All About Of Beechey Island – Which Will Help You To Travel

Beechey Island is a small island of the remote Canadian Arctic Archipelago, located between Baffin Island and Devon Island. Though, for the most part uninhabited, it is an important bird nesting site for seabirds.

The island was named in honor of an officer in the British Royal Navy, Sir Edward Belcher, who commanded HMS Resolution during James Cook’s 1775 voyage in the Pacific and Arctic Oceans.

All Discussion Of Beechey Island

History

Beechey Island was first visited by Europeans in 1775 when the British naval officer Sir Edward Belcher commanded HMS Resolution during James Cook’s second voyage of exploration.

The island was named after this English officer, who is also responsible for naming Baffin Island and Devon Island.

In 1822 John Richardson explored the area and documented numerous bird species nesting on Beechey Island including guillemots, fulmars, cormorants, jaegers, eider ducks as well as migrating seabirds such as terns and puffins.

With the reopening of exploration routes, Beechey Island was again visited in 1937 by a Northwest Territories government expedition.

The island was extensively surveyed from 1957 to 1968 when Ian Wylie and William Fox found 262 bird species nesting on this remote island offshore of Baffin Bay.

The discovery that seabirds were increasing at an alarming rate with most (over 90%) being migrants led Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to embark on an Arctic research vessel program known as Operation Nanook which began in 1971 and continued through several other icebreakers until its termination in 1999 under Conservative leadership.

According to some reports, the last seabird count on Beechey Island was tallied in 1983 by a U.S. government expedition as its researchers visited an island that no longer exists because of rising sea levels and ice melt.

The birds (mainly eiders) had been relocated to Derby Inlet Research Station five years previously after the station’s sole researcher left for home upon learning that his wife would soon bore their first child and wanted him there when it arrived.

Climate

The climate on Beechey Island is classified as a polar subarctic tundra. The average temperature in January is −8° Celsius, while the average temperature in July is 17° Celsius.

Annual precipitation averages 90 mm and there are only two days annually where it reaches 100 mm. The average wind speed on Beechey Island is 21.5 km/hour, but winds can be as strong as 105 km/hour talieks and up to 140 kmph in severe storms.

By 1987 the station began to plan for its eventual closure (the leases with Ecclesall-based National Agriculture Group Ltd & Rowntree Mackintosh plc would expire shortly) in order that the island could lay claim land rights over it by virtue of being used exclusively for research purposes since 1955 despite never having been officially granted “extraordinary use” status.

In 1990 government scientists completed a baseline study and inventory of the vegetation, soil chemistry, and other resources on the island; this was to lay out a more precise picture should there be any future attempt by opposing groups (such as mining companies) to come in a try claim it for themselves.

Culture

The culture of Beechey Island is diverse and has been affected by the island’s isolated location as well as its inhabitants’ interactions with researchers from different parts of the world.

The main activities on the island are research, education, subsistence hunting and fishing. Families have resided there for generations, some being traced back to 1792 when Capt.

George Back designed the first log cabin on what is now known as Beechey Island (though his ship never reached it).

Many traditional Gwich’in customs still survive today, such as tending to illnesses by smoking cedar smoke into homes. Men and women both hunt, trap, and fish.

They use a variety of bows; an older man on the island who has managed to acquire several arrows made from old ship portholes is referred to as “Porthole Man” or often simply called ‘Joe.’ Women also weave traditional Gwich’in blankets, known anglicized (American) term of “pemmikan.”

Politics

There is no permanent population on Beechey Island, which means that the island does not have a resident MP.

However, as it falls within Canadian territorial waters and is under the authority of the Department of National Defence, it does have an MP through its representation in Parliament – John Duncan (Liberal) who has represented Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk-Northern Slave District since 1997.

This district (whose MLA is Cameron St Titan, the recently appointed Minister of Aboriginal Affairs) has been receiving MP’s salary since 1996. Before that, it was represented by another member of Parliament and an elected mayor named John Bevery.

In 2009 a proposed mining shipment proposal under dispute in Canada were intended to pass through Canadian waters on their way from Brazil to US ports via an Arctic ice-breaking exercise; although no direct threats have yet materialized in cyberspace as far as I know at this time anyone planning such activities would do well not to stray across the border given frozen North American response to such cross-border threats.

Government services

The Canadian Coast Guard provides search and rescue services, as well as icebreaking assistance, in the vicinity of Beechey Island. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are also present on the island for law enforcement purposes.

As is common with isolated communities throughout Canada, mail service is not available on Beechey Island; residents must travel to Inuvik or neighbouring Tuktoyaktuk to pick up their mail. There is no post office on the island, but postal packages can be delivered by boat.

Tourism

The Canadian Museum of Inuit Art is located in Inuvik, and there are several hotels in the nearby town of Tuktoyaktuk.

Arctic cruises stop at Beechey Island on their way between Greenland and Alaska.

Transport

The only transport link to Beechey Island is by boat. Bering Air’s 796/798 flights stop at Beechey Island en route to Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, with two return flights a week. A flight shuttle is also operated by First Air connecting the island with Edmonton and Toronto.

Conclusion

If you are looking for the perfect island to go on holiday, beechey island is one you should seriously consider. Although it is just a small island in the coldest places in the world, it is a paradise for naturalists and explorers alike.

The island is home to some of the world’s rarest animals and plants. It also has a small national park which is well-stocked with deer, foxes and seals.

If you are not a fan of animals, don’t worry, there are still trees and the old growth forests of this small island are here to give your eyes a rest.

FAQs

1.Where Can I Find Beechey Island Online?

Ans: There is no website for Beechey Island. Information about the island can be found on its Wikipedia page or through various other online sources.

2.Which Type Of Water Should I Use For Drinking Beechey Island: Bottled Or Tap Water?

Ans: Tap water is fine. Some sensitive people might prefer to drink bottled water, as it does have some chlorine in it.

3.Who Is Buried On Beechey Island?

Ans: There is no information available about any graves on Beechey Island.

4.Can You Visit Beechey Island?

Ans: It is not possible to visit Beechey Island. It is only open for visitors during the summer months.

5.How Many Bodies Were Recovered From The Franklin Expedition?

Ans: There is no information available about the number of bodies recovered from the Franklin Expedition.