Polar Bear Provincial Park, Nature reserve in northern Ontario, Canada
Polar Bear Provincial Park is a large nature reserve in northern Ontario that spans across the Hudson Bay Lowlands. The landscape consists of flat tundra terrain and extensive wetlands stretching along James Bay and Hudson Bay.
The area was protected in 1970 by Ontario Parks to safeguard polar bears and other wildlife in the Hudson Plains ecozone. This designation came as recognition of the region's ecological importance for species survival.
Only members of the Attawapiskat, Weenusk, Fort Severn and Peawanuck First Nations may fish and hunt in the park, and only they can work as guides; two of their camps are open to visitors. Minister René Brunelle insisted on these rights in the 1960s and had background material translated into Cree. In 1992 these nations backed enlarging the park to keep mineral exploration out.
The park is accessible only by aircraft and visitors need to obtain special permission from Ontario Parks beforehand. Anyone planning a visit should bring substantial emergency equipment and supplies.
The land is still rising about 1.2 cm a year as it rebounds from the weight of the last ice sheet, and until roughly 2000 BC the area lay under the Tyrrell Sea, a post-glacial body whose retreat left today's Hudson Bay. The few low hills in the flat tundra are remnants of former coastlines.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,371 contributors worldwide.
