Learning Adventure

In all our trips, Cedar and Canvas Adventures strives to deliver an understanding of northern lifestyles, the fragility of natural ecosystems north of the 60th parallel and the benefits of conserving our northern waters, habitat and wildlife species. The knowledge and experiences of our guides is shared through interpretation, hands on learning, anecdotal information and storytelling. We also provide a small library for your personal reading pleasure.

Yukon Wildlife, Bear Awareness, Yukon Flora, Wilderness Survival, Hunting, Fishing, Trapping, Klondike Gold Rush, First Nations

Yukon Wildlife

Songbirds, birds of prey, waterfowl, scavengers, furbearers, ungulates, bears, canines, felines, rodents, insects, fish and amphibians.

Look and listen.

Can you imitate their sounds? Do you recognize their tracks? Their scat? Their nests? Which is the male and which is the female? What is their breeding cycle?

Learn to howl wolves, call moose (seasonal), hoot in owls and even call bears. Learn how to prevent unwanted bear encounters and how to deal with them if they arise.

Wildlife interpretation includes more than identification with Cedar and Canvas Adventures. We take great interest in all wild things of the Yukon and provide comprehensive as well as general interest information.

Andy Russell, Canada's best loved and most popular nature writer phrased it well with "The watcher of animals whose interest goes beyond casual observation to a desire to uncover their secret lives finds that his interest never peaks, but continually increases. For the longer he looks, the more he is aware of how much is left to learn and of how our lives are tied to the lives of animals in nature's intricate patterns."

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Bear Awareness

A Bear Quiz - hover your mouse over the questions for our answers

Is this a grizzly bear or a black bear?Grizzly bears are most often identified by the hump on their shoulders, but this view does not offer that opportunity. The claws are also a good way to identify bears, the grizzly having very long claws on the front foot while a black bear has very short claws, often not discernible.However, that is not an option in this photo either. However, this is a grizzly bear identifiable by its dish-shaped face which is much different than the Roman nose of a black bear. Do you think this bear is aware of the photographer?Almost certainly. It would be a very unusual circumstance for someone to be this close to a bear without the bear being aware of the viewer. Bears do not always acknowledge someone either because they are not alarmed by the person being there, they are more interested in something else or they simply do not put enough value on the person to waste their time looking at them. Sometimes bears will appear indifferent, but will consciously use their indifferent look to slowly approach. Is this bear a male or a female? Bears can be identified as male or female by the shape of their head and face, the length of their neck, their urinating patterns and whether or not they have cubs with them. In this case, there is not much to look at, but it is probably a female. The nose is quite short and pointed and there is a definite ‘roundness’ of the facial feature between the ears and the lower jaw. Is this bear a cub, a sub-adult or a mature animal? Cubs are most often viewed as skinny or gangly, having large ears and wearing ‘fluffy’ fur. Sub-adults share some of those same traits to less of a degree. Mature animals, however, have smooth fur, a much sturdier build and smaller ears. In this photo, it appears this bear has smooth fur, sturdy thick legs and small ears. Most likely a mature animal. Does this bear appear angry? hungry? curious? tired? stressed? Angry bears and stressed bears display very similar traits – teeth chomping, woofing, ears laid back, neck stretching, bristling, walking stiff legged, hopping on and swatting with their front feet, salivating, growling. A hungry bear is generally eating although they may appear curious if they were attempting an approach on a caribou or other suitable prey. A curious bear will display itself in much the same way as many other animals do – ears erect, neck stretched, looking intently, sniffing the wind and possibly standing up. This bear is at a partial tilt and is either just getting up or beginning to lay down. In other words, this is likely a tired bear. What other emotions or instinctive thoughts do you think would apply to this bear? Click your mouse to drop us an email letting us know what you think.

The Yukon is bear country.  Grizzly bears and black bears inhabit most of the Yukon in varying densities and are frequently seen on our trips.

There are lots of myths about bears and a lot of misinformation has been distributed over the years, some of it even coming from the scientific community.  For example, it wasn’t more than a couple of decades ago that biologists and wildlife managers were suggesting “if it’s black, fight back; if it’s brown, lay down”.  It’s comforting to know that we understand bears much better today than we did back then.

On our trips, we share our knowledge and grizzly bear and black bear experiences.  We discuss bear biology and behavior, draw your attention to bear sign, help you to spot bears, insist on camp protocols to prevent unwanted bear encounters, provide detailed information on responding to a bear encounter and discuss/demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of bear spray.

Bears are highly intelligent and interesting animals that can provide oodles of viewing enjoyment.  Hopefully we will see bears on the trip you choose.

Stephen Herrero, Professor of Environmental Science and Biology at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada is recognized world wide as a leading authority on bear ecology, behavior and attacks.  His book Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance is a highly recommended read for anyone with outdoor interests. Also highly recommended is Staying Safe in Bear Country, a video available for purchase online at www.bearbiology.com/stayingsafefront.html

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Yukon Flora

That plant with the veil of beautiful tiny flowers may be more than just a pretty face. It may be a valuable, natural food source or poisonous.

Kinnikinick: of the heather family, its berries mealy and tasteless, its leaves used for tea or as a substitute for tobacco. Also called bearberry, because of its valuable food source to bears coming out of hibernation.

