WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:03.759 Welcome. This is Marsha for RADIOI, and today I will 2 00:00:03.759 --> 00:00:08.119 be reading National Geographic magazine dated May twenty twenty five, 3 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:12.839 which is donated by the publisher as a reminder, radiois 4 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:15.919 a reading service intended for people who are blind or 5 00:00:16.039 --> 00:00:19.440 have other disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material. 6 00:00:20.120 --> 00:00:22.679 Please join me now for the continuation of the article 7 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:28.519 I began last time, entitled Australia's Big, Great, Big Camel 8 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:34.280 Conundrum by Sean Williams. In Saudi Arabia, perhaps the sports 9 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:39.119 global capital, the twenty twenty four Crown Prince Camel Festival 10 00:00:39.560 --> 00:00:42.719 featured more than twenty one thousand camels and a staggering 11 00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:48.000 prize pot of fifteen million dollars. Mcew is a realist, though, 12 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:51.479 and thanks the only way to solve Australia's camera problem 13 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:55.439 is to market the creature's varied attributes. The camel is 14 00:00:55.479 --> 00:00:59.399 so underrated, he says, we need to lift that profile 15 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:03.640 and make it a another great industry for Australia. Opposed 16 00:01:03.640 --> 00:01:07.879 to culling, like some Aboriginal communities and animal welfare groups, 17 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:11.400 is upset by the mindless slaughter of this great animal. 18 00:01:11.959 --> 00:01:18.079 Camels are remarkably versatile, unlike most other animal that you 19 00:01:18.200 --> 00:01:20.439 can race up to forty miles an hour. They can 20 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:24.359 also be milked. Camel milk, which is creamy and slightly salty, 21 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:28.359 offers a nutritious, low fat and low lactose alternative to 22 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:33.000 cow's milk. Australia's camel milk production, fifty thousand gallons a 23 00:01:33.079 --> 00:01:36.920 year at least at last available count, is a drop 24 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:40.760 in the proverbial bucket compared with six hundred thirty four 25 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:46.560 million gallons in cow's milk sales today, but it's an 26 00:01:46.599 --> 00:01:51.079 emerging cottage industry. The Camel Milk Company, founded north of 27 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:54.599 Melbourne in twenty fourteen, now has a milking herd of 28 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:58.480 more than two hundred at its dairy summer Land Camels 29 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:02.480 and Organic Farm and Queensland, where eight hundred camels Grayze 30 00:02:02.840 --> 00:02:06.120 vaunts the benefits of the vitamin C rich milk and 31 00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:10.560 offers a range of other dairy products from feta to gelato, 32 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:15.680 body cream to milk vodka. Elsewhere in Queensland, q Camel 33 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:20.080 is producing camel's milk chocolates. There are, of course, significant 34 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:23.800 challenges to scaling these operations to such a degree that 35 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:27.199 they could make a dent in the country's huge feral population. 36 00:02:27.960 --> 00:02:32.360 As Warwick Hill of South Australia based camel dairy hump 37 00:02:32.360 --> 00:02:37.479 Policious explains, animals bread for milking typically have uniformed teat 38 00:02:37.560 --> 00:02:41.800 and utter sizes. Nobody's made any serious efforts to breed 39 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:46.400 camels for conformity to masure to machinery, He says, the 40 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:49.000 time it takes us to milk a dozen camels a 41 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:53.800 cow dairy could probably be putting through five hundred one 42 00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:59.960 of Humpoliicio's products. Jerki points towards another potential solution, camel meat, 43 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:04.800 which is a one point six billion dollar global enterprise. 44 00:03:05.240 --> 00:03:08.400 An industry report projects it will swell to two point 45 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:12.360 two billion by twenty thirty, with major markets in the 46 00:03:12.360 --> 00:03:16.199 Middle East and Africa. Camel meat is already having a moment. 47 00:03:16.599 --> 00:03:19.800 An episode of the new Australian TV show Eat the 48 00:03:19.879 --> 00:03:24.800 Invaders urged viewers to try it. Businesses already taking advantage 49 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:29.240 of the demand include artisanal enterprises and large firms such 50 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:34.080 as Samx, a meat exporter in Adelaide and New South Wales. 