Winter is off to a quick start here. A couple of snowstorms one right after another between Christmas and New Year’s followed by clear cold weather. Not record breaking but cold enough that you notice. Gone are the carefree mornings of walking out to get the newspaper at the end of the driveway without a jacket. Putting on a winter coat and boots now add a little extra effort to the trip.
We have lost our focus here in Maine, we pretend that economic development involves getting some big business to come and provide jobs for our workers. Today any large business shows up with a long list of demands; from training workers to tax breaks. That scenario is limited in its success and we have the empty commercial property and homes to prove it, I can only guess about the cost of those breaks after the business leaves.
I have been writing about how fortunate I am to work as a guide and what I see as a real need for guides in the future. There is another side that needs to be considered and that is what will the guide of the future need to know besides “how to” and “where to” outdoors.
