Nunavik, the northern third of Quebec, is an Arctic tundra region with a growing season of only about a month. As fall approaches, plants and animals prepare for the long, cold winter ahead. The muskox grows a thicker coat; its under-layer, qiviut, is the warmest and strongest animal fur in the world. As the ptarmigan molts, its darker feathers are replaced with white to camouflage it in winter. Inuit people harvest the fruits of the meadows and the seashore. Plants like the bearberry can survive the Arctic winter because they need few nutrients; their silky hairs protect them. Lichen, a unique partnership of fungus and alga, covers the rocks and mushrooms provide nutrients to plant roots. Nunavik is part of the immense Canadian Shield. During the last ice age, glaciers reduced mountains to rubble here and scraped the land clean, leaving eskers behind. Salmon come to spawn in spring in the  massive drainage area of the Koksoak River. In Inuktitut, Nunavik means "Great Land", and life remains in a delicate state of constant balance.