51 00:03:34.680 --> 00:03:39.520 F Fetala Foods, a wholesale and retail meat products supplier 52 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:44.000 for the domestic market that offers camel burger paddies. Like 53 00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:47.240 camel dairy. Camel meat is a niche business in Australia. 54 00:03:47.719 --> 00:03:51.639 Its camel meat industry produces a few hundred tons a year, 55 00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:54.560 a far cry from the nearly three million tons of 56 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:59.960 beef it produces, but Eddie Hopkins, CEO of Camel Export Australia, 57 00:04:00.520 --> 00:04:04.520 says there's a growing demand abroad for the camels country's 58 00:04:04.599 --> 00:04:10.000 camel meat, particularly in the United States. He's fielded requests 59 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:12.479 from more than twenty five tons a week about two 60 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:17.240 hundred camelsworth, from grocers in Minneapolis, Minnesota, home to a 61 00:04:17.319 --> 00:04:20.439 large Somali community for whom the animal is a staple 62 00:04:20.839 --> 00:04:24.759 source of meat and milk. Hopkins thinks those requests are 63 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:28.759 just scraping the surface and believes the actual weekly demand 64 00:04:28.839 --> 00:04:33.000 globally to be closer to twelve hundred camels, making him 65 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:38.199 optimistic about the industry's long term prospects. Carmody, the rancher 66 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:42.480 and YouTuber also hopes to sell some of the one 67 00:04:42.519 --> 00:04:46.120 hundred thirty tons of camel meat that his culls could 68 00:04:46.199 --> 00:04:49.720 yield annually. In one recent video, he slices off the 69 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:53.480 fatty hump of a dromedary to access the meat underneath it, 70 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:57.120 explaining he sometimes also makes cuts from the legs and 71 00:04:57.160 --> 00:05:00.560 shoulders for sausages, but it's a lot of work. Wonders 72 00:05:00.600 --> 00:05:05.040 whether enough customers will be willing to pay the necessary premium. 73 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:08.439 After all, it's painstaking and expensive to cull the animals 74 00:05:08.439 --> 00:05:12.160 in the desert and transport them for processing. It's just 75 00:05:12.519 --> 00:05:16.680 horrendously cost prohibitive, Comedy says, and it's cheaper just to 76 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:20.680 shoot them all. A number of experts agree that a 77 00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:24.560 commercial camel meat industry would never reach the scale needed 78 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:28.240 to solve the problem. Biologist Tim Lowe of the Invasive 79 00:05:28.279 --> 00:05:32.680 Species Council argues that focusing on industries that harvest camels 80 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:36.680 will only create resistance to necessary culling, which he sees 81 00:05:36.759 --> 00:05:41.000 as the sole practical solution. Carmody, for his part, says 82 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:45.319 he can't even cull camel's efficiently with semi automatic weapons 83 00:05:45.399 --> 00:05:48.680 thanks to a statewide ban on the firearms that's been 84 00:05:48.680 --> 00:05:52.519 the subject of several jack out of the jack out 85 00:05:52.519 --> 00:05:57.160 the Baack videos. I'm letting everyone know exactly what's going 86 00:05:57.199 --> 00:06:00.319 on and how little we are supported, he says, being 87 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:02.720 told that we're a threat to society. If we have 88 00:06:02.839 --> 00:06:06.079 access to tools to do the job, who are actually 89 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:09.839 doing something we have to do. Recently, Carmody was flying 90 00:06:09.879 --> 00:06:13.839 up from Australia's southern coast toward home when less than 91 00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:16.439 an hour into the flight he spotted a small herd 92 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:20.319 of camels heading toward a farming zone. It's not just 93 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:23.439 an out the back problem, he says. It's going to 94 00:06:23.480 --> 00:06:26.639 start becoming a problem down on the coast, but for 95 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:30.680 now it's outback cattle stations like Carmodes and Severans that 96 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:33.600 remain at the heart of the crisis. To keep feral 97 00:06:33.639 --> 00:06:37.600 camels in check, Severin holds about fifty at a time 98 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:39.959 that she's rounded up until they are mature enough to 99 00:06:39.959 --> 00:06:42.920 be sold for slaughter. We don't like to shoot to waste, 100 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:46.079 she says, but her patience is wearing thin and she 101 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:50.079 