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While most of Canada lay under
vast glaciers some 30 000 years ago, the Vuntut
area, because of its arid climate, remained
ice free, a refuge for Pleistocene species,
such as the American mastodon, the woolly mammoth,
the monstrous ground sloth and the giant horse,
all now extinct. Also present were the largest
predators: the giant short-faced bear, the American
lion and the scimitar cat. Discoveries of more
than 20 000 fossils, cultural artifacts, and
even mummified carcasses of ice age animals
in over 56 sites in the permafrost and along
the eroding banks of the Old Crow and Porcupine
Rivers, within the boundaries of the park, are
helping to piece together the story of a time
when the flats were part of the Beringia Region.
Across the vast landscape of grassy steppe tundra,
North America’s earliest inhabitants pursued
the giant western camel, long-haired bison and
giant beaver as well as many species that continue
to find their home in the park today - the barren
ground caribou, moose, muskrat, fox, wolf and
wolverine.
Diggings at archeological sites
along the trails and riverbanks have unearthed
cultural artifacts of Yukon’s First Nation’s
ancestors, who made their home in the Beringia
during the last ice age at least 24 000 years
ago, and ultimately populated the entire North
and South American continents. Caribou as well
as other large mammals, most now extinct, provided
food, clothing, shelter, tools, weapons and
ceremonial items for the Vuntut Gwitchen - ‘the
people of the deer’. Nine Gwitchen regional
First Nations, including the Vuntut Gwitchen
who lived along the Porcupine River and its
northern tributaries, the Old Crow River, Old
Crow Flats and parts of Alaska, existed in the
late 18th century. In 1789, Alexander Mackenzie’s
expedition came across Gwitchin fishing camps
on the Mackenzie River near what is now Fort
McPherson. Trading posts were built and the
fur industry thrived at the Old Crow trading
post until as late as 1911. The Old Crow Flats
remain central to the Vuntut Gwitchin people’s
culture and way of life. The native people and
the federal government manage the park cooperatively,
emphasizing the aboriginal history, culture
and use of the land, including harvesting rights,
maintaining the integrity of what has been described
as ‘the crown jewels of wildlife habitats
in northwestern Canada’, one of Canada’s
most pristine and least disturbed national parks
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