Gros Morne National Park tells guests 'No more inukshuks'

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Caroline Floyd
Meteorologist

Friday, August 12, 2016, 8:27 PM - Take only pictures, leave only footprints. Oh, and knock it off with the inukshuks.

At least, that's what Parks Canada would like visitors to Gros Morne National Park to do in the future. Carla Wheaton, Gros Morne's manager of visitor experience, told the Corner Brook Morning Show that the little rock structures have a number of possible impacts on the landscape, ones that builders might not anticipate.

"In certain areas, such as atop Gros Morne Mountain and atop the Tablelands, if you get socked in with fog, it can be very difficult to see more than a few feet ahead of you," Wheaton told the radio show. "So if you are seeing rock formations that look to have been human-made then that might lead you to think that is the designated route, when in actual fact it may be leading you astray."

Wheaton also cited damage to the natural environment as a concern. "Atop Gros Morne Mountain, it's an arctic alpine environment, where it's a home to arctic hare and rock ptarmigan, and other flora and fauna that are specific to that sort of environment," Wheaton told CBC. "There are lichens that are hundred of years old that can be impacted."

Inukshuks are stone cairns traditionally used by indigenous peoples of the Arctic for things like navigation, to mark camps and fishing grounds, and to mark food caches.

While Parks Canada doesn't have an official policy when it comes to building the rock sculptures, under the National Parks Act, it is illegal to disturb or collect any plants, animals, rocks, shells, or artifacts. A similar plea was issued by Killarney Provincial Park in Ontario to stop the "invasion" of inukshuks in 2007.

Judging by photographs submitted to The Weather Network, Canadians do love to build the jaunty little structures right from one coast to the other, and beyond.

Someone took the time to build a beautiful Inukshuk on the shore in Blue Rocks NS. Photo credit Frank Bailey.

Taken Saturday August 15th on the West coast of Pelee Island just after 8:00pm. Photo credit Lynn Vander Vloet.

McCreary, Manitoba Canada. Photo credit Wyatt Tereck.

The northern lights were beautiful over the Nass Valley lava beds in the wee hours of the morning on March 2. While I was taking pictures, fog rolled through Aiyansh giving it a hazy look. Photo credit Jeanine Philippe.