Wildfire debates future of north woods recreation economy

Does hunting and fishing have a future in Maine’s north woods? Or will it be all birding, biking, and hiking?

Could be it’s all of those things, thanks to the Appalachian Mountain Club and others who are delivering these outdoor experiences on lands where they protect and enhance the resources and provide the lodging and amenities that today’s travelers demand.

The current episode of Wildlife, the TV talk show cohosted by Harry Vanderweide and me and produced by Maine Audubon, presents a fast-paced discussion on these and other outdoor recreation topics with the AMC’s Shannon LeRoy, a former sporting camp owner and now the programs and office manager for AMC.

You’ll get a lot of insiders’ tips on this show – like never passing the Spring Creek BBQ restaurant in Monson on your way to Greenville and Moosehead Lake. Shannon even tells us her favorite remote wild brook trout pond. She many regret that!

But we also have a serious discussion of the status and future of our outdoor economy in the north woods.

You can watch the show on Maine Audubon’s website.

You can also read a travel column that my wife Linda and I wrote after visiting AMC’s Gorman Chairback Camps winter before last. It’s a spectacular experience.

Check it out! 

 

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.