|
Presented by FOW President Vern Fish on Sunday, November 29th 60 participants!
Parts 1 & 2. This wild little river may lack girth and length but it is long on adventure and isolation. Hidden in the far northwest corner of Wabakimi Provincial Park, the Greenmantle River provides access to a huge swath of protected wilderness. Vern Fish, along with Ray Tallent, Dan Otto and Hank Ostwald explored the Greenmantle and Shabuskwia Rivers to their takeout on the Albany River, June 18-28, 2019. (Originally scheduled for Canoecopia 2020)
1 Comment
We’re excited to announce our two first Business/Sponsor (OGOKI) members. Phil Cotton envisioned developing corporate support for FOW. We hope to expand this program to help promote the Wabakimi Area as a world-class canoeing destination. FOW member Tim Eaton is the principal behind Canoeing.com. This is a major site which reaches a broad audience interested in paddling, canoeing and wilderness exploration. Currently, FOW President Vern Fish has some four trip reports that can viewed on Canoeing.com, and Board Chair Dave McTeague has one trip from 2019. FOW Maps on Canoeing.com! We now have a FOLDED Planning Map for sale on Tim’s site, which is termed the “Historic” planning map to differentiate it from the Park’s planning map. The FOW’s five Wabakimi Canoe Route Volumes are also listed for sale on Canoeing.com. PaddlePlanner.com is a popular site which provides an interactive planning tool for major canoe areas. Avid paddlers themselves, Ben and Aurale Strege, and Jay Harris, the principals, are based in Duluth, Minnesota. Currently, the site is used mostly for BWCA/Quetico, but also Woodland Caribou and a number of other well-known parks. Putting up the new Wabakimi map may take a while, but when done, PaddlePlanner will identify appropriate FOW Map Volumes necessary for lakes/routes in any charted routes. After completing a route, paddlers can upload pictures onto the planning map and share comments about portages and campsites; all useful information for trip planning. With these new OGOKI members, FOW is establishing partnerships which will help to expose the Wabakimi Area and Friends of Wabakimi to a much wider group of people interested in exploring the Wabakimi Area. Potential Business/Sponsors can join FOW online…or drop us a note at friendsofwabakimi@gmail.com This is a “bundle” membership, so your entity can have more than one person included as a FOW member. We’ll be prominently featuring our Business/Sponsor members on this website and in our newsletters. We're happy to explore mutually beneficial arrangements that promote our goals.
See us at Canoecopia 2020 March 13-15, Madison, WI. https://www.paddlers.com/canoecopia/page.asp?pgid=1001
A first draft of our Wabakimi Canoe Routes Guidebook will be there to review. This will be the first comprehensive Wabakimi area guide.
We’re planning a get together Sat. evening. So check in with us at our table. The FOW Annual meeting with be held Sunday morning, 9:00 to 9:45 a.m. (Enter the adjacent Clarion Hotel via the front lobby where you will be directed to the Voyageur Room.) Members in good stand can vote; but all interested person may attend. Vern Fish will present his President’s report on our progress. Please connect with us at this event! Please considering joining us! Two FOW board members are presenting seminars: Vern Fish and Mary Jean Blaisdell!
Have you been thinking of taking a wilderness trip alone or with others and haven’t done so yet? In this presentation, Mary will take you on her personal journey of completing a 6-night solo in the Boundary Waters by taking one step at a time and planning for success. By setting small goals to achieve each trip and identifying and resolving apprehensions along the way, she upped her game a little at a time
 Recently FOW board chair Dave McTeague talked with Shannon Lawr to gain insights into Ontario Parks' management of Wabakimi Provincial Park. Shannon has been Park Superintendent since 2014 and has been with Ontario Parks for 15 years. He previously worked as a canoe and kayak guide in the Killarney area and has training in park management and eco-tourism. FOW: What are the park superintendant and other staff duties/functions?
Shannon: Every day seems to be different. My responsibility lies with delivering operational objectives for protected areas, supervisor/manager for our park staff, operational safety of our staff, and balancing our budget. Our staff consists of an Assistant Superintendant (42 weeks); biologist (42 weeks); and operations technicians. Our biologist does long term monitoring such as our lichen sample study plots to better understand forest age and structure, monitors our wildlife cameras and conducts environmental assessment for work permits required for any structural work for outposts/lodges.  Wabakimi: the land of the grey ghosts Article by Shannon Walshe, biologist at Wabakimi Provincial Park. Peering out from among the trees, I am certain these curious animals watched us as we paddled by. We know they exist, but they’re so seldom seen that they’re referred to as “the grey ghosts.” Wabakimi Provincial Park is home to the elusive creature known as the Woodland Caribou, at the southernmost edge of their range. See full article: http://www.ontarioparks.com/parksblog/wabakimi-caribou/
Ontario Parks Blog…
There’s lot of interesting stores. http://www.ontarioparks.com/parksblog/winter-at-presquile/ Reserve your Wabakimi Provincial Park Backcountry camping permit here: https://reservations.ontarioparks.com/ |
©2020 Friends of Wabakimi All Rights Reserved