By ROBERT JUMPER
One Feather Editor
Several of our leaders have suggested it and I believe it has even appeared on CEDS (Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy) for the Tribe. You only have to look at the reactions of both locals and tourists when wildlife breaks through the trees and underbrush and makes a public appearance to know that a nature habitat or wildlife park would be a no-brainer economic development idea.
One of the best examples of the drawing power of local wildlife is the reaction to the reintroduction of the elk in western North Carolina. Released in Haywood County, as soon as the population started to grow, they started to roam across the Park and hills onto the Qualla Boundary. And the reactions were immediate. Traffic would immediately stop at the sight of an elk on the side of the road. All rules of the road were immediately ignored as local and tourist alike stopped in the middle of the road, jumped out of their vehicles, and tried to get the money shot-that perfect, frameable photo of the majestic elk. Some would even get too close so that they could get that “selfie”, not caring that this half ton ball of muscle and fur could make it the last selfie they ever took.
Such is the fascination with wildlife. Before elk, I would hear and see similar stories told about black bear. They look warm and cuddly, but could easily make quick work of mauling a local or tourist who got too close or were perceived as endangering their cubs. All the warning in the world won’t educate some folks to the dangers of close contact with wildlife. Somehow they miss the term “wild” or at least it doesn’t register when they are trying to capture a picture to show the folks back home.
Rabbits, squirrels, turkeys, deer, and even Canadian geese (who ain’t even from around here) stir a sense of excitement and attract those who want to be “one with nature” like a magnet. I have watched any number of kids on the Oconaluftee Island Park, chasing geese and ducks, tramping through those large birds’ droppings, trying to “catch them one” while parents laughed and commented on how cute the whole situation was.
For years, decades actually, Cherokee has been a place where you could come and be close to animals. When I was a boy, back in the 1960s to 1970s, I can remember being in downtown Cherokee and playing tic-tac-toe with a caged chicken; not wildlife but an animal nonetheless. For just as long, local business owners have had captive bears on display for public view. Some of those bear parks and wildlife zoos came under scrutiny by outside animal rights organizations during the Principal Chief Michell Hicks administration and were the subject of protest by those same organizations. While the talk led to some negative press and possibly one closure due to an investigation that found substandard living conditions for the animals, one of the bear zoos reported the publicity generated by the animal rights organizations actually increased visitor traffic to their zoo. Apparently, when you want to see a bear, you want to see a bear.
As a side note, I cannot recall ever winning a game against that chicken.
During the frenzy that occurred over the bear zoos, one local entrepreneur brought an idea to create a bear sanctuary at the old fun park area, a space just down from the Boundary Tree property nearer to the entrances to the Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. And while that idea has not been officially dismissed, current development has not included a bear sanctuary. In a 2013 report by Scott McKie Brings Plenty, it was reported that the entrepreneur “hopes to open a wildlife sanctuary and animal rehabilitation center on the Qualla Boundary that would include bears.”
Also, during the Chief Hicks administration, while the Boundary Tree property was being considered for commercial development, Principal Chief Hicks had said that he would like to see a river aquarium as part of the overall plan to develop Boundary Tree. Other public aquariums of this nature, like the one in Chattanooga, have been extremely successful. It was a forward-thinking idea but plans to make the Boundary Tree property commercial never got off the drawing board, so the aquarium idea was never developed.
One of the highlights of Maggie Valley was the Soco Gardens Zoo. This small, but financially lucrative, zoo drew thousands of tourists and locals to see local and exotic animals from only a few feet away. One of the big attractions at the zoo was the rattlesnake pit where you were treated to shows as snake handlers would step down into the pit and handle copperheads, cottonmouth moccasins, rattlers of different varieties, and whatever other poisonous reptile might be crawling around down there. I remember the pit (large as a hotel swimming pool) being routinely surrounded by curious zoo-goers, a sign that the cash register was ringing and the zoo was prospering. As the owners of the zoo were getting older and wanting to get out of the business, sometime before it finally closed in 2005, the Tribe had the opportunity to purchase the zoo. I always thought with a little overhaul and tweaking its image to be more in line with the cultural image of the Tribe, that the old Soco Garden Zoo would have been a good investment for us. But alas, the opportunity for the zoo in Maggie came during those years that we were adamant that economic development should remain on the Boundary. And we still have folks who would argue that if its not on the Boundary, we shouldn’t be doing it. But let’s save that for another time.
All I know is that when you see your clients telling you what they want and you are in the service business, you should look for ways to give them what they will buy. For certain, the desire to have access to wildlife should be tempered with our cultural obligation to treat them with respect and to care for them properly. But there is nothing morally or legally that says we can’t do both animal conservation and protection, and create paid venues for people to be able to experience that excitement when they see elk or bear on the roadside. And we can create an environment to have that interaction in a safe way for both the animal and the sightseer. A nature or wildlife park near the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has the potential to be packed with people year-round. It has all those things that you routinely hear the Tribal Council say that we want; a business that would be on the Boundary, a business that we could reasonably assume would be profitable, a business that would create jobs for specialists and for common laborers. And if done right, we could be seen as what we claim to be, good stewards of our land and its inhabitants, and lovers of the Creator’s creatures.
I think it is time for us to seriously consider a tribal wildlife and nature sanctuary. It is an idea that is long overdue to be taken from concept dreaming to concrete planning and development.