Baneberry: the only deadly poisonous berry native to Yukon, causes dizziness, stomach cramps, (bloody) diarrhea and death by cardiac arrest or respiratory paralysis.

Bear Root: a wild sweet pea of the genus Hedysarum. The roots are inedible and may be toxic. A similar species, Indian Potato is edible and a valuable food source. Learn all this and more on your Cedar and Canvas Adventure.

 

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Wilderness Survival

The basics to wilderness survival are fire, shelter, water, food and safety.

Fire is the single greatest survival tool in the North. Learn how to start and maintain a fire in the most adverse conditions and how to build signal fires.

Learn a variety of shelter designs that will reflect your fire's heat and keep you dry and what to use for ground cover.

Giardia is a reality in all waters of the world, regardless of remoteness. An equal, if not greater threat, is dehydration. There are safe ways of getting water to drink in a survival situation.

Food is not a major concern for a short period of time, but should your survival situation become drawn out, knowing edible plants and how to snare squirrels and hare would be a very definite advantage.

Man can live 45 days without food; 6 days without water; 3 minutes without air; but only 1 second without hope. Keeping a cool, thinking frame of mind is absolutely necessary. The only thing you have to fear is fear itself.

Cedar and Canvas Adventures provides clothing lists and a suggestive survival kit list for everyone that partakes in our adventures.

Our guides are trained in Wilderness First Aid and CPR.

Suggested Reading: To Start A Fire (a short story) by Jack London, Wilderness Survival Handbook by Alan Fry and, Northern Bush Craft by Mors L. Kochanski

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Hunting

Thirty-five thousand years ago, Homo sapiens set foot on this earth as hunters and gatherers, dependent on one another for survival. Things are quite different now than when we started, but the basic instinct is still there. Are you hunter or gatherer?

It may take a Yukon wilderness adventure with Cedar and Canvas Adventures for you to find out.

Cedar and Canvas Adventures offers one autumn river trip that involves the harvest of a moose (not harvested by the client). Experience the northern lifestyle where food gathering is not a sport or a hobby, but an essential component of preparing for winter.

 

 

 

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Fishing

There is more to fishing than catching fish and fish meals.  Fish biology of predator and prey species, entomology, management of fish populations and the effects of fishing pressure on fisheries are all part of our Yukon fishing adventures.

While our fishing adventures certainly include fresh fish meals, Cedar and Canvas Adventures is also conscious of the need to protect the breeding fish in any population.  For this reason, we practice the live release of unharmed fish which we feel is a more responsible and respectful approach than simply “catch ‘n release”.  Fish mortality rates do exist in catching fish and releasing them and those rates increase exponentially with improper release techniques and fishing pressure.

Learning “how to fish” is a more in depth topic than simply “catching fish”.

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Trapping

Canada's first industry. The Hudson's Bay Company, originally chartered as "Governor and Company of Adventurers" in 1610, began the exploration of Canada from sea to sea to sea. In search of fur, rivers were utilized as the major mode of transportation, involving natives as guides and trappers.

Today, at the grassroots level, it is still largely a native industry.

A renewable resource, the industry has had great difficulty in recent years with image. Cedar and Canvas Adventures seeks to portray the industry as viable, responsible and humane. Living close to the land, trappers are very conscious of species conservation and all Yukon’s furbearers are represented by healthy populations.

Learn furbearer management techniques, trapping methods, furbearer biology, habitat and identification.

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Klondike Gold Rush

In August of 1896, George Carmack, Skookum Jim and Tagish Charlie found gold on Bonanza Creek which sparked the greatest gold rush the world has ever known.

In July '97, the ocean-going vessel Portland arrived in Seattle laden with prospectors and a ton of gold from the Yukon and the word "Klondike" was soon on the lips of the American nation.

The goldseekers poured north: overland from Edmonton into the Northwest Territories and west over the MacKenzie Mountains; up the Stikine from Wrangell, Alaska to follow the Dease Lake trail; up the inside passage to Dyea and Skagway to cross the Coast Mountains via the White Pass, the Chilkoot Trail and the Chilkat (Dalton Trail); by ocean vessel to St.Michael then up the Yukon River by steamer. The summer of '98 saw Dawson City grow to a population of 30,000 making it the largest community north of Seattle and west of Winnipeg.

Electricity, telephones and motion picture theaters; prostitution, gambling parlours, dancehalls and saloons. It was a time of great wealth and high rollers. It was an exciting time!!

Prospecting has been a major contributor to today's Yukon. Hearing the words 'mountain streams' and 'black sand' conjures up visions of an era of discovery and dreams of untold wealth just waiting for us to pick off the ground. Gold!

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First Nations

Aboriginal people have been in the Yukon for an estimated 10,000 years. Hunters, gatherers and traders, they became the grassroots source of furs to the Russian and European empires.

A part of nature, rather than apart from it, their traditional subsistence lifestyle made them conservationists with an unparalleled respect for the natural order.

With an unwritten history, much of what is known today has been passed down through the generations through storytelling.

Suggested Reading: Part of the Land, Part of the Water by Catharine McClellan

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