In the Spring in BW:
Corn lily leaves
Ostrich fern fiddlebacks
Wild onion
Pigweed
Wild garlic
cattail root
Plantain

Any variation of this can be used to make a very interesting and tasty salad.

You should be very careful in identifying plants. We would definitely suggest that you obtain a good plant identification guide. If you have any doubt about what you are harvesting do no harvest it.

Also there are laws about hwat you can and can not harvest. Ask the Wardens or Forest Service people before you get yourself in trouble.

M and A

Now that you mention I have not seen a lot of rabbits either. I have seen quite a few red squirrels though.

I would guess that the Bdubs and Q has a rather substantial population of snowshoe hares...but they mostly inhabit the swampier, boggier terrain. So unless you are bushwhacked, lost, or both, you're not likely to see them or signs of them during paddling season...when most of your time is on rocky shore lines and all manner of portage trails.

Squirrels? Lots of red squirrels. Gray? Not so much...not enough mast trees to sustain them is my guess.

Beaver? Lots

The Beav

How about mushrooms? Mushrooms are an excellent substitute for meat and some of the larger caps are excellent over the open fire. I love to hunt wild mushrooms (I love to eat them more) and I suspect that the BW/Q produces some excellent mushrooms. So many of the best edible mushrooms are mycorrhizal with the Pine species that the BW/Q must be a veritable feast of delectable fungi.  I can hardly wait! Now will the local constabulary allow you to pick (in California they won't)? After all, its only the fruit so if you can pick berries you should be able to pick mushrooms! When does the wild rice ripen? And there must be tons of berries. I like the fiddleheads also but you need to be careful. In Japan where fiddleheads are a delicacy there are increased incidences of cancers of the gastric tract which are ascribed to fiddle heads.  There should be little reason to go hungry in the wild. Foraging is one of my favorite past times. If you ever get a chance you should read some books a friend of mine wrote the "Handbook of Edible Weeds" and the "Handbook of Medicinal Herbs" both published by CRC and written Dr. James A Duke. Dr. Duke has written a number of other books and works for the USDA as an "Economic Botanist" as well as being a bona fide character growing edible weeds in his own weed patch or as he likes to put it, in his "herbal vineyard."

Regards,
Chuck

You make some good points Solotripper! I've been doing it for years and I teach a mushroom identification class at the local community college.  Mushrooms are not some thing to fool around with and I teach the old "If in doubt throw it out" philosophy. There really is no substitute for a class where you can see the mushrooms in your area. We usually have a mushroom feed at the end of the class with mushrooms we picked. Mushrooms tend to vary from area to area and while one of my favorites is the Boletus edulis (porcini or Steinpilz) we happen to have a Bolete in my area that is poisonous and it looks very much like the good edible kind to the untrained eye except that the tubes bruise blue (Boletus satanas). I am glad you brought this up because it does need to be stressed.  My grandmother came from the old country (Russia) and loved mushrooms but she didn't pick any in this country because she said that there were many that looked like the right ones but she just couldn't be sure.  So when do you get morels in your area? Early Spring? What's around in August?