Bordered on the north by the Beaufort Sea, Alaska on the west, a height of land to the south, and the Babbage River to the east, lies a landscape untouched by the Pleistocene glacier where plants and animals managed to survive in a land where Arctic and sub- Arctic meet. In 1984, this natural refuge, 950 kilometres north of Whitehorse, became the first national park to be developed as a result of the settlement of land claims. Over 16 000 square kilometres of wilderness was given as a gift from the Inuvialuit people to the Canadian people. In cooperation with a Wildlife Management Council, the park would ensure the protection of the wilderness values of the western portion of the Yukon North Slope. The park would also ensure the maintenance of Inuvailiut historical sites and lifestyle and arrange expeditions for hiking and white water rafting on the Firth River, where the sun remains above the horizon from the last week of May to mid-July.