Introduction to Habitats

During stage 1 we will kayak 1,400 miles from Seattle, Washington to Skagway, Alaska. The Pacific Northwest is home to a wide range of aquatic and terrestrial animals. We will be studying whales and other marine mammals, kelp forests, salmon, and many other species.

The Pacific Northwest is home to a variety of large land mammals including Grizzly Bears, and Black Bears. Above and below the surface we are sure to find plenty of things to learn about. Many of these large mammals need large undeveloped spaces to thrive and the roadless sections of British Columbia and Alaska provide the perfect habitat.

From Skagway, Alaska we will hike over the Chilkoot Pass in the footsteps of thousands of gold seekers who struggled across the pass to reach the Klondike. Many of artifacts remain from those early days, and we will follow their path all the way to Dawson City along the mighty Yukon River.

From Bennet Lake on the eastern side of the Chilkoot Pass we will canoe through a chain of lakes that form the headwaters of the Yukon River past White Horse and down the swift flowing Yukon River to Dawson City.

From Dawson we will hike 100 miles through the mountains to the headwaters of the Blackstone River. The Blackstone flows into the Peel River, which flows in the McKenzie River, which will lead us to the Arctic Ocean. The rivers flowing through these rugged mountains as some of the most pristine wild rivers in North America, with hundreds of miles of flowing waterways between towns or roads.

After over 2,600 miles of paddling and hiking we hope to reach the Arctic Ocean before freeze up. We will spend the month of October,2010 training our dogs, and learning about native life in the Arctic. In November we will head south along the McKenzie River by dog team, crossing 1,800 miles of frozen wilderness. There are many remote native communities along our way and we are sure to learn a lot from the people we encounter.

When the ice melts in the Spring of 2011 we will transition from dogsled to canoe and paddle 2,300 miles along the historic travel and trade route pioneered by Alexander McKenzie, Samuel Hearne, and other Canadian Explorers in the 1700's. We will finish this stage of our journey in the fall of 2011 by completing the 8 1/2 mile Grand Portage which will lead us to the rock shore of Lake Superior.

After spending the winter giving presentations and making final preparations we will begin 4,800 mile kayak journey from Grand Portage, Minnesota to Key West, Florida. The first 2,200 miles will take us through the Great Lakes and out the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The Great Lakes contain 6 quadrillion gallons of fresh water, which is one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water. We plan to demonstrate the importance of properly managing and protecting this amazing resource.

During the final stage of our journey we will kayak the length of the Atlantic Coast from the Saint Lawrence Seaway to Key West, Florida. We will be following the seasonal whale migration from the Bay of Fundy in Maine to the warm clear waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way we will visit cities large and small, and study a variety of ecosystems and environmental topics. We also plan to take side trips into the cyprus swamps and Everglades National Park looking for Alligators, birds, and other critters.

Wenonah Canoe and Current Designs Kayaks

GoMacro makes wonderful macrobiotic energy bars.

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Expedition Blog

Introduction to Habitats

Sunday, 09 September 2012 11:24 Written by Administrator

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Greetings from the Atlantic Coast of the United States. Right now, Dave and I are kayaking along the coast of Maine. We are so excited that another school year has started. Are you ready to explore and learn with us? For the next six weeks we are focusing on habitats. Do you know what a habitat is?

A habitat is the area where a plant or animal naturally lives and grows. Habitats support life by providing the food, water and shelter that its inhabitants need to survive – just like your home. Many different habitats can be found on Earth. Each habitat is home to a variety of plants and animals that are unique to that environment.

Atlantic Puffin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You could think of habitat as the special place in a community in which a plant or animal lives. An ecosystem is a community of living and non-living things that work together. An ecosystem is basically the neighborhood where animal lives. The habitat is the animal's address in that neighborhood. Some animals can survive in more than one habitat. Other animals are limited to certain habitats.

A biome is even bigger than an ecosystem. A biome is a large geographical area that contains distinct plant and animal groups which are adapted to live in that environment. There can be many different habitats in a biome. Some major biomes are tundra, taiga, grasslands, deciduous forest, fresh water, desert, alpine, rainforest and ocean.

As we have canoed, kayaked and dogsledded across North America, we have witnessed many different biomes. When we began kayaking two years ago along the Pacific Coast, we saw the temperate rainforest and ocean. We hiked in the taiga, alpine, and tundra. We spent a lot of time canoeing and dogsledding through the fresh water and taiga biomes. We are back to the ocean and deciduous forest along the Atlantic Coast.

The ocean floor near Maine is prime lobster habitat. The coastal area supports many other interesting animals too. We see seals, gulls and porpoises almost every day. Some of the islands are great habitats for animals that are more rare. For example, Atlantic Puffins can be found on just a few of the rocky islands near here. When you read our Daily Data entries, you will find that we only see some animals in specific places. Other animals will be on our list almost every day. Join us next week to learn more about the habitats we encounter along the East Coast.