Our vision recognizes Wabakimi as a world class wilderness canoeing destination that will be a sustainable ecosystem with abundant wildlife, fish, and natural resources for all time.

 NEW!   
 

The Wabakimi Legacy Fund

 
Learn more here.  (pdf download here)
 
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Dear Wabakimi  friends and explorers,   
​
Please consider making a Legacy Gift or Bequest to support our ongoing efforts in support of the Wabakimi area.  

Let us us know your interest ([email protected]), and we'll arrange a consulation with you to answer all your questions. 

 Vern Fish, President, FOW
 & the FOW Board of Directors​

donate ONLINE HERE!

Past Projects: 

FOW’s predecessor, The Wabakimi Project, explored and documented historic and traditional canoe routes, in the Wabakimi Area (2004-2018) . No less than 244 individual, self-funded, volunteers spent a total of 1,256 days in the wilderness, paddling, clearing, portaging and bushwacking 3,330 miles, and identifying over 1,350 campsites and 1,050 portages resulting in:

Five detailed map volumes with accurate information on canoe routes, rapids, portages, and campsites. The Project also published a larger-scale planning map, and

The Wabakimi Canoe Routes Planning Map, the first to cover the entire Wabakimi area... (Newly revised & updated in early 2023).

FOW was incorporated in 2014 to continue and expand on the work of the Project, with memberships, a website, newsletters & annual meetings. 

The first Wabakimi Canoe Routes Guidebook (2021), authored by pioneering Ontario map-maker Laurence Mills.  

Expanded our Online Store to also offer Laurence Mill's excellent map route sets (2023)

Conservation advocacy! Participated in the Wabadowgang Noopming (Armstrong) forest planning process advocating for woodland caribou habitat and Crown Land canoe routes. Working with Ontario Nature, proposed new protected areas.  (ongoing)  

In 2020:  We raised $8,000 in support of the Legacy Debris Removal Project. 

​2021:  We raised over $8,000 for our joint project to install a park kiosk to enhance the backcountry experience for visitors to Wabakimi Provincial Park. This Kiosk will be installed in 2023 as part of the Park's 40th Anniversary.  See the original artwork by Kevin Belmore that will be part of this Kiosk. (2023--installation work is in progress)

2022: We raised $9371 to buy 11  Bird Song Meters to support Wabakimi Provincial Park's contributions to the Atlas 3 survey project! (See project report!) 

 

 

Q. What is the Wabakimi Legacy Fund?

A. The Wabakimi Legacy Fund is for those who love the Wabakimi Provincial Park and surrounding areas to make gifts, or bequests, to help keep Wabakimi wild and accessible for generations to come. The Fund is an initiative of, and managed by Friends of Wabakimi (FOW), a vibrant and passionate, volunteer-run, international organization that is making vital contributions to the Wabakimi Area.

Q. What will the Fund be used for?

​A. The Fund is intended to provide stable and sustainable funding with a mid- to long-term horizon for key projects in the Wabakimi area, with the mission to keep Wabakimi wild and accessible for generations to come.  (See our successful projects in the left panel.)

Q. How could I participate?

The Fund welcomes cash donations of any amount at any time: a cash gift is very straightforward and easy for both the gift-maker and FOW.

The Fund welcomes legacy gifts or bequests. The gift-maker adds FOW to their will, which might be a set amount, or might be a percentage. This is then gifted to FOW upon execution of the will. If you already have a Will, you might just add a Codicil.  With your permission, you will be acknowledged in the Wabakimi Legacy Circle.

Legacy gifts are flexible and revocable, enabling donors to hold on to their precious cash during their lifetimes, with no immediate cash outlays. It then becomes your valuable legacy to the Wabakimi area you love. You might wish to speak with your adviser. 

​The Fund is separate from FOW’s day-to-day operating funds. Monies are held in accounts, set up by FOW’s Treasurer, in a major bank in Canada and a major bank in the United States. The deposits are federal insured.

 

With over 10,000 lakes, Wabakimi and surrounding provincial parks and conservation reserves are one of the most expansive protected paddling destinations in all of North America!​  However, adjacent Crown Land forests are subject to intensive forestry and now mining pressure.