[9] The area was later thoroughly explored during an extensive aerial mapping program of Northern Canada by the Canadian Government which took from the 1930s until the late 1950s to complete.

The Byam Martin Mountains on Bylot Island were climbed by Pat Biard and then Ben Farris in 1954, including Mount Thule.

The park was first established as a bird sanctuary in 1965 and monitored by the Canadian Wildlife Service because of its seabird colonies.

These are Oliver Sound, located to the south of Pond Inlet, characterised by a long narrow fjord flanked by towering cliffs and glaciers, the plateau and river valleys of the Borden Peninsula[4] and Baillarge Bay, and finally Bylot Island, characterised by its rough terrain with mountains, coastal lowlands, icefields and glaciers.

[11] The northern area, including the Hartz Mountains, are composed of flat, dissected rock rising to over 914 m (2,999 ft) above sea level.

Sharp peaks and ridges, divided by deep glacier-filled valleys are typical features in the range[12] and has been extensively modified by glacial erosion.

The island's north shore faces Lancaster Sound, a polar bear maternity den area, also noted for its high concentrations of marine wildlife.

In the north of Baffin Island, there is a polar maritime climate which means long, cold winters and short, cool summers.

The spring does not end until mid-June and the warmest period is late July and early August, with average maximum temperatures of 10 °C.

[1] On some of Bylot Island's rugged cliffs within the park, thousands of nesting birds can be found including 300,000 thick-billed murre and 80,000 black-legged kittiwake.

In the Arctic environment of the southern part of the island 360 species of plants have been documented, which are considered to have rare quality and productivity.

[1] Vegetation in the upland (on hill slopes and terraces) which constitute 90% of southern drier areas of the park consist of forbs, such as Arctic heather (Cassiope tetragona), mountain avens (Dryas integrifolia), Arctic poppy (Papaver radicatum) and mountain sorrel (Oxyria digyna), grasses, such as polar grass (Arctagrostis latifolia), northern foxtail (Alopecurus alpinus), bluegrass (Poa arctica) and northern wood rush (Luzula confusa) and shrubs, such as Arctic willow (Salix arctica) and northern bilberry (Vaccinium uliginosum).