Ron Joseph, wildlife biologist

A story by Ron Joseph from 1960-2022

Interview with Ron Joseph, April 5, 2022

Maine farm life in the 1950s and early '60s shaped the values and career choice of Ron Joseph as a young boy. Without electricity or indoor plumbing on his grandparents' 105-acre dairy farm, Ron Joseph and his twin brother entertained themselves by hunting, fishing, collecting snakes and frogs, identifying birds and building forts with hay bales in a mid-1800s built post and beam barn. Playtime, though, took a backseat to work. As boys, their morning chores included splitting cedar kindling with a hatchet, reloading the firewood box, dumping chamber pots behind the barn, feeding chickens, collecting eggs, and shoveling cow manure.

Ron Joseph, Maine wildlife biologist, spent 33 years banding eagles, reintroducing peregrine falcons, monitoring songbird and loon populations, live-trapping and moving "nuisance" bears, studying Canada lynx, documenting and protecting deer wintering areas, supervising moose and deer hunter check stations, and restoring wetlands and hayfields for wildlife.

Recorded April 5, 2022

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