Fridays Video

Fridays Video

Friday, February 4, 2011

No comments

Remember Lily the Bear? If the name doesn't ring a bell, you might recall she was the reason why the Great Smoky Mountains lost a $100,000 grant from Coca-Cola back in August. The Smokies got shellacked in the online voting contest to Bear Head Lake State Park out of Minnesota.

Apparently Lily was, and still is, a local celebrity. When her fans learned that she spends a good portion of her time in the park, they wanted to do something to help out. Thus, the come-from-behind victory during the month-long contest.

Lily is now a three-year-old wild black bear who is part of Dr. Lynn Rogers' long-term study of black bear ecology and behavior at the Wildlife Research Institute. On January 8, 2010, Dr. Rogers installed a live video camera in Lily's winter den near Ely, Minnesota so the public could share in the birth and care of her cub (named Hope). It was the first time the birth of a wild black bear had ever been viewed live on the Internet.

This year, Lily had the first mixed age litter ever studied in a den, and the light colored cub might be the first brown cub in the clan being studying.

Lily and Hope are proving to be some of the best ambassadors for bears themselves. Fans of Lily are learning about bears from the bears themselves. They're seeing an animal far different from the ferocious image usually displayed by the media.

During Hope's first couple of weeks, hundreds of classrooms began each day watching the Lily Den Cam, and then going on to include Lily and Hope in lessons throughout the day.

Below is the latest webcam video from the den to be posted on Youtube:




You can visit http://www.bearstudy.org/ to learn more about the research and the bears who are part of it. You can also visit http://www.bear.org/ to view the live den cam.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

Read More

Great Smokies taking it on the chin right now!

Great Smokies taking it on the chin right now!

Monday, August 16, 2010

5 comments

There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game and that is first place.
-- Vince Lombardi


Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
-- Bluto from Animal House


It’s roughly half-time for the Coca-Cola Live Positively $100,000 recreation grant contest, and the Great Smokies, quite frankly, is still getting its butt whipped by a minor state park from Minne-so-cold.

Whoever is behind the shellacking that Bear Head Lake State Park is putting on the Smokies is well organized and well motivated. We’re staring at an upset of epic proportions!

Right now we’re down by more than 340,000 votes!

There’s still time, however. Voting ends on August 31st. If you think that the Great Smoky Mountains can put this money to good use, please take the time to vote several times.

It’s pretty interesting how much press this contest/promotion is generating for Coke. Quite a marketing coup for them….


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

Read More

The Great Smokies needs your help - ASAP!

The Great Smokies needs your help - ASAP!

Monday, August 9, 2010

3 comments

A few days ago I posted about a $100,000 recreation grant that Coca-Cola was offering to a state or national park that received the most votes in its Live Positively initiative.

At that time the Great Smoky Mountains appeared to be in firm control of first place as they had a wide lead over Little Ocmulgee State Park out of Georgia.

Somewhere along the way, in the last day or two, a small state park out of Minnesota has taken a commanding lead: as in 341,000 votes to only 181,000 votes for GSMNP, which is still in second place.

I hope this is only like a 16 seed jumping out in front of a #1 seed early in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Yea, they're excited to be there, and have nothing to lose, but once the big power house comes back to Earth after getting chewed-out by their coach they start to flex their muscle and take command of the court.

That small upstart in question, Bear Head Lake State Park, I happened to visit on the same day that Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait back in 1990. It's a very beautiful park, but the mosquitoes and black flies were just horrible. Maybe it was the time of year, but the locals say that the lowly mosquito is the state bird in Minnesota.

Anyway, I digress.

Between now and 8/31, you can vote as often as you like. As we all know, the Smokies sure could use that money.

Please click here to vote and vote often!


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

Read More

Black Bear Field Study Workshops

Black Bear Field Study Workshops

Sunday, March 15, 2009

2 comments

Looking for an interesting and educational alternative for a vacation this year? You may want to check out the Black Bear Field Study Course offered by the Wildlife Research Institute.

The black bear workshops are lead by Lynn Rogers, Ph.D., and are designed for anyone interested in bears. You may have seen Dr. Rogers on the Animal Planet documentary "The Man Who Walks With Bears."

The courses are designed to teach you to safely learn vocalizations, body language, behavior, and ecology directly from wild bears in their wild habitat near Ely, Minnesota. The workshops also emphasize how people can better coexist with bears.

Class sizes are kept small (8 people) to maximize individual opportunities to participate in close-up black bear research. There are also daily discussions and slide presentations to amplify the information learned directly from the bears.

The Wildlife Research Institute offers eight black bear courses throughout the spring and summer; however, four of the workshops (all in August) are already closed. The cost is $1500.

For anyone who is unfamiliar with Ely, MN, I can tell you from first hand experience that this area of the country is absolutely beautiful. Ely is within the Boundary Water Canoe Area, providing perhaps the finest canoeing experience in the country, as well as within close proximity to Minnesota’s beautiful North Coast region along Lake Superior.

For more information on the workshops, please click here.

From now until March 30, Amazon is having their big DVD Sale. Hundreds of DVDs are now on sale - some as low as $6.49! For more information, please click on the banner ad below:




Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, and more.

Smoky Mountain Day Hikers Store Quality gear and apparel from some of the best outdoor brands.

Read More