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Bushwhack Jack’s Tracts, by Jack Drury

Pyres, planes and polar bears

I met Doc Bill Forgey when we both served on the board of directors of the Wilderness Education Association. Bill is a wilderness medicine expert, prolific author, entrepreneur and wonderful storyteller. He shared many stories of his cabin on the Little Beaver River in northern Manitoba. In ...

Gone to the dogs

If life is measured by family, adventure, passion for work and hobbies, and humor, my mother checks all the boxes. Kitty Drury came from an old New England family. She grew up in Warren, Rhode Island and spent summers in the family summer home in Cataumet, Cape Cod, where she learned to ...

You gotta have what it takes

When I was the director of North Country Community College’s Wilderness Recreation Leadership Program, my staff and I worked ceaselessly to assess student outdoor leaders transparently and fairly. We ended up with a sophisticated assessment process, but when all was said and done, we had a ...

Tales of the maple linemen: A sweet story

I grew up in farm country and one thing I learned was that I never wanted to be a farmer. I occasionally helped my farmer friends during the haying season and quickly learned how hard they worked. Fast forward 60 years and guess what I’ve become? A farmer of sorts: I farm trees for maple ...

Trying to chop down a tree … with my neck

I went to the Wilderness Education Association annual conference a couple of weeks ago in Asheville, North Carolina. I’ve been involved in the organization for many years, but I hadn’t been to a conference in over a decade. It’s a great organization and the NCCC Wilderness Recreation ...

TP or not TP, that is the question

During the start of the coronavirus pandemic there were runs on certain items in the grocery store. Understandably, there were shortages of hand sanitizers and sanitizing wipes. What I struggled to understand were the runs on toilet paper. I’ve traveled to several countries where toilet ...