fears another clash is on the horizon. It's not if 102 00:06:50.120 --> 00:06:53.120 they'll come back, she says. They will come back. The 103 00:06:53.240 --> 00:06:56.319 real question is what the inhabitants of the outback are 104 00:06:56.360 --> 00:07:00.680 prepared to do about it. Next article, Who gets to 105 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:05.879 dig for dinosaurs? The French countryside is rich in fossilized eggs, footprints, 106 00:07:05.959 --> 00:07:08.759 and bones. A battle is raging over who is allowed 107 00:07:08.759 --> 00:07:13.240 to hunt for them? By Scott Johnson. One scorching day 108 00:07:13.319 --> 00:07:17.560 last September, Annie Meechen crouched over a slab of red 109 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:21.240 clay on a remote patch of farmland near Marseilles, on 110 00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:25.720 France's Mediterranean coast. Maiton was scraping away at the clay 111 00:07:25.720 --> 00:07:28.399 when she unearthed what looked like a tiny bone fragment. 112 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:32.279 Sensing the familiar jolts of adrenaline that surged any time 113 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:35.800 she came across a fossil, she called out to her husband, Patrick, 114 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:40.160 who was digging near by. Carefully, the two amateur palaeontologists, 115 00:07:40.199 --> 00:07:43.439 both retired and in their sixties, cleared the surface area, 116 00:07:43.560 --> 00:07:46.439 dug a small trench around the bone, and fashioned a 117 00:07:46.439 --> 00:07:50.240 plaster mold for the scientific record. By the time night fell, 118 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:53.160 the Machiens had two more molds and a growing sense 119 00:07:53.160 --> 00:07:56.040 of excitement that they might be on to something big. 120 00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:00.360 It was a consecration of the work we do, says Patrick. Indeed, 121 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:04.839 leading experts would soon touch the potential significance of their find, 122 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:08.279 but the discovery came at a tricky time for paleontology 123 00:08:08.279 --> 00:08:11.079 in France, where there are efforts to keep the couple 124 00:08:11.160 --> 00:08:15.839 and all other amateurs out of the digging game. Once simmering, 125 00:08:15.959 --> 00:08:20.079 the debate over who gets to hunt for dinosaur fossils 126 00:08:20.120 --> 00:08:23.759 has become a roiling fight over credentials. On one side, 127 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:26.959 French officials and scientists fed up with looting and an 128 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:31.240 international black market where fetch fossils can fetch top dollar. 129 00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:35.480 On the other, hobbyists working with professionals to protect and 130 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:40.559 catalog the country's geologic patrimony, filling museums with specimens that 131 00:08:40.600 --> 00:08:45.240 only hordes of enthusiasts could possibly collect. Each side accuses 132 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:48.639 the other of being anti science. Both sides have evidence 133 00:08:48.679 --> 00:08:51.480 to back themselves up, and it's a conflict that is 134 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:55.879 becoming only more urgent as the country's palaeontological wealth is 135 00:08:55.960 --> 00:09:00.960 increasingly understood. France was once filled with dinosaurs. Today it 136 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:03.720 has one of the most extensive fossil records in Europe, 137 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:08.759 ranging from the Late Triassic period to the Late Crestaceous, 138 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:12.159 roughly two hundred million to seventy five million years ago. 139 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:16.039 Fossils were first discovered in the country in the eighteenth century, 140 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:21.080 but interest in paleontology was turbocharged in the nineteen fifties 141 00:09:21.559 --> 00:09:25.360 when researchers found a large cache of dinosaur eggs in 142 00:09:25.399 --> 00:09:31.279 the stony southern foothills of Montagne Saint Victoire. A raft 143 00:09:31.320 --> 00:09:35.279 of scientific and newspaper articles followed, and within months people 144 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:39.480 swarmed the area around the city of Exon Provence, soon 145 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:43.519 nicknamed Eggs on Provence, in search of their own scaly 146 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:47.000 orb roughly the size and shape of a football. A 147 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:50.639 clandestine market emerged. A single specimen might sell for a 148 00:09:50.679 --> 00:09:54.879 few thousand francs the equivalent of several hundred euros today. 