The Bear Truth (Revealed)

So there was - in fact - an actual visit to McNeil River during it’s bear-viewing season by Sarah Palin in the summer of 2009. It just didn’t happen quite the way Sarah’s Facebook post implied.

Sarah did - in fact - spend a day watching the bears in their salmon-feeding habitat. She was - in fact - accompanied by a biologist. However, she was also accompanied by both her parents, making it a family outing, not an invited scientific observation she implied in her post.

And this defines my on-going gripe with Sarah: Her continual need to exaggerate, embellish and wring the truth out of all her experiences before showing them off. It’s like having a precocious 4 year old who insists upon carrying her own glass of chocolate milk and you’re left to follow along, cleaning up the little spills as you go.

Here’s one now…

Sarah spent her last few weeks in office not in the office at all. Rather than stay in Juneau and help the new team make the sudden transition she’d thrust upon them without warning, she instead fired up the Palin Express and took to the road. Under the auspices of signing laws in different towns across Alaska, Sarah went sight-seeing and Twittered away her last hours as Public Servant No.1.

There are archived articles at the ADN pertaining to these last few weeks, (which include the McNeil trip), written by a couple of perturbed Alaskan journos, who are not at all shy about voicing their displeasure with Sarah’s exit strategy.

One writer observes how Sarah and her parents displaced three paying customers who’d put in their applicaton on time and waited patiently for their turn to view the bears, only to be ousted by the Palin entourage. He makes the point that Sarah and her father, Chuck Heath were an unlikely pair to be bear-viewing at all, considering their propensity to slaughter bears rather than observe them.

A second writer shows his disdain for Sarah’s lack of commitment to the people of Alaska, not just in quitting before the end of her term as governor, but by not even sticking around to help the new governor and his team get organized.

From Sarah’s Facebook:
“Last summer I stood on the grassy bank of an Alaskan waterway that was teeming with salmon to watch part of Alaska’s brown bear population forage, fight, feed, and fend off enemies to survive. I joined Fish and Game biologists to observe 42 of these majestic wild animals all within eyesight, all at once.”

She stood with her parents on that grassy slope. She didn’t ‘join’ F&G biologists, they were her mandatory chaperones, as no one is left to wander through the state habitat alone. No biologist(s) ‘invited’ Sarah to join them. A full staff of qualified biologists are at all times on the property, specifically to escort the public and to hopefully educate them as well regarding the plight of the Alaska Brown Bear.

A plight, I might add that Sarah, her father and the current Acting Gov Sean Parnell continue to make worse.

Please visit the links and read the full articles.

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Special thanks to all the commenters who took the time to research this subject for me, digging up the old twitters, setting the timeline and especially to HistoryGoddess and Aussie Blue Sky for sharing the above links.

My having zoned in on this particular Facebook post of Sarah’s may seem petty to some, but I happen to believe that people who elevate themselves  to role model status, be it celebrity or politician, should be held accountable for the things they say to the public;  for the image they portray  to the public, and that those images are truthful.

I happen to believe that telling the truth should be the knee-jerk response of an elected (or wannabe elected) official. Now, if I could just persuade the pollies to get on board…

To comment on this post, please scroll up to the title “The Bear Truth (Revealed)” and click on the word comments just beneath.  Thanks, OzMud

 

The Bear Truth (cont.)

“See McNeil River Bears” is an archived article posted on the Alaska Fish & Wildlife website in their February 2008 edition.

To wit:

The following access permits are available to visit the sanctuary:

Guiding Viewing Access Permits: Formerly known as “Regular” permits, these are drawn in a lottery in which all applicants have an equal opportunity of being selected. Applicants may select a first and second choice for the four-day time block to visit the McNeil River Sanctuary during the period of June 7-Aug. 25. A total of 185 individual permits, each valid for a four-day period, are available through this lottery. Applications must be submitted by March 1.

