Polar Bear Fall Eco Trip November 7-13, 2023
Saskatchewan Polytechnic is excited to offer its second Polar Bear Eco Trip in Fall 2023!
Join tour guides Leslie Tuchek and Susan Blum on an adventure to Canada’s famous polar bear capital, Churchill, Manitoba. We will travel through Saskatchewan parkland, then boreal forest to where taiga and tundra meet the Churchill River and Hudson Bay.
Sustainability and the environment are at the core of our adventure to this sensitive region. Participants travel to Churchill by shared van, then train.
Surge Micro-credential - Learn before you travel
As part of the trip package, participants will earn a Surge Micro-credential badge through pre-trip learning with subject experts. In September and October registrants will meet for lectures in person or by Zoom on the topics of geology, history, northern culture and the effects of climate change on our ecology.
Trip highlights
In Churchill, we travel in the Churchill Northern Studies Centre (CNSC) coach to tour the town site and visit historic Cape Merry bastions, the Miss Piggy plane wreck and Bird Cove. Our Churchill accommodations at the research station are shared bunk rooms and include meals, bedding and lectures.
A full day on the Tundra Buggy® brings us along the coast on the polar bears' traditional route to Hudson Bay where they wait for the ice to freeze so they may resume hunting seals. Foxes, ptarmigan, snowy owls and peregrine falcons are often sited.
Our last day in Churchill includes visits to the Town Complex, Itsanitaq Museum and Parks Canada Interpretive Centre.
Registration
Further details including registration information will be available in March.
Tour guides
Leslie Tuchek
Leslie received her certificate in Ecological Education in 2002 and has guided 13 polar bear/Churchill tours with the University of Saskatchewan. That opportunity and amazing experience led her to guide many exciting domestic and international ecological tours. Churchill holds a special place in her heart and she loves to share the experience with others.
Susan Blum
Susan Blum is currently the associate vice-president, Applied Research and Innovation at Saskatchewan Polytechnic. Prior to moving into research administration, Susan had a strong research background in ecotoxicology and was polar bear biologist for the Government of Nunavut. She spent nine years conducting research on polar bears in Churchill and throughout the high and central Arctic regions. Susan has had numerous trips to Churchill conducting research, leading tours and teaching about polar bears.