149 00:09:56.440 --> 00:09:59.440 In response, authorities cracked down and in nineteen ninety four 150 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:03.759 turned San Vitoire into a nature reserve, but dinosaur eggs 151 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:07.159 kept cropping up. Between two thousand and two thousand four, 152 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:11.000 researchers in x uncovered five hundred or so at a 153 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:15.320 plot that would become a Monoprix retail store, and more 154 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:18.759 than four hundred eggs were found underneath the Grand Teatre 155 00:10:18.919 --> 00:10:24.240 de Provence. Professional paleontologists, many busy with research, were unable 156 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:29.080 to constantly look for new fossils. Amateurs increasingly filled the void. 157 00:10:29.799 --> 00:10:33.240 In the nineteen eighties, the Mechans dug up a massive 158 00:10:33.399 --> 00:10:38.840 jawbone of an abolissurid, a dinosaur that until then had 159 00:10:38.840 --> 00:10:41.960 only been found in South America. In twenty twenty two, 160 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:45.200 an amateur digger discovered what turned out to be a 161 00:10:45.320 --> 00:10:49.720 nearly complete titanosaur in a wooded area by the town 162 00:10:49.879 --> 00:10:54.120 of Cruisi in southern France. Many of those hobbyists, including 163 00:10:54.120 --> 00:10:58.519 the Meschenes, follow paleontological methods when they dig, and then 164 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:02.559 share their discoveries with the scientific community. Earlier this year, 165 00:11:02.600 --> 00:11:08.120 two amateur paleontologists in southwestern France uncovered several hundred noteworthy 166 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:13.039 fossils from the Ordovician period, some four hundred seventy million 167 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:16.679 years ago. Their finds quickly became the subject of an 168 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:22.080 academic study among scientists at the University of Lausand in Switzerland. 169 00:11:22.360 --> 00:11:25.000 But there's big money to be made in the fossil trade, 170 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:30.840 and some diggers are less scrupulous. Tierri Tortosa, curator and 171 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:35.960 paleontologists at the sand Vetoire National Nature Reserve, has helped 172 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:39.840 a few hobbyists authenticate their finds, only to discover later 173 00:11:39.960 --> 00:11:42.600 that the items were sold on the black market. A 174 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:47.120 specialist in vertebrates of the Upper Cretaceous period, he says 175 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:49.679 he is aware of private collections that are worth hundreds 176 00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:53.080 of thousands of dollars, but there are surely some worth 177 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:58.320 much more. In November twenty twenty four, an Apatosaurus skeleton 178 00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:01.360 found in Wyoming was sold to an anonymous bidder for 179 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:05.279 six million dollars at an auction in Paris. In twenty 180 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:08.519 twenty three, at t Rex known as Trinity was sold 181 00:12:08.519 --> 00:12:12.440 in Zurich for five point four million. Museums can't afford 182 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:15.399 these price tags. Even if they could. Purchasing the fines 183 00:12:15.399 --> 00:12:19.399 would open a Pandora's box, Tortosa says, if we start 184 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:22.320 buying fossils, every one will say, well, we won't give 185 00:12:22.360 --> 00:12:25.720 it away because some one will buy it. More often, 186 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:29.039 fossils disappear from the public record with much less fanfare 187 00:12:29.080 --> 00:12:33.440 than a public auction. One particularly valuable site in Roquefort 188 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:38.879 la Bedoul On, France's southern coast, has been repeatedly pillaged 189 00:12:38.919 --> 00:12:43.159 by looters. It's a ruin now, laments Tortosa. Ninety percent 190 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:46.240 of private collections, he says, are sold, lost to fire 191 00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:50.120 or simply abandoned. In one report, the French National Council 192 00:12:50.200 --> 00:12:55.000 for the Protection of Nature found France's geological patrimony had 193 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:59.960 been heavily impacted by the collection of fossils in Normandy, 194 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:03.759 the situation is especially tense. For centuries, locals have been 195 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:08.039 collecting one hundred sixty million year old Jurassic period fossils, 196 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:12.120 ammonites and other treasurers from the beaches below the Sheer 197 00:13:12.120 --> 00:13:16.399 Cliffs of Calvados, where some of the first dinosaur remains 198 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:19.639 in France were found. For the