From: "P. J. Alling"
On 3/12/2010 5:15 PM, John Sessoms wrote:
> From: "P. J. Alling"
>> On 3/12/2010 1:29 PM, David J Brooks wrote:
>>> >
>>> http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100312/NEWS/303120069/Grandfather-Mountain-closes-Bear-Hut-June-1-people-can-no-longer-feed-bears
>>>
>>> >
>>> > Bring the long tele's now folks.
>>> >
>>> > Dave
>>> >
>> Well the State is now in control of GFM did you really expect them to
>> leave the place alone?
>
> The agreement to donate Grandfather Mountain to the state as a state
> park reserves to the Grandfather Mountain Foundation (essentially Hugh
> Morton's family) the right to run the existing commercial attraction.
>
> I'm not sure what the foundation may have to report to the state
> regarding their stewardship, but this isn't a state action
>
> I think many of the changes were already kind of in the works at the
> time the Morton family made the decision to donate the land to the state.
This just strikes me as something state would do. I get the impression
that the bears are captive. If so it hardly hurts to allow the public
to feed them under controlled conditions, especially since this
population has already been acclimated to it.
Whether it's "something state would do" or not, in this case IT IS NOT
THE STATE.
This decision was made by the private foundation created by the Morton
family to run the concession when they negotiated making the land a
state park.
I don't see how feeding the bears hurts the public either, but the
foundation seems to be more concerned about what's best for the bears.
It's their judgment that the bear habitat has to become less people
friendly in order to become more bear friendly.
You have to go back to the wheres and whys and hows Grandfather Mountain
went from being a private tourist attraction to being a state park to
understand why they're making some of the changes. The Morton heirs saw
that changes were necessary to achieve Hugh Morton's vision for
Grandfather Mountain and the state park offered them the best chance of
preserve Morton's legacy; saved the mountain he wanted to save.
You may have to work harder to get bear photos - or you may not. But I
think what photos you do get will be better bear photos, because they'll
be *BEAR* photos, not pan-handler photos.
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