Dewey Soper Migratory Bird Sanctuary

Dewey Soper Migratory Bird Sanctuary
Dewey Soper Migratory Bird Sanctuary
IUCN category Ib (wilderness area)
	Dewey Soper Migratory Bird Sanctuary from space
	Location of Dewey Soper Migratory Bird Sanctuary Dewey bird sanctuary on Baffin Island
Coordinates	66°10′N 074°00′W / 66.167°N 74.000°W
Area	8,159 km2 (3,150 sq mi)
Ramsar Wetland
Designated	24 May 1982
Reference no.	249

Dewey Soper Migratory Bird Sanctuary, or Dewey Soper, is a migratory bird sanctuary in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, 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".^[2] 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 ^{[citation needed]}.

It is an intertidal zone on a broad coastal plain with raised, slightly sloping beaches, spotted with circular shallow lakes and a marsh plain.^[3]

References

[1] Description of Dewey Soper Migratory Bird Sanctuary at wetlands.org
[2]^{[permanent dead link]} Ramsar information sheet on Dewey Soper Migratory Bird Sanctuary

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