The Quetico Foundation

During this season of giving and sharing please generously donate to help support the Quetico Foundation

The Quetico Foundation is dedicated to the protection of wilderness with a particular focus on Quetico Wilderness Provincial Park since 1954. The Quetico Foundation primarily has two focuses; conducting ecological research and supporting academic studies to help protect the wilderness of Quetico Provincial Park, and helping students and young leaders connect to the beauty of Quetico’s wilderness, lakes and rivers through the joys, merits and benefits of wilderness canoe trips.

Please donate today to help the Quetico Foundation support protecting wilderness, connecting young leaders and students to Quetico via wilderness canoe excursions and wilderness research.

By Luiza Moczarski|November 22nd, 2020|Action, Fundraising|0 Comments

Covid-19 Latest Excuse to Degrade Environmental Regulations

By: William Stolz, Quetico Foundation, Acting Science Chair

Omnibus legislation has been around since the first parliamentary session in 1868. With no specific legal definition of what constitutes an ‘Omnibus Bill’ the process is basically grouping a variety of legislative changes for a specific purpose. Ontario’s newest piece of legislation, Bill 197 – An Act to amend various statutes in response to COVID-19 and to enact, amend and repeal various statutes (Covid-19 Economic Recovery Act is the short title) is the latest version of an omnibus bill. The fourth omnibus bill in two years, it affects 43 acts. Ontario Nature has created a detailed Backgrounder which further explains the environmental impacts of the Covid-19 Economic Recovery Act.

By Luiza Moczarski|November 13th, 2020|Action|0 Comments

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.

By Luiza Moczarski|May 23rd, 2020|Action, Foundation News, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Pay to Slay is Not the Way!

Lake sturgeon (Jeopardized Species At Risk) , Robert Elliott/USFWS

The province, northern Ontario and jeopardized wildlife in Ontario need your help. Ontario’s government announced its intention to gut the province’s Endangered Species Act (ESA). Please send an email to your MPP, make your views on the ESA known through the Environmental Registry or through Ontario Nature’s petition here: https://ontarionature.good.do/esa2/sign/ or https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/013-5033.

It’s easy to believe in a world of simplicity, where being “open for business” trumps all else. We all have to deal with complexity in our lives, with nuance, with ambiguity. We all want to live in a world where human livelihoods and nature can coexist.

We know that’s important when, in this very week, the UN issued a devastating report. It demonstrates that extinctions of organisms are now occurring at rates “tens to hundreds of times higher than the average over the last 10 million years”. As many as a million species are at risk of disappearing in the next few decades – About an eighth of all Earth’s life forms. For a summary, see: popsci.com/un-extinction-report-stats-climate#page-2.

However, just last month Ontario’s government announced its intention to gut the province’s Endangered Species Act (ESA). The provisions include: allowing developers to pay into a fund rather than do what is necessary to ensure the survival of an endangered species on a site; allowing sweeping authorizations for developers to undertake harmful activities in multiple locations; removing the requirement of the Minister to consult scientific experts on endangered species; allowing the appointment of non-scientists to the technical panel on endangered species conservation (COSSARO); allowing the minister to ask COSSARO to reconsider its recommendations on an arbitrary basis and on… and….. on. A commentary by Ontario Nature can be found at ontarionature.org/endangered-species-act-review-top-ten/.

By Noah Cole|May 13th, 2019|Action, Foundation News, Local news|0 Comments

July 12 2017 Summer Research Update

A beautiful moon above a tall pine and the calm serene waters of Basswood Lake.

Quetico Foundation’s Biology Intern Jared is in the field (in the wilderness of the park) doing some fire scar tree ring sampling to get a better understanding of the presence of fire frequency from this and other local stands of red pines.

Jared paddles along Tuck Lake with Brian Jackson, Park Biologist.

Our Student Summer Research Team also participated in Atikokan’s Canada 150 celebrations and helped lead the great local canoe paddle! Here’s Kirsten, Peter, and Marla – Ty was there too, providing Quetico Foundation information and teaching people about local wildlife and vegetation studies!

By Noah Cole|July 12th, 2017|Action, Park News|Comments Off

Paddle Ahead: Double the Impact of your Donation Today!

