[at-l] Camp Michaux Program at Amelia Givin Library

[camojack at comcast.net (camojack@comcast.net)]

The slide show would make an fascinating addition to the proceedings; not that the hiking related ones aren't excellent. 

Some of us are quite interested in the historical background of things, I am sure.

-"Camo"

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Steve Landis <s.landis@comcast.net> 

> Bob C wrote: 
> > The forests around Millinocket Maine were harvested during World War 
> > II by German Prisoners of War from a prison camp in Seeboomook 
> > Township, a few miles north of the trail crossing at Abol Bridge. The 
> > Army assigned several hundred prisoners to Great Northern Paper Co. 
> > of Millinocket because the company had trouble finding laborers to 
> > supply its mills with pulp wood. 
> 
> South Mountain was denuded during the Iron Furnace days when an acre of 
> trees a day was needed to make the charcoal that fueled the furnace. 
> You can see a picture and read some history here... 
> http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/pinegrovefurnace_history.aspx 
> 
> The evolution of Camp Michaux: 
> 
> CCC Camp S-51-Pa Pine Grove Furnace 1933-1941 
> http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/ccc/Camp.aspx?ID=77 
> 
> POW Camp from 1942-1945 
> http://www.beulahpresby.org/webmaster/michaux/SURVEY.htm 
> 
> Church Camp 1946-1972 
> http://www.beulahpresby.org/webmaster/michaux.htm 
> 
> The slide show on Camp Michaux was done by David Smith from the 
> Cumberland Co Historical Society - the organization that lends us the 
> big screen for the PARuck. We might be able to add this program to the 
> PARuck 2007 schedule along with a hike to the site if there is enough 
> interest. 
> 
> Steve 
> 
> 
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> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/at-l From RoksnRoots at aol.com  Sat Feb 11 14:13:58 2006
From: RoksnRoots at aol.com (RoksnRoots@aol.com)
Date: Sat Feb 11 14:22:38 2006
Subject: [at-l] Grizzly Tim Treadwell - Discovery
Message-ID: <24c.6bdd2cb.311f9f86@aol.com>

In a message dated 2/7/2006 6:15:40 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
bluetrail@aol.com writes:
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Boy, I certainly got a different take on this documentary that you did, R&R.

Since I work in an office that supports some internationally esteemed 
environmental researchers, I had quite a different take on what Tredwell was doing.  
First of all, he may have been self-educated (which is fine), but he had NO 
credentials to be doing what he was doing. One of the reason people have to get 
credentials to be in that backcountry with the bears is to protect the animals 
from needless interaction with humans. I'm not sure that what he was doing 
was science; to me it was a grand experiment touched with delusion.

             ***    Ah, but that was what Treadwell was trying to say in the 
first place. He was trying to say the conventional method practiced by 
certified and credentialed professionals was not adequately protecting the bears. It 
isn't surprising those professionals disliked Treadwell. Take for instance the 
view offered by the park service member in the film. He says the number of 
poaching incidents were few, but the local people on Treadwell's side said that 
wasn't true and poaching was happening. I think the film makes clear that 
Treadwell was endorsing a total protection of the bears vs the bureaucratic one 
offered by the park service. Total protection involved being there to chase off 
threats.


   

The only scene in the movie that showed anyone arriving and bothering the 
bears (they arrived by boat and tossed a rock in the direction of a grizzly) 
showed that Tredwell spent the time hiding in the underbrush and trying not to be 
seen.  He didn't speak up or confront the people in the boat at all.  I'm not 
sure what he meant when he said he was protecting the bears.  The film didn't 
show him doing anything but observing, filming, and interacting with the bears.

            ***     My guess was Treadwell was smart enough to not give them 
the excuse to call him a wildman who harassed visitors - therefore giving them 
the excuse to boot him from the park. I think the people who threw the rock 
were trying to get the grizzly to stand for a trophy photo. On the other hand 
the bush pilot told of Treadwell rushing like a naked wildman from the bushes 
towards people trying to approach the bears (people with guns).





The film also made it clear that he had a long history, going back to his 
college days, of lying, of living in a self-created fantasy.  While living in 
California he assumed an Australian personna and accent.  He made unsubstantiated 
claims about his stint as an actor.  Despite the fact that various women 
often accompanied him in his stays in the wilderness, he went to great pains to 
keep them off camera and to insist on camera that he was in the wilderness 
totally alone.  A fair amount of the footage seemed to be Tredwell promoting 
Tredwell.

          ***   Ah, this kind of character defamation strikes me as a 
counter-reaction to Treadwell's advocacy. Humans seem to have an anti-wildness gene. 
Therefore persons who defend wildness have some kind of defect or personal 
flaw. These people are open to public disapproval. Treadwell brought his bear 
utopia to wide-eyed school kids who relished the images he showed them and 
savored the stories he told. Meanwhile the sob polishing his gun to go shoot 
Treadwell's bears goes unmentioned as one of our more normal members of society. I 
don't know. I'm not seeing this. I don't think Treadwell did either. What 
Treadwell is really guilty of is stepping outside the ever increasing norm in 
America. One getting more strictly enforced by the year in our free society. 




Yes, he did learn to co-exist with the bears. Yes, what he filmed was 
marvelous footage. What I saw was someone who was living on the edge of what most of 
us would consider sane.  His ranting rages, the fact that he turned around and 
flew back to Alaska that last year (past his usual season for observation) 
because of some hassle he had over his airline ticket, his lies--pretty much 
equated to some sort of ursine savior complex to me. 


                 ***    Sure, but you forget that he WAS a bear savior. 

               The hassle of the airline ticket reminded me of persons who 
say an AT through-hike makes them long for the simplicity of the wilds. I'm sure 
if you focus solely on Treadwell's flaws you can ignore his achievements. His 
lies struck me as eccentric, but what really caught my attention were things 
like his ability to stand down a wild bear by body motions. He did that 
several times in the film. These were wild Alaskan Grizzlies. Tim Treadwell could 
stand one down and make it back off. People then say "he thought he was a bear". 
>From what I'm seeing he was. 

          It seems a shame to view Treadwell in such limited terms because 
there are many tangents we could discuss involving environmental crucifixion by 
bear etc. He was sort of an environmental saint. When soldiers die they get 
praised and people respect them. When an environmental hero gets killed people 
go out of their way to show what a wacko he was. Hmm. People are hard-wired for 
civilization, therefore those who ask for some limit to it for the sake of 
pure wildness are seen as counter to normal. But that isn't necessarily true.  





To me, the film was as much about the way we all delude ourselves as it was 
about the bears.



            To me that was exactly Treadwell's point. Treadwell dealt in the 
long-term. The long-term dictates those bears will face real habitat changes 
and threats exactly because of the range of acceptability and normalness by 
which you judge Treadwell. I think the real delusion here is that we aren't 
slowly aiding the bear's extinction by our "protection". If you listen to what our 
wildman was saying, I think that was his point. In the end, I totally agree 
with our obscene, ranting Treadwell that the Park Service will eventually 
sell-out to general interests as the AT so readily shows.

                "I'm willing to die for these bears."   - Tim Treadwell.







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