Educational Workshops

This WCA interactive zoom session will feature a joint presentation by John McDonnell (Executive Director, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), Ottawa Valley Chapter), and Wally Schaber (Head Volunteer, Friends of Rivière du Moine) giving an overview of the Three Rivers project led by CPAWS, to create a large environmentally protected area in the watersheds of the Dumoine, Coulonge, and Black rivers (adjacent to the Ottawa River in west-central Quebec), and continuing efforts to extend protected status to adjacent watersheds, as well as specific measures to support wilderness recreation on the Dumoine.

Over the last decade Friends of Dumoine has mobilized efforts to support sustainable wilderness recreation on the Dumoine River, including the installation of campsite thunder boxes, portage maintenance (including boardwalks at the busy Grande Chute portage), refurbishment of the Tote Road recreational trail from the mouth to Grande Chute, and the conversion of an old cabin at Grande Chute to a visitor centre and trail museum. Current plans are to convert a property at the south end to a trailhead gateway and information centre.

CPAWS Ottawa Valley led efforts starting in 2008 to protect the Dumoine River and part of its watershed, with full protection of 1,776 km2 granted in 2022. Protection means there will be no logging, mining or hydro-electric development, but recreational activities will continue to be permitted. Protection for another 850 km2 of the Noire and Coulonge watersheds was added in 2023, accompanied by ongoing activities that support regional biodiversity. Current efforts are also focused on extending protected status to as much as 5,000 km2 of lands including iconic rivers like the Kipawa, the Fildegrande and the Poussiere (an under-appreciated tributary of the Dumoine).

Tune in to learn more about these exciting opportunities and how you can help FOD and CPAWS-OV protect these special places for current and future generations.

This will be the third year in a row that the WCA has offered this workshop in the urban area of Toronto. Again we are kindly being hosted in the Mountain Equipment Company's Community Room. We will have an instructor from the CWMT Wilderness First Aid training group. This 16-hour course concentrates on the basics of packaging and transporting patients and managing life and limb threats in remote environments. It includes prevention and treatment of common environmental problems like hypothermia and heat exhaustion and stroke. The Wilderness First Aid programs are designed for the recreational outdoor enthusiast, club leader, and the professional guide. These courses are based on the principals of wilderness care and first aid. ** The WCA highly recommends that people organizing back country canoe trips take this course -- especially on multi-day trips where 911 help isn't accessible. Also, it doesn't hurt to have multiple people trained on any trip.

The CWMT is giving us a especially reduced rate of only $226 (tax in) for this course.

The Wabakimi Area, a vast and virtually roadless wilderness nearly three and a half times the size of Algonquin Park (almost 26,000 square kilometers), is located three hours north of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Accessible by over 6,000 kilometers of historically and culturally significant canoe routes, it offers a unique opportunity to explore a pristine, remote landscape. Vern will share what makes paddling in Wabakimi such a special experience and explain how the Friends of Wabakimi are working to protect the area’s wilderness values. This summer, the Friends of Wabakimi will undertake the second year of the Wabakimi Boreal Caribou Citizen Monitoring Project, a unique initiative that combines canoe tripping with citizen science to support the conservation of the threatened boreal caribou. Kate Prince, project manager, will provide background on caribou in Wabakimi, explain the importance of this project, and show you how you can get involved as a paddler—either by joining a survey trip or sharing your own observations from personal canoe trips. Join us to learn how FOW is contributing to the conservation of Wabakimi’s boreal caribou—and how paddlers can help while experiencing one of Ontario’s most remote and beautiful wilderness areas! Vern Fish, currently the president of the Friends of Wabakimi, is the former Executive Director of the Black Hawk County Conservation Board in Waterloo, Iowa. He serves on the board of directors of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation Board. An advocate for clean water, he serves as an elected commissioner on the Black Hawk Soil & Water Conservation District. As a passionate paddler, he has run wild rivers from the Mexican border to Hudson Bay and north to the Arctic Circle. Kate Prince is the Project Manager of the Wabakimi Boreal Caribou Citizen Monitoring Project, combining her passion for environmental stewardship, community involvement, and paddling in wild places. Having spent her adult life as a wood canvas canoe builder and her entire life as a canoe tripper, Kate has explored wildernesses from Labrador to Northern Ontario to Canada’s far north each summer, "field testing" her handcrafted canoes.

Wilderness Survival and First Aid Course This 2-day course on wilderness survival and remote wilderness injury management will provide participants with the knowledge and skills to access risk and manage stressful situations effectively. We will be reviewing the basics of outdoor skills & preparation before segueing into frameworks of wilderness survival & crisis response behavior in remote wilderness settings. Our instructor, Peter Desmet, has decades of experience in wilderness exploration and survival skills education. This course is designed for people traversing into the wilderness, whether on foot or watercraft. Saturday is a full day of theory held indoors at the Minden Community Centre. Sunday is the hands-on portion held at Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Provincial Park in Minden Ontario.

