Bradford camps is a long way from anywhere. A small clearing in the woods
well north of Katahdin, the territory so remote. Most guests to this
traditional sporting camp will come in by float plane at 4000 ft. It's still
nothing but trees everywhere you look. There's not a building to be seen for
miles or a stack or a pay road or a power line or anything. But apparently
that isn't enough for some folks, as if Bradford camps wasn't far enough away.
They want to get on a vacation from the vacation and they come to respond. Igor
Sikorsky, owner of Bradford camps, often flies guests out to Big Read Pond,
where there are two cabins outfitted with cooking gear and gas lighting. The
big draw here, total solitude and the exceedingly rare blue back trout and
United States are the lower 48. There's only 14 ponds that have blue back trout,
they're all in maine and this is one of the significant ones. Big Read pond is
also well known to ecologists. It's in the middle of 5000 acres of virgin
forest, the largest block of old growth trees east of the Mississippi just
never been touched by an axe chainsaw skitter ever.
The land owned by the nature Conservancy feels ancient and primeval.
The forest floor, a dense, spongy mass of nutrient rich decay. There's a lot
to be learned here because nature has been doing its thing for three or 400
years, at least some of these trees can be that old. It's telling us how nature
naturally regenerates forest and grows big trees, bob Michel of the new
England Forestry Foundation or NEH, which has put forward a prescription
for a healthier new England Forest, which they call exemplary forestry. The
goal to improve wildlife habitat, grow better would for commercial markets and
help mitigate climate change all at the same time. We try to imitate this as
closely as possible. That doesn't mean we can't do this. Nature knows what
it's doing and said tens of thousands of years, millions of years to figure
this out, but we're trying to come as close as possible to it. Yeah, the key
is in careful deliberate forestry, opening gaps in the canopy for
regeneration to occur on the forest floor, but leaving some big trees uncut
healthy. Northwoods also has less quantifiable benefits. This vast realm
of undeveloped land. Just a day's drive from our congested hyper driven network
world thorough called it the tonic of wildness. How can you find anything
more healing to the human spirit than the natural world, Alexandra. Conover.
Bennett and Garrett Conover, legendary main guides known for using traditional
materials and methods learned from Old Woodsman and indigenous people. What
maine has for New England is the remnant of original travel routes
because everywhere else, wherever the waterways were is where the roads are,
where the railroads were, where the agriculture was. And in maine you've
still got watersheds That aren't developed. The couple launched their
guide service Northwoods ways in 1980. Their books on paddling and snowshoeing
are considered classics. Now divorced. They remain close. Oh my gosh, yes,
he's my best friend. I hope you're my best friend. Don't worry about that.
Happy birthday by the way, thank you both practice what they preach. Living
in the woods off the bridge 1987 we moved out of buildings. Put it that way.
Garrett lives in a wall tent he once shared with Alexandra A 10 minute walk
into the woods. He gets his water from a spring down by Big Wilson stream, His
light from gas lamps. Conover's one indulgence, a handsome little sauna. 20
minutes away, Alexandra has built a cabin for herself on the far shores of
Upon accessible only by canoe. They've taken a step back from active guiding,
instead concentrating on teaching, writing and public speaking, the time
tested wisdom of the woods, which they've gathered over their lives
passed on to a new generation. I'm in tears after those gangs leave because I
think uh, oh, this is, this is what we're, this is the meaning of life for
me. So nature heals. I could see it happen every single trip
2005, the conifers were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. They
tracked four hours into the north woods carrying £200 of food and that was a re
creation of their honeymoon, gives some idea of their dedication well, and if
the Sikorsky name sounds familiar, that's because Igor Sikorsky the third
is the grandson of Igor Sikorsky the first who invented the helicopter. So
it's in the blood, fly in the blood. Can a building made of wood fight,
climate change