time being, they still can, 199 00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:22.879 but the French government has plans to transform the area 200 00:13:23.240 --> 00:13:26.879 into a twenty three mile nature reserve, a measure designed 201 00:13:26.919 --> 00:13:29.799 in part to place restrictions on who is allowed to 202 00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:34.120 dig at the site. If the proposed regulations are enacted, 203 00:13:34.200 --> 00:13:37.919 anyone caught collecting fossils without permission could incur a seven 204 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:43.120 hundred fifty euro of fine. Carine Bautelier, director of the 205 00:13:43.159 --> 00:13:48.879 local National Historic Natural History Museum Paleo Space, has described 206 00:13:48.919 --> 00:13:53.279 the government's efforts as the assassination of paleontology in Normandy. 207 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:56.919 In protest, her team placed red flags on every dinosaur 208 00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:00.639 specimen that had been collected by an amateur, virtually the 209 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:06.039 entire collection. Some twenty seven thousand fossils were flagged. Laurent Puglisi, 210 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:10.000 a doctor from Paris, and an Ardent amateur collector himself, 211 00:14:10.440 --> 00:14:14.759 argues that the Calvados Cliffs represent a unique challenge. It's 212 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:17.919 a seafront area, so if the fossils aren't collected right away, 213 00:14:18.279 --> 00:14:20.759 they'll be turned into sand in a matter of hours. 214 00:14:20.840 --> 00:14:25.320 He fumes collecting them is preserving them. Puglisi has been 215 00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:29.440 spearheading an effort to persuade local and national authorities to relent, 216 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:35.519 to little effect so far. Eric Beaufetot, the a paleontologist 217 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:41.039 at France's National Center for Scientific Research, echoes Puglisi's concerns. 218 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:45.600 If we prevent amateurs from collecting fossils, well, there won't 219 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:48.879 be any new fossils already. He says, parts of provols 220 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:54.559 would become a research wasteland because of overlay strict regulations. Meanwhile, 221 00:14:54.679 --> 00:14:58.240 the meschens have been fortunate. Their discovery in Kravls near 222 00:14:58.279 --> 00:15:01.559 Marseilles last septem ever, took place on a tract of 223 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:04.879 private land whose owner had given them permission to continue 224 00:15:04.919 --> 00:15:09.120 their research. After their initial find, the couple returned to 225 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:13.000 the site four times and eventually uncovered several more fossils 226 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:17.039 belonging to the same dinosaur. The collection of rust colored 227 00:15:17.039 --> 00:15:20.000 bones could answer a mystery that has been bubbling in 228 00:15:20.120 --> 00:15:24.720 French paleontological circles for more than thirty years. In the 229 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:28.440 late nineteen eighties, the Meischans had discovered a similar set 230 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:33.679 of bones in another region of Provence. Beaufetau studied the 231 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:36.639 fossils and concluded that they belonged to a chicken sized 232 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:39.840 raptor with a hooked talon that looped at the tail 233 00:15:40.039 --> 00:15:44.200 end of the Cretaceous period, just a few million years 234 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:48.279 before dinosaurs went extinct roughly sixty six million years ago. 235 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:52.919 Beaufetaut co authored a paper about the discovery and declared 236 00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:58.559 a new raptor species, naming it Vera Raptor mechanorum in 237 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:02.480 honor of the meschens. Soon, a team of scientists from 238 00:16:02.519 --> 00:16:06.279 Paris disputed the new designation, claiming the bones likely belonged 239 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:11.039 to a different raptor species, and Vera Raptor machanorum has 240 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:16.320 been shrouded in ambiguity ever since. The Mechans new find 241 00:16:16.440 --> 00:16:19.720 could provide the missing pieces to help resolve the mystery, 242 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:24.320 says Tortosa, who has examined the discovery. Yet, despite his 243 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:29.720 collaboration with amateurs, Tortosa favors increased regulation and better enforcement 244 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:34.120 of existing rules over who is authorized to dig. Regulation 245 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:38.159 doesn't necessarily mean prohibition, he says. But France also shouldn't 246 00:16:38.200 --> 00:16:41.960 be a wild West where anything goes, he adds. One 247 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:44.759 day recently, the Mechans opened the door to a small 248 00:16:44.840 --> 00:16:48.960 room in an undisclosed location that houses their collection, the 249 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:52.279 fruits of four decades of digging, passing shells that hold 250 00:16:52.279 --> 00:16:57.159 crocodile and alligator craniums, a giant turtle carapace, dozens of 251 00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:04.240 dinosaur teeth, an ankle, sawrus pelvis, and numerous fragments of Titanosaurus. 