For generations, The Lower Madawaska River has been a learning ground for paddlers to hone their moving water skills or experience a whitewater river trip for the first time. Since 1997 Paddler Co-op has been building a stronger paddling community by training and bringing together paddlers of all ages and abilities at Palmer Rapids as a not-for-profit cooperative. Paddler Co-op is spearheading a fundraiser to purchase its rental property to secure a river access point for paddlers and recreationalists for future generations. Learn about the vision of the first public access point for paddlers at Palmer Rapids and why this project is actually centered around the youngest paddlers we (don't yet) know.   

Ryan O'Connor is the executive director at Paddler Co-op and a passionate paddler and explorer. Since his first river trip on the Coulonge with his family as a young child, his love for whitewater and adventure in the outdoors has led him to pursue a career in the outdoor industry as a whitewater canoe and kayak instructor and wilderness guide. Ryan's journey has brought him to rivers all over Canada, the US, Mexico and Uganda in both canoe and kayak, and he now calls the Madawaska Valley home. Ryan holds certification as an advanced moving water canoe and kayak instructor and instructor trainer, a river rescue instructor, and head instructor at Paddler Co-op. He recently competed in the 2023 Freestyle Kayak nationals and won silver in the 2019 Open Canoe Whitewater Slalom North American Championships. 

Donation link

https://sweet-home-paddler-co-op.raisely.com/

Join via Zoom on Thursday April 4, 24 at 7 pm

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83564789615

 Meeting ID: 835 6478 9615

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) will take place by Zoom this year.

Agenda:

1. Welcome by the Chairman
2. Approval of 2023 AGM minutes wca_agm_-_20220315_final.pdf (wildernesscanoe.ca)
3. Committee Reports:
   • Membership
   • Treasurer 
   • Nastawgan
   • Outings
   • Communications
   • Conservation 
   • Website 
   • Election of Directors, Volunteers welcome
4. Other Business  

If you are interested in joining the board or sitting on a committee we can always use your help.   Send us an email at  chair@wildernesscanoe.ca

2024 Openings; Membership and Treasurer

https://wildernesscanoe.ca/sites/default/files/storage/Nastawgan/2023-4.pdf

Dawne and David Robinson have been with the WCA since 1999.  Bio to come.

Join Zoom Presentation on Wednesday, Feb 7, 2024 at 7 pm 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87235475958

 Meeting ID: 872 3547 5958

Maps play a pivotal role in the paddling experience. We use them to plan our trips, to navigate, and even to reminisce about the places we’ve been and the experiences we’ve had. Join Jeff, an avid paddler and mapmaker, as he explores the special relationship between maps and paddling, as well as the journey that lead to him creating his own series of maps.

Jeff McMurtrie is a paddler turned mapmaker. He got his start tripping through Algonquin at the age of 8 when his father took him on a weeklong trip. Once he was 15, he planned his first trip with a friend from school, which, as it turned out, was quite the ‘adventure’. That inadvertently lead to the start of his mapmaking career, as it inspired Jeff to create the most accurate and detailed map of the park ever created.

Join Zoom Presentation on Wednesday, Jan 31, 2024 at 7 pm 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83295943134

Meeting ID: 832 9594 3134

This 16 hour course concentrates on the basics of packaging and transporting patients, and managing life and limb threats in remote environments. It includes prevention and treatment of common environmental problems like hypothermia and heat exhaustion and stroke.
The Wilderness First Aid programs are designed for the recreational outdoor enthusiast, trip leader, and the professional guide. These courses are based on the principals of wilderness care and first aid.

To know the full details (and cost) of this course you need to log in and read the entirety of this outing on the WCA website, and the CWMT website. The CWMT is a certified education centre for the Emergency Care and Safety Institute and an Authorized Provider for the Canadian Red Cross.

** The WCA highly recommends that people organizing back country canoe trips take this course, especially for multiple day trips where 911 help isn't accessible. Also, it doesn't hurt to have multiple people trained on any trip.

Note: This is a repeat of the same course given in March 2023.

Greenmantle River, a Wabakimi Gem

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.  Perceived as too small to navigate, the paddler is challenged by long, twisting technical rapids, log jams, down trees, shallow wetlands and one demanding portage.  The reward is an opportunity to explore a remote boreal forest and possibly catch an elusive brook trout. 

Our presentor, Vern Fish is the former Executive Director of the Black Hawk County Conservation Board in Waterloo, Iowa.  He serves on the board of directors of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation Board and the Conservation Corps of Iowa/Minnesota.  He is currently the president of the Friends of Wabakimi.  An advocate for clean water, he serves as an elected commissioner on the Black Hawk Soil and Water Conservation District.  A passionate paddler he has run wild rivers from South America to the Mexican border and north to the Arctic Circle with stops at Hudson Bay.

Join Zoom Meeting at 7 pm

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87084912035

Meeting ID: 870 8491 2035