Department of Environment and Nature. Two old research camps, Eismitte and North Ice, are inside the park’s current area.

Population

Northeast Greenland National Park has no permanent human residents. About 400 places are used during the summer months.

In 1986, 40 people stayed at Mestersvig for work, but they left soon after. Since then, no one has lived there permanently.

In 2008, during the winter, only 31 people and about 110 dogs were at several stations along the coast. These include Daneborg, the main office for the park's policing team called the Sirius Patrol. Other stations are Danmarkshavn, a weather station; Station Nord, a military base; and Mestersvig, a small military post. During the summer, scientists often visit research stations, such as Zackenberg, increasing the number of people temporarily staying in the park.

Fauna

The park has many animals. You can see musk oxen, polar bears and walrus near the coast. Other land animals include the Arctic fox, stoat, collared lemming, Arctic hare and a small group of Greenland wolves. In the water, there are ringed seals, bearded seals, harp seals, hooded seals, narwhal and beluga whales.

Many birds live and breed in the park, such as the great northern diver, barnacle goose, pink-footed goose, common eider, king eider, gyrfalcon, snowy owl, sanderling, ptarmigan and raven.