Camp-Standby Viewing Access Permits: Formerly known as “Standby” permits, these are drawn in the same lottery as the Guided Viewing Access Permits. Visitors holding Camp-Standby Viewing Access Permits are allowed to stay in the sanctuary campground, visit the beach seaward of the campground, and view bears in the campground/beach area. These permit holders are eligible to fill vacancies that occur when visitors holding Guided Viewing Access Permits fail to use their permit(s). A total of 57 Camp-Standby Viewing Access Permits, each valid for a four-day period, are issued each year.

Biologist Joe Meehan is the lands and refuges program coordinator. He said 97 percent of the people on standby get to spend at least one day out at the bear viewing site. “The vast majority go for two or more days,” Meehan said. “There’s often very good viewing around camp, or on the beach. Or out on the McNeil Lagoon Spit.”

Sarah’s Facebook plug didn’t exactly ‘plug’ the program, however, as she could have easily promoted the McNeil River bear viewing project by adding the article’s last two paragraphs:

Application must be made by March 1 online. Mailed applications must be at the Alaska Department of Fish & Game by March 1. Application forms are available on line at http://www.wildlife.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=mcneil_river.mainor by calling 907-267-2182.

There is a non-refundable application of $25 per person. Applications are entered into a lottery. If drawn, by May 1 residents must pay a $150 viewing fee and non-residents pay $350

H/T to walkaboutstory for the wildlife.alaska.gov link which led to the above archive and the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary link, promoted by ADF&G Division of Wildlife conservation - which reads (not-so-surprisingly) just like the Facebook post:

To wit:

The largest known gathering of brown bears in the world happens at McNeil River. Visitors get an unparalleled opportunity to watch the bears mating, fighting, playing, and feeding. In early July, chum salmon return to the river to spawn. A series of cascading rapids and pools slows the migration of the salmon and makes them easy prey for hungry bears.

and…

McNeil River is the world’s best wildlife viewing site for the magnificent Alaska brown bear. Usually solitary animals, as many as three dozen bruins may be seen at the river’s falls dining on chum salmon

Alaska commenters from yesterday’s post add some unique observations regarding their ex-half-gov and how it’s entirely possible her bear-watching claim is true. However, rather than walking away feeling satisfied that Sarah actually took one of these ‘day trips’ to McNeil’s River, I found myself simply rewording my original questions… Where are the photos of Sarah observng the bears? Where are the photos Sarah would have taken of the bears she observed? Where’s the printed story of this adventure?

If Sarah Palin took one of these day-trips to McNeil River in the month of June, while she was still governor, where’s the activity listed on her oh-so-busy governor’s schedule? What’s the likelihood she didn’t sieze this opportunity to tout herself as a concerned conservationist to the environmental voters?

This would have been a no-brainer photo-op showing she was such a great governor that she took time out of her busy governorshipness to show the biologists how to properly observe bears.

Where’s the story?

If she took the trip in July or August, after her marathon week-long quitathon, where’s the ‘I spotted Sarah’ story telling all of us how (even though she quit her job) she’s still concerned enough about Alaska that she’s gone off to observe the bears yadda yadda… I mean really, isn’t it logical that the  people she would have encountered on such a trip have had, oh I don’t know… cameras?

I’m just saying… prior to quitting, Sarah was all over the news cycles shilling herself as the greatest governor Alaska ever had and this story is nowhere to be found.

After she quit, people in all 50 states were  on a 24/7  Sarah-Watch trying to figure out where she was and what she was doing. She didn’t emerge from hiding until just before her book release, part of which (coincidentally?) overlaps with the Alaska Brown Bear viewing season. I find it extremely hard to digest the idea that NO ONE thought to snap a candid shot of her at the campground. Especially when the price of a candid shot of the ex-half-gov would have so nicely lined the pockets of another bear watcher or underpaid biologist.

I’ll believe this fairy tale when one of the biologists comes forward with his or her photo-essay of the day he or she escorted his or her ex-half-gov around the bear habitat.

Until then, I think her FB hack should stop signing Sarah’s name to the bottom of her posts and start signing it honestly:

The Googling-Ghost springs to mind.

To comment on this post, please scroll up to the title “The Bear Truth (cont.)” and click on the word comments just beneath. Thanks, OzMud