Local Youth Awarded the Shan Walshe Bursary
Quetico Foundation is pleased to announce Bjorn Van Der Loo the winner of the Shan Walshe Bursary.
Bjorn is an aspiring student who is pursing environmental sciences studies.
Red Pine History Display
Construction is almost finished on an interpretative display that will focus on educating visitors about the role of forest fires in traditional indigenous culture and in sustaining the red and white pine populations. The exhibit will update an aged interpretive display at the Dawson Trail Campground. The Friends of Quetico and the Quetico Foundation are working together to financially support this important project.
First year of Lakehead University and Quetico Foundation Research Partnership
by: Dr. Michael Rennie, Canada Research Chair in Freshwater Ecology and Fisheries Assistant Professor
Quetico Provincial Park has been described as a ‘natural oasis’; with all the things going on in the world, in Quetico, you can get in a canoe, traverse a few portages, and the outside world quickly melts away leaving just you and nature. Unfortunately, even in this relatively untouched oasis, unwanted visitors have begun to appear. Several aquatic invasive species now inhabit various lakes in the park, with the most prominent and widely distributed likely being the spiny water flea (or Bythotrephes to us scientists, which is the genus that these organisms belong to).
Biology Interns, Katie and Kelsey, reflect on their summer
by Katie Tripp and Kelsey Atalise
Although this year had a shorter than normal season, a lot was accomplished by the biologist assistant crew. They assisted with four main projects this season; assessed lake trout vulnerability to climate change, identified the location of Spiny Water flea, an invasive species in Quetico’s lakes with a Lakehead graduate student working with Dr. Michael Rennie under the Quetico Foundation grant. They also assess the recovery and regeneration of conifer stands after a fire that occurred in the park and helped former biology intern Jared Stachiw, collecting data for his master’s thesis based in Quetico on Red Pine ecology.
Quetico Foundation awards a Lakehead University researcher with a $75,000 grant
Quetico Foundation awarded Dr. Michael Rennie, Lakehead University, with a $75,000 grant over the next three years to evaluate how invasive spiny water flea and climate change are affecting the early growth rates and mercury loads of fish at Quetico Provincial Park.
Dr. Michael Rennie, an Associate Professor in Biology, Canada Research Chair in Freshwater Ecology and Fisheries, and Research Fellow at the Experimental Lakes Area, is looking specifically at Lake Herring and Walleye to help inform adaptive management plans for Quetico Park.
Quetico Foundation’s #PaddleThanks Video
Ontario Backcountry Canoe Symposium launched the #paddlethanks initiative, to give people an opportunity to say thanks for the wonderful things that make paddling such an important part of life. The Quetico Foundation submitted a video by Abigail Laulman, Trustee. Laulman’s first canoe trip was sponsored by the Quetico Foundation, a paddling trip for new Canadians that began her love for the paddling life.
Summary of Forest Birds Monitoring in Quetico Provincial Park 2014 – 2019
Monitoring the diversity and abundance of forest birds and their changes through time is part of assessing the ecological condition of an area. Within Quetico Provincial Park, a long-term monitoring program using equipment that records bird songs at permanent sample plots was established in 2014 to monitor songbirds in specific habitats. The data resulting from these efforts will contribute to broader programs that aim to assess the ecological integrity of Quetico Provincial Park and other areas in northwest Ontario.
The purpose of this report is to provide a summary of the data collected between the years 2014 and 2019 and identify broad patterns of bird-habitat association for the ecosites monitored in Quetico Provincial Park.