252 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:07.759 Patrick and Annie paused next to a table covered by 253 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:12.400 a half dozen fossils. No entire skeleton of very Raptor 254 00:17:12.920 --> 00:17:16.480 machanorum has ever been found, but the specimens laid out 255 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:19.839 on the table that included a tibia, a piece of cranium, 256 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:24.599 teeth and armed fragment, and portions of a vertebra represented 257 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:28.160 perhaps the most complete collection to date. Were not religious, 258 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:30.400 said Patrick as he looked around the room. But this 259 00:17:30.599 --> 00:17:35.960 is like our church. Next. Paddling America's grandest water trail 260 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:41.160 by Freddy Wilkinson. A Season on the Northern Forest Canoe 261 00:17:41.160 --> 00:17:45.480 Trail stretching from the Adirondacks to northern Maine reveals fresh 262 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:50.319 possibilities for an ancient route. The rain came down in sheets, 263 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:53.680 roiling the surface of Fourth Lake and Oblong Crescent, in 264 00:17:53.720 --> 00:17:56.839 the heart of New York's Adirondack Mountains and the largest 265 00:17:56.839 --> 00:18:00.640 of eight lakes in the Futon Fulton Chain. I laid 266 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:03.440 my paddle on my knees and looked around. Our small 267 00:18:03.480 --> 00:18:07.319 flotilla of canoes and kayaks, containing a dozen or so paddlers, 268 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:10.440 was spread out over a half mile. Though the downpour 269 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:13.720 obscured many of my companions, we were hustling toward the 270 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:18.000 closest takeout a mile away on Fifth Lake. Only a 271 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:20.480 few hours earlier, I had shoved off from a tiny 272 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:24.240 hamlet of Old Forge in upstate New York, pushing east 273 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:27.400 with a group of Native American paddlers along a portion 274 00:18:27.559 --> 00:18:30.079 of an ancient route that runs for seven hundred forty 275 00:18:30.119 --> 00:18:34.359 miles to Maine. The Northern Forest Canoe Trail n f 276 00:18:34.440 --> 00:18:37.000 c T is made up of a network of more 277 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:40.519 than eighty lakes, ponds, and rivers and streams that snake 278 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:44.000 from Old Forge across the heart of the Northeast through 279 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:48.079 Vermont Quebec and New Hampshire, before finally ending with more 280 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:50.480 than three hundred miles of travel deep in the woods 281 00:18:50.519 --> 00:18:53.160 of Maine. Unlike a lot of canoe trips, this is 282 00:18:53.160 --> 00:18:56.720 not a strictly down stream affair, but an overland journey too. 283 00:18:57.200 --> 00:18:59.960 Many of these waterways are not connected, and so extend 284 00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:04.480 of portaging of one's canoe, camping gear and food is mandatory. 285 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:07.279 Lucky for us, when we hauled the boats out at 286 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:10.880 Fifth Lake, our first carry was short, just a half mile, 287 00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:13.559 and a gas station along the way offered a dry 288 00:19:13.559 --> 00:19:16.240 spot to regroup. We left our canoes in a corner 289 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:18.960 of the parking lot. Most of the team huddled inside 290 00:19:19.079 --> 00:19:22.119 around hot drinks while a few smoke cigarettes under an 291 00:19:22.119 --> 00:19:25.599 awning out front. Spirits were not high, but there was 292 00:19:25.640 --> 00:19:28.559 no easy way to bail. In two thousand, a group 293 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:31.440 of paddlers from New England established this long stretch of 294 00:19:31.480 --> 00:19:35.559 waterways as the NFCT and began to formally map it. 295 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:39.759 An eponymous nonprofit has spent the twenty five years since 296 00:19:39.839 --> 00:19:43.160 