CONSERVATION CORNER
Bear Affair To Celebrate Famous Hunt
by James L. Cummins

Rolling Fork, Mississippi will be the site of a national celebration - the 4th Annual Great Delta Bear Affair. It will be held on October 8 from 9:00 a.m. until dark at the courthouse grounds in Rolling Fork, Mississippi. Rolling Fork is located on Highway 61. It is 45 minutes south of Greenville and 45 minutes north of Vicksburg.

The main purposes of the festival are to raise awareness about the plight of black bear in Mississippi, highlight our state's bountiful natural resources along with its cultural and historical heritage, commemorate Theodore Roosevelt's famous 1902 bear hunt that gave rise to the Teddy bear. This year it will also celebrate the 100th anniversary of the U.S.D.A. Forest Service.

Many people attend the annual festival each fall and enjoy many things, including a nationally known Theodore Roosevelt impersonator accompanied by a local man impersonating Roosevelt's legendary guide Holt Collier (for the record, he is Muddy Waters' nephew), informative seminars on bears, alligators, snakes, deer and one session on Holt Collier, storytelling about bears, a chainsaw woodcarver carving extraordinary bear creations, live music including my friend Eden Brent, King Edward & Nolan Struck, the Bluz Boys, the Grayhounds, the Blues Rangers, an Elvis Impersonator and the Sharkey Issaquena Mass Choir. There will be good food, arts and crafts, book signings from Mississippi authors, tours of prehistoric Indian mounds, a bird walk, bird netting and banding, a nature walk, a fun run and walk, the Cotton Choppers motorcycle bike rally, an antique engine display, lots of children's amusements and the festival's famous fireworks display.

The Great Delta Bear Affair is open to the public and offers free admission and parking for all attendees. High value raffle items are available at the festival and all proceeds will go to help bring black bear back to their historical range in Mississippi. Major sponsors include Cellular South and Time Warner Cable.

AA special component of the Great Delta Bear Affair is Youth Education Day which is held the day before the festival. Approximately 800 fourth graders from the five county area around Rolling Fork will be invited to attend outstanding presentations by natural resource professionals on resources of the south Mississippi delta. Specific subjects will include bear restoration, wildlife management, Indian mounds, forestry and wood products, farming, flood control, water quality and public lands.

James L. Cummins is Executive Director of the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation in Stoneville, Mississippi. Known as "Wildlife Mississippi," the Foundation is a non-profit, conservation organization founded to conserve, restore and enhance fish, wildlife and plant resources throughout Mississippi. Their web site is www.wildlifemiss.org.