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Dear Wabakimi friends,
Your Donations to FOW support the following: 1) KZ Lodge is great program supporting Indigenous youth. Many of these young people come to Thunder Bay from remote communities for their high school education. 2) FOW Endowment & Legacy Fund is for long-term support. Donations and planned giving arrangements are welcome. 3) Caribou Survey Project 4) Conservation advocacy for habitat protection. We are a leading voice for habitat protection in Northern Ontario. 5) Wabakimi Park Project 2025 Vern Fish, President, FOW and the Board of Directors Please Donate Now! Large or small it’s all needed and appreciated. Please contribute according to the following table:
Checks may also be sent to: Friends of Wabakimi, c/0 488 Boettger Place, Waterloo, Ontario N2K 3N5 or c/o 3488 Kingswood Place,Waterloo, Iowa 50701 
Next Steps: The Wabakimi Stewardship Initiative
Going forward the FOW (and hopefully others) will support stewardship activities to protect, restore and enhance the ecosystems within Wabakimi Provincial Park. This will help Wabakimi meet the following Ontario Parks objectives: 1. Protection of natural and cultural features 2. Provision of ecologically sustainable outdoor recreation 3. Natural and cultural heritage education 4. Fostering research |
2024 Park Project
Shultz’s Trail Cleanup Success! Thanks to our Donors for $9,100, for three large capacity Otter Float Plane Flights and additional expenses. Our 2024 is the mess at Shultz’s Trail, a popular entry point just off the Via Rail line and Onamakawash Lake (pronounced Oh-na-maw-kay'-wush). A complex of three abandoned structures with debris, broken glass, metal fragments along this portage is a visual eyesore and a hazard to paddlers beginning or ending a canoe trip. It is not possible to haul this garbage out by rail. It will require at least three large capacity Otter float plane flights to bring out a significant amount of the debris along the trail. These flights will cost $2,500 (CAD) each. We need at least four FOW volunteesr effort to assist the cleanup. Here's Jake's Webinar explaining. This is our fifth project working closely with Wabakimi Provincial Park staff (see below for details). These projects help build support for protecting and maintaining the Park and surrounding areas as a world class wilderness experience. Eligible Canadian donors can receive a charitable donation tax receipt for donations over $25 by contributing: Online through CANADA HELPS to Ontario Parks for the charitable donation tax receipt. To make a contribution by credit card over the phone call (705) 313-2462, 9-4 EST weekdays. There are mail-in options, however, with the current Canada Post strike, we are suggesting these alternatives. Important! Specify FOW/Wabakimi Provincial Park projects to be credited towards this FOW/WPP project. Please also email [email protected] with your amount, so we can credit it to our running total. Thank you! 
FOW/Wabakimi Provincial Park Projects! 2020- 2023
Fall 2023: Legacy Debris Removal/Park Ranger Added Capacity Successully raised $11,280/$8234 U.S. We've funded a large Otter float plane trip with its large capacity to haul unsightful debris out of Shabuskwia Lake and added 36 ranger working days to their spring and summer 2024 operating season for portage maintenance after the 2023 fires.
Fall 2o22: We raised $9372/$7,028 U.S. to purchase eleven new bird song meters for use by the Park's biologist and rangers; in support of Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas project. Those meters went into the field summer 2023 and thankfully survived the fires. Here's a detailed report of how those are used. Fall 2021: We raised $8,413 CAD for our joint project with W.P.P. to install the new Armstrong kiosk. This will enhance the backcountry experience for visitors to Wabakimi Provincial Park and includes the "Wabakimi" painting and art print produced by Kevin Belmore. Fall 2020: We raised $7,917 CAD/$6,347 U.S. for the debris removal project completed summer 2021! Here's a Detailed Report. Only a small part of Ontario Park’s budget comes from provincial taxes. Most of the funds to maintain, manage and protect Wabakimi Provincial Park come from day-use and camping fees, rentals, partnerships and donations. Our Friends donations make a difference! It is estimated that....an average herd of Woodland Caribou require 900,000 ha of undisturbed wilderness, which is about the size of Wabakimi Provincial Park (850,000 ha). One of the main reasons Wabakimi was formed was to protect the caribou and its habitat from potential development. This size was a minimum requirement to sustain caribou.” Shannon Walshe, Park Biologist, Ontario Parks Blog
Park Rangers: Portage Clearing and Legacy Debris
Park rangers maintain canoe routes in the park and have worked diligently to clear portages and are active in other duties related to inventory and monitoring in the park. Over the years these crews have documented the debris left on the landscape from a variety of sources in the park. Abandoned items such as damaged equipment or boats that have accumulated on portages and lakeside areas are unsightly and can have a negative impact on the environment or on visitor experience. However, since these crews are travelling by canoe, they have been limited to documenting these sites because removal was not an option at the time. The park has maintained a database which documents more than 100 items and 44 locations where items have been flagged for removal. 
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