OK. It’s time to confess.
I didn’t grow up in northern Michigan and I don’t live there now. I spent a significant amount of time there as a boy and young man, though — kind of like Ernest Hemingway, without the Nick Adams stories and Nobel Prize for Literature.
I learned to love the north country early on during family campouts with assorted friends and relatives. Regular destinations included state parks at Interlochen, St. Ignace, Indian Lake, Brimley and Baraga.
We fished in Duck Lake, crisscrossed the Mackinac Bridge, toured the Keweenaw Peninsula, swam in the Great Lakes, skied on Wexford County’s tiny Lake Meauwataka, watched big ships move through the locks at Sault Sainte Marie, and generally enjoyed the clean air and fresh water that personified the so-called “winter-water wonderland” of my youth.
Adventure tales by Jack London, poetry by Robert Service and stories by Farley Mowat only added to my fascination with all things north.
Nevertheless, most of my time was spent in the Spring Brook Watershed of Richland Township, located in the southwestern part of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.
My friends and I would wade the meandering stream, catch trout in the cold spring water and build dams at various swimming holes — unwelcome obstructions that the Department of Natural Resources would promptly remove. We climbed trees, roamed the woods, camped in the meadows, explored the wetlands, dug small ponds and stocked them with captured frogs, and looked forward to the annual outdoor show in the Kalamazoo County Center building at the local fairgrounds.
That’s where I first saw The North Woods Call – back in the days when Marguerite Gahagan was still publisher. There was always a stack of the little newspapers near the entrance and I would beeline over to pick up my copy. I was as fascinated by the publication then as I am now.
Years later, when I became a newspaper reporter and editor at weekly publications in the northern Michigan communities of Mancelona and Kalkaska, I would occasionally get telephone calls from Marguerite’s successor, Glen Sheppard. Shep, as he was known, always had a good tip for a story in my coverage area and I was pleased to follow up on them.
It was Shep who introduced me to Bud Jones of Alba. Bud took me on an early morning trip to the sharp-tail grouse dancing grounds in eastern Antrim County. Shep also connected me to legendary conservationist Ford Kellum, who gave me a tour of the forsaken stump country surrounding the Deward tract near the Antrim-Crawford county line.
It was about that time — in 1978 — that I started to think that someday I would like to own The North Woods Call. I had always had a heart for writing and journalism, and I couldn’t think of a better place to ply my trade than with a publication that actually made a difference.
I first started to talk to Shep about the future of The Call during the late 1980s. He said he wanted to take on a partner — and maybe even sell the publication — but I’m not sure he really did. The newspaper had become such a part of him that it was difficult for anyone — let alone Shep — to think about the publication continuing without him at the helm.
I submitted several proposals over the years, but he wasn’t very responsive to my ideas. He wasn’t a business guy, he said, and wanted someone willing to “jump in and charge the hill” without so much consideration of business plans, profits and losses.
Anything short of that did not resonate with his “take no prisoners” personality.
It ultimately took his passing and several months of negotiations with Shep’s widow, Mary Lou, and her attorney to seal the deal. But now it’s done and here I am, wondering just what I’ve gotten myself into.
It’s still a significant risk — and probably a dubious business deal. Given today’s newspaper economics, it could be downright crazy. Maybe I do meet Shep’s partnership requirements after all.
I still visit northern Michigan as often as possible and I’d like to return one day to live and work there. Unfortunately, life circumstances at the moment do not allow for that. So I am going to attempt — for the near-term, at least — to write and publish The Call from my home in Kalamazoo.
That will be a challenge, I’m sure, but it is much more feasible in this era of advanced communication technology than it might have been in years past. After all, Shep did a fair amount of newsgathering over the telephone — particularly in his later years. I don’t think he used the Internet much, but that is another powerful tool that I can employ.
I’m also hoping to develop a stable of top-notch environmental writers to contribute articles, features and opinion pieces. That may take a while, but it is a goal worth pursuing. Ultimately, we want to make The Call the go-to source for news and information about outdoor and conservation issues in Michigan — and beyond.
The important thing is to build an active learning community around The North Woods Call — one that engages citizens, businesses, nonprofit organizations, government agencies and policymakers in the important work of protecting our natural resources.
You are part of that community, and can help by subscribing and contributing comments, story ideas and general expertise.
Welcome aboard.
Now let’s move forward and see what we can accomplish together.
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