Paddling and Protecting Wabakimi: Wilderness Adventure and Boreal Caribou Conservation

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.