helping people of all stripes discover one of North America's 297 00:19:43.160 --> 00:19:46.880 greatest canoeing adventures. Of course, the designation doesn't mean the 298 00:19:46.920 --> 00:19:49.920 waterways are just now being utilized for the first time. 299 00:19:50.440 --> 00:19:55.920 The communities within the Howdi Sonauni Federation and Algonquin people, 300 00:19:56.319 --> 00:20:00.200 among others, have applied these waters for millennia. Beginning the 301 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:03.880 sixteen hundreds, the same network of rivers and lakes proved 302 00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:08.039 vital to European settlers for transportation and expansion of the 303 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:12.079 fur trapping and timber industries, and in the decades after 304 00:20:12.119 --> 00:20:15.000 the Civil War, the very beginnings of the American outdoor 305 00:20:15.400 --> 00:20:19.279 recreation ethos began to take root in the area. All 306 00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:21.400 for one reason. In this part of the world, it's 307 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:25.240 easier to travel by water than by land. I've lived 308 00:20:25.240 --> 00:20:27.400 in New England my whole life, but I'm a mountain 309 00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:31.079 guide and had virtually no canoeing experience. Still, when a 310 00:20:31.079 --> 00:20:34.599 friend first told me about the NFCT, it felt like 311 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:37.559 a chance to hike the Appalachian Trail in the nineteen sixties, 312 00:20:37.880 --> 00:20:41.759 to experiencing to experience something wild before it was overrun 313 00:20:41.799 --> 00:20:46.240 by weekend warriors and influencers. Fewer than three hundred people 314 00:20:46.279 --> 00:20:48.880 have paddled the trail in one go, and while I 315 00:20:48.920 --> 00:20:51.160 never planned to join their ranks, over the course of 316 00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:55.000 four months, I traversed hundreds of the trails miles on 317 00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:59.240 trips led by members of several indigenous nations. At the 318 00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:03.000 gas station, the hot coffee, cigarettes and energy drinks kicked 319 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:06.880 in and our spirits began to rebound. The downpour led 320 00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:08.960 up just enough for us to talk each other into 321 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:12.920 heading for the first available campsite, a lean to three 322 00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:17.160 miles away on sixth late, at the place called Gough Point. 323 00:21:17.559 --> 00:21:20.319 It's easier to keep going when you don't have a choice, 324 00:21:20.440 --> 00:21:23.200 someone said with a shrug. By the time we arrived, 325 00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:25.920 the rain had nearly stopped. We started a fire and 326 00:21:25.960 --> 00:21:28.759 sat in a circle, roasting hot dogs and drying out 327 00:21:28.839 --> 00:21:32.799 our drenched gear. The blaze crackled, sending beams of firelight 328 00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:36.720 glittering across the now still surface of the darkened lake. 329 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:40.039 On the opposite shore, we could see headlights weaving along 330 00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:44.319 Route twenty eight. Growing up, Jeremiah Point learned about how 331 00:21:44.359 --> 00:21:48.960 his grandparents survived the residential schools institutions deployed by the 332 00:21:49.079 --> 00:21:53.599 US and Canadian governments that took Indigenous children away from 333 00:21:53.640 --> 00:21:58.039 their communities to eradicate their cultures, often by violent and 334 00:21:58.279 --> 00:22:02.440 abusive me He also knew that his parents had survived 335 00:22:02.440 --> 00:22:07.279 the Indian day Schools, another assimilative of effort by generations, 336 00:22:07.319 --> 00:22:10.240 the first to not be under an active policy to 337 00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:13.200 assimilate and colonize. He told me, people think that it 338 00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:16.480 happened a long time ago, and it didn't. Point did 339 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:21.480 not know the region's rivers the way his Aquissani Mohawk 340 00:22:21.559 --> 00:22:25.160 ancestors did. That started to change in twenty thirteen when 341 00:22:25.160 --> 00:22:27.920 he paddled on the Hudson River in New York State 342 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:31.279 as part of the Two Row Wampum Paddle, an event 343 00:22:31.480 --> 00:22:35.279 that commemorated the four hundred year anniversary of the original 344 00:22:35.319 --> 00:22:40.000 treaty between the Howdsaunee people and the Dutch. Despite it 345 00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:42.880 being his first time on a canoe journey, Point felt 346 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:46.279 a strange sense of deja vous. Every time he encountered 347 00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:51.880 somebody knew, whether from the Cayuga, Senator, Seneca, or Oneida nations, 348 00:22:52.359 --> 00:22:55.000 he had a sense as though they'd met before. The 349 00:22:55.039 --> 00:22:58.839 campsites they stopped at along the Hudson's banks felt like home. 350 00:22:59.240 --> 00:23:02.680 It's in our dna. An elder told him, our ancestors 351 00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:04.960 did this trip. They were here for thousands of years. 