January 26, 2003
WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY:
Remember, there's more than just one use for moose
Three seemingly totally unrelated news stories in the past two weeks caught this camera hunter's eye: Great Northern Paper Co. files for bankruptcy; Maine's Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife counts moose with an infrared aerial survey; and Eastman Kodak announces a layoff of 3,000 employees.
What do any of these have to do with wildlife photography? If you're thinking it's because there'll be less film available, you're wrong. Besides, Fuji professional films happen to be the ones I shoot. Besides, digital cameras that don't need film include some good ones offered by Kodak.
But if you're thinking it has something to do with how many moose Inland Fisheries and Wildlife finds, you're right. Those who seek to photograph wild animals need more than a camera and film. They also need willing subjects to work with. For most of the past 15 years, no subject in Maine has offered a more willing target for the camera than the moose.
Where do moose live? Pretty much statewide. But because moose thrive on the tender new growth of a regenerating forest, the bulk of the Maine moose herd hangs out in the big woods, especially at places where loggers — like the ones who supply Great Northern's mills — help to generate lots of moose food.
Are you beginning to connect the dots? If a whole lot less cutting results due to closed paper mills, it's likely that a future "Maine Woods" will have a lot fewer moose.
So what's that got to do with Eastman Kodak? The stated reason for their layoff is because people are taking fewer vacations, and therefore fewer pictures. And while the number of folks who come to Maine to photograph moose are a droplet in Moosehead Lake, they represent a lot more value there than some appear to grasp, including the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
That's not to say that Inland Fisheries and Wildlife doesn't talk about moose watching. Its 1990 Maine Moose Hunter's Guide states: "Observing moose and hunting them are not mutually exclusive recreational pursuits. A goal of management will be to provide an optimum number of moose for use and enjoyment of all the citizens of the state. Numerous moose will be available for people who wish to view or photograph them. Hunting, if properly controlled, will provide for the maintenance of desired population levels resulting in the fullest use and enjoyment of this renewable natural resource by the citizens and visitors of Maine . . . Removal of a maximum of 1,000 moose, or 5 percent of the current population, will not adversely affect the population."
That statement applied when I wrote the Maine Moose Watcher's Guide in 1993. In fact, when driving the stretch of road from Millinocket Lake along the West Branch of the Penobscot River to Ripogenus Dam and beyond — all Great Northern land — one would likely see "a moose every mile," especially in the early summer. Moose watchers also commonly found moose all around the Moosehead Lake and Jackman regions. And they burned a lot of film on them — who comes to Maine to see moose and doesn't bring a camera?
That's not so easy to do today. Visitors "from away" often ask how come they don't see many moose anymore. Onetime moose watching hotspots, including some I wrote of in my 1993 book, are seldom active today. Guides and motel, campground, store and restaurant owners in moose country who have enjoyed many tourist dollars from moose watchers worry about the difference.
You can still find moose, as evidenced by the one in the photographs accompanying this column. The photos were taken on the road to Kokadjo, on the south side of Moosehead Lake, this past Monday. But I've spent days there the past several years without a single sighting, let alone a photograph.
If you go moose watching in the big woods, explore back roads with care and a good map. And keep in mind that many are privately owned roads. Be sure to follow the rules of those roads — especially the one about not stopping in the road! And always make room for the logging trucks that use these roads.
In winter, take extra care. And don't get off paved roads unless you have a CB radio as well. Logging trucks cannot stop on icy roads, so you want to know when they're coming so that you can pull over until they go by.
Because of fewer sightings and concerns about tick infestation that affects the health of the moose herd, Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is cutting back on the 2003 moose hunt by planning to issue 2,585 permits. But is that enough to manage for the many more thousands of folks who want to enjoy this species nonconsumptively? Perhaps MDIF&W should set aside some areas for moose watching? Don't they at least need to do some field research on behavior alteration from hunting pressure? Shouldn't all who seek a use for moose in Maine really be considered in any moose management plan?
As we face an era of declining traditional use of the greater Maine woods, perhaps the huge attraction of the Maine moose to tourists should be focused on a bit more — pun intended.
Catch yours in the good light.
Bill Silliker Jr. is a freelance photographer and writer based in Ocean Park, ME. For more information go to: www.camerahunter.com.