Update! June 14 2017 – We’ve reached $30,700!

WE DID IT! YOU PROVIDED GENUINELY SUBSTANTIAL SUPPORT AND CLOSED THE GAP BEFORE JUNE 30 2017! Thank you to all those wilderness enthusiasts and paddlers who have helped us achieve our goal!!

The fundraising deadline by the end of June is coming soon, and we have impressively reached beyond this matching target.

The impact of your support will be doubled towards the preservation of Quetico Park and the important youth focused education and research programs that the Foundation supports.

Donate to the Quetico Foundation and help keep our canoe on course – in ensuring the preservation of our 150 year old Canadian wilderness! Before you throw your canoe on the car and escape into the backcountry for the summer, dig deep and paddle us to our $25,000 destination! Join our race! Every stroke you take will be matched dollar for dollar by a most generous family Foundation.

It’s not too late you can still make a donation to help the Quetico Foundation further address our goals.

Click here to go to the Quetico Foundation on Canada Helps to make your gift today!

Thank you for your support.

By Noah Cole|April 6th, 2017|Action, Foundation News, Fundraising|Comments Off

Please help support the Quetico Foundation on Giving Tuesday

Dear Canadian Audience,

The Quetico Foundation helps protect wilderness, conducts biology research, supports artists and helps connect young leaders to appreciate wilderness experiences in the majestic Quetico Wilderness-Class Provincial Park. Please give generously on Nov. 29, Giving Tuesday, please donate and help support our programs and help the Quetico Foundation: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/the-quetico-foundation/

By Noah Cole|November 18th, 2016|Action, Events, Fundraising|Comments Off

Save the date on May 7th 2016! Paddle Big Creek near the National Wildlife Area during the high-point of the bird migration and see lots of wildlife.

By Noah Cole|March 12th, 2016|Action, Events, Foundation News, Fundraising|Comments Off

Quetico Foundation Canoe Day 2015 Photo Album

Quetico Foundation’s annual Canoe Day raises funds to benefit the Student Summer Research Program and brings friends, canoeists, supporters, trustees and community together to enjoy paddling Ontario’s canoe routes, with a chance to enjoy great weather, see wildlife and enjoy a gourmet lunch. Quetico Foundation Canoe Day participants saw a ton of wildlife including song sparrows, sandpipers, Canada geese, fish, a green frog, green darner dragonflies, emerging lilypads, trumpeter swans, barn swallows, tree swallows and a porcupine. The Nonquon River is serene and smooth, surrounded by cattails, birch, dogwood, cedars and pines, as well as some riverine wetlands areas.

The Quetico Foundation board of trustees held our Annual General Meeting on May 1st, 2015 at the Canadian Canoe Museum and had the chance to tour the exhibits and see more canoes than you ever imagined at the Canadian Canoe Museum.

To learn more about the Quetico Foundation and to help support our programs and mission to protect wilderness with a particular focus on Quetico Provincial Park, visit: www.queticofoundation.org

Photos by: Noah Cole and Ryan Rogers/CAPS community news and Judy

: Quetico Foundation Canoe Day 2015 group photo on the Nonquon River!

: Quetico Foundation Canoe Day canoeists ready to paddle the smooth, serene and beautiful Nonquon River.

: Canoe Day canoeists paddling the Nonquon

: Barn swallows, threatened species at risk in Ontario, nest by the Nonquon River.

: Canoe Day friends gather, ready and excited to head downstream.

: Kawartha Outfitters outfitted the Quetico Foundation Canoe Day with a remarkable gourmet lunch, including this impressive canoe day cake!

: Canoe Day participants on the water along the beautiful Nonquon River.

: Quetico Foundation Canoe Day participants head out along the Nonquon River.

: Quetico Foundation Canoe Day participants head out along the Nonquon River on a gorgeous day.

: A Canada goose lays flat in a defensive posture protecting its nest.

: Dogwood, willows, swamp maples, birches and cedars along the shores of the Nonquon River.

: Quetico Foundation Canoe Day canoeists enjoying the great weather, a beautiful paddle, natural landscape and wildlife viewing, along the Nonquon River.