352 00:23:05.319 --> 00:23:08.279 That's why the monarch butterfly can go from Canada to 353 00:23:08.359 --> 00:23:12.640 Mexico over multiple generations. They're not taught that it's in 354 00:23:12.680 --> 00:23:16.200 their blood. On our trip, Point shared an eighteen foot 355 00:23:16.279 --> 00:23:22.839 canoe with Iowan A Howie sergeant and Aucassani Mohawk artists 356 00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:25.920 on their first canoe journey. Each morning, the pair were 357 00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:29.079 the first out of their tents, pripping breakfast and starting 358 00:23:29.079 --> 00:23:33.279 the long process of breaking down camp. Iowan A Howie 359 00:23:33.640 --> 00:23:37.160 shared points sense of unity on the water. It's a 360 00:23:37.160 --> 00:23:40.440 place of connection and prayer, they told me. Most of 361 00:23:40.440 --> 00:23:43.920 our crew, like Neil Benedict and Oneida Welder, were hoping 362 00:23:43.960 --> 00:23:47.039 to make the full two week trip to Vermont. Others 363 00:23:47.079 --> 00:23:51.160 like Lenny Printup and his then twelve year old son Thunder, 364 00:23:51.640 --> 00:23:55.640 citizens of the Onandaga nation, were merely tagging along for 365 00:23:55.720 --> 00:23:58.400 the long weekend, and some heard about the trip just 366 00:23:58.440 --> 00:24:01.839 thirty minutes before our departure. One fellow was so excited 367 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:04.960 to tag along he nearly forgot to bring his paddle. 368 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:09.440 It is wonderful how well watered this country is. Henry 369 00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:12.839 David Throughout wrote In the Main Woods, which was published 370 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:16.359 in eighteen sixty four and contains chronicles of three canoe 371 00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:19.519 journeys through the northern forest on some of the same 372 00:24:19.559 --> 00:24:24.160 passageways that now make up the NFCT. Generally, you may 373 00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:27.119 go in any direction in a canoe by making frequent 374 00:24:27.240 --> 00:24:31.480 but not very long pottages, an understatement, if ever, there 375 00:24:31.640 --> 00:24:34.720 was one. As the Saranac River ran down out of 376 00:24:34.759 --> 00:24:38.279 the Eastern Adirondacks in New York, just some twenty miles 377 00:24:38.279 --> 00:24:42.319 west of Lake Champlain, whitewater gushing through a gorge forced 378 00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:45.920 us to pull off the river and start yet another portage. 379 00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:49.200 Although most carries on the NFCT are a mile or 380 00:24:49.319 --> 00:24:52.519 less and portage wheels take the bit out of many 381 00:24:52.519 --> 00:24:55.440 of them, the carries are often the most challenging part 382 00:24:55.480 --> 00:24:58.880 of any canoe journey. Trails can get tight and hilly, 383 00:24:58.920 --> 00:25:02.680 and navigating roots, rocks, and foliage while lugging your gear 384 00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:06.720 takes as much mental fortitude as it does physical endurance. 385 00:25:07.480 --> 00:25:09.799 For nearly the entire day, we trudged in the hot 386 00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:12.960 sun down Casey Road, and had hardly rained since the 387 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:16.640 first days of our journey, and the river was unusually low. 388 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:19.279 We were forced to follow the road for eight miles 389 00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:22.400 rather than the more typical five, most of the way 390 00:25:22.440 --> 00:25:25.519 to Claybourg, a small village in the already small town 391 00:25:25.640 --> 00:25:28.880 of Saranac. For the first few miles, the road was 392 00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:32.400 nothing more than a narrow gravel track tunneling through a 393 00:25:32.440 --> 00:25:36.720 dense emerald patchwork of June leaves. The river faintly rushed 394 00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:39.599 somewhere in the distance. We were beat and what little 395 00:25:39.640 --> 00:25:43.079 conversation we could muster tapered off as we labored along, 396 00:25:43.480 --> 00:25:48.359 descending into the first stifling heat wave of summer. Four 397 00:25:48.359 --> 00:25:51.279 miles into the march, the road changed to cracked pavement, 398 00:25:51.400 --> 00:25:54.440 and a call broke our trance. Would you like a lemonade? 399 00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:57.920 To our right? On a sturdy wrap around porch sat 400 00:25:57.960 --> 00:26:02.319 Holly and Lee Plummadore, cheerful middle aged couple. The walls 401 00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:06.519