Bill Fraser-Harris presented his expedition to Katmai National Park and Reserve, the Katmai River, Brooks Falls and Brown Bears, otherwise known as Grizzly Bears.
Bill is the CSH Rotary Speaker for Wednesday, July 10th is from Charlotte, VT.
Rotary Minutes
Wednesday, July 10, 2024
Guests:
John Clifford
Bill Fraser-Harris, our speaker
Rotary Meeting:
July 4th Hinesburg Parade went splendidly! Big thanks to Amanda Wenzell and Kevin Lewis who were super helpful with organization and painting all kinds of signs and golf balls, very helpful in getting the crew ready to march in the parade.
Great article in the local Shelburne News written by our very own Susan Grimes describing her Morocco adventures! Hope to schedule Susan soon to learn more...
Reminders:
- August 4th, Lake Champlain Dragon Boat Festival; sign up now to participate; if not able to participate mark your calendars to come and cheer on our boat! (Sam Friedman)
- September 13th - Golf ball drop has 20 people registered; we all need to start posting and selling our tickets. This is our annual fundraiser for fire and rescue services (Catherine Moller)
- September 21 – 22nd is the second annual CSH Rotary Classic Pickleball Tournament (Carrie Fenn)
- October 27th Halloween Parade (Richard Fox)
- November 1st -7th Window Dressers build week
Bill Fraser-Harris, our speaker for today is from Charlotte, VT – he is the head of the Charlotte Recreation Committee and responsible for the Charlotte Town Beach Party!
Today’s discussion was about Bill’s expedition to Katmai National Park and Reserve, the Katmai River, Brooks Falls and Brown Bears, otherwise known as the Grizzly Bear.
Bill, his son, his friend and his two sons all flew to Alaska where they later flew on a float plane to a remote island, near Demalia, the Katmai National Park. Katmai was established in 1918 to protect the volcanically devastated region surrounding Novarupta and the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. Today, Katmai National Park and Preserve also protects 9,000 years of human history and important habitat for salmon and thousands of brown bears.
This group of 5 men then hiked 50 miles along the Katmai River through long sedge grasses with high winds(50 miles an hour at times) coming across volcanic mountains ending up in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes to the incredible Brooks Falls where the highest concentration of huge grizzly bears live and feed on the salmon there. Bill presented a truly unbelievable story describing their many adventures throughout this week-long trip.