Dewey Soper Migratory Bird Sanctuary

Dewey Soper Migratory Bird Sanctuary
IUCN category Ib (wilderness area)
Location of Dewey Soper Migratory Bird Sanctuary
Coordinates
Area	8,159 km2 (3,150 sq mi)
Ramsar Wetland
Designated	24 May 1982

Nunavut bird sanctuaries in green. Nunavut bird sanctuaries in green.

Dewey bird sanctuary on Baffin Island.

Dewey Soper Migratory Bird Sanctuary, or Dewey Soper, is a migratory bird sanctuary in Qikiqtaaluk, Nunavut, Canada. It is located in western Baffin Island, from Bowman Bay to the Koukdjuak River, and is named in honour of zoologist J. Dewey Soper. It is an 8,159 km² (3,150 sq mi) area that was classified a wetland of international importance via the Ramsar Convention on May 24, 1982. The bird sanctuary supports nearly 30% of the breeding geese in Canada, making it the largest goose colony in the world. Up to two million birds of various species use the area for summer nesting, and it is also "habitat for one of Canada's major barren-ground caribou herds". The sanctuary was established in 1957, and is subject to the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, which defines and governs ownership, land use and hunting rights in the area.

It is an intertidal zone on a broad coastal plain with raised, slightly sloping beaches, spotted with circular shallow lakes and a marsh plain.

See also

• List of Nunavut parks
• List of Ramsar wetlands of international importance
• List of birds of Nunavut
• List of Migratory Bird Sanctuaries of Canada#Nunavut
• List of protected areas of Nunavut

External links

• [1] Description of Dewey Soper Migratory Bird Sanctuary at wetlands.org
• [2] Ramsar information sheet on Dewey Soper Migratory Bird Sanctuary