The Kendall Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary is 600 square kilometers of land located in the Mackenzie Delta, bordering the Beaufort Sea. The topography of the sanctuary is beaches with open water, tundra lowlands, and freshwater lakes. The sanctuary was started in 1961 as a home for Lesser Snow Geese. Now, the sanctuary houses over 100 bird species including Lesser Snow Geese, White-fronted Geese, Black Brants, Canada Geese, Tundra Swans, and other songbirds, shorebirds, and waterfowl. Lesser Snow Goose reside on small islands in the northwest section of the sanctuary, while Greater White-fronted Geese, Black Brants, Tundra Swans, Sandhill Cranes, and dabbling ducks roam throughout the entire sanctuary. Some endangered shorebirds, such as Hudsonian Godwits and Long-billed Dowitchers nest in and migrate through the sanctuary. The sanctuary serves as a place of protection for migratory birds and their offspring; however, permits to enter Kendall Island Migratory bird Sanctuary can be obtained. Inuvialuit have the right to access the land without permit for the sole reason of subsistence hunting. No other person or group is permitted to hunt or capture migratory birds, their eggs, or their offspring without specific permission by Environment and Climate Change Canada. Destroying or removing the nest of a migratory bird is also prohibited under the Migratory Bird Sanctuary Regulations. The sanctuary is managed and owned by the Canadian Wildlife Service-Prairie and Northern Region. The Kendall Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary serves to house and protect over 400,000 birds and their offspring in order to address detrimental climate change and environmental effects that have already affected Kendall Island as a whole (Government of Canada 2016).

Source: Government of Canada. "Environment and Climate Change Canada - Nature - Kendall Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary." Government of Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada. April 25, 2016. Accessed March 05, 2017. https://www.ec.gc.ca/ap-pa/default.asp?lang=En&n=A885ADAF-1.

Banks Island is the 5th largest western Arctic island in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The island was discovered by Lieutenant Frederick Beechey on Sir William Parry’s expedition in 1820. Parry named the island after Sir Joseph Banks, who was the president of the Royal Society in England. The island was first inhabited by Europeans in 1850 by the crew of Robert McClure after their ship, the Investigator got trapped. His men inhabited the island for two months before they were discovered and rescued. The island has been inhabited for different periods of time for roughly 3000 years by the Pre-Dorset, Thule, and Copper Inuit people, but now mainly houses trappers (Marsh 2010). Banks Island is well known for its wildlife, including Arctic foxes, wolves, caribou, polar bears, and a diverse bird population (Encyclopedia Britannica 2005). A bird sanctuary is located on Banks Island to protect bird breeding grounds from physical disturbances associated with thawing permafrost (Banks Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary n.d.). Banks Island is bordered by the Beaufort Sea, Amundsen Gulf, McClure Strait, and Prince of Wales Strait, as shown on the attached map. The topography of Banks Island varies between a northern and southern plateaus and low lands in between. Many glacier lakes can be found on Banks Island due to glacier erosion (Marsh 2010). Map: Description

Sources: “Banks Island.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. May 19, 2005. Accessed March 04, 2017. https://www.britannica.com/place/Banks-Island.

Marsh, James H. "Banks Island." The Canadian Encyclopedia. November 30, 2010. Accessed March 04, 2017. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/banks-island/.

"Banks Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary (NT017)." Banks Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary (NT017). Accessed March 04, 2017. http://www.ibacanada.ca/mobile/site.jsp?siteID=NT017.