Sue and I have traveled to many states and Canada to hunt, fish, hike/backpack,and ATV. We have some of the same opportunities right here in Greene County.

Deer hunting, turkey hunting, waterfowl hunting, small game hunting, fishing for bass, bluegills, crappies, catfish, freshwater drum (perch) and Birding. All of these things can be done right here in Greene County.

Hiking can be done at several state owned properties. From hiking the marked trails at Shakamak State Park to hiking the fire trails at Greene-Sullivan State Forest.The trails at the forest not being marked just adds to the fun of navigating though the trail sections. A map of the trails is available at the forest office. And at Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife area hiking the levee systems seeing some of the rare birds and abundant wildlife is fun.

Riding ATV's at Red Bird Off road riding area is the only state owned off roading area in the state.

At Goose Pond this week we have seen many of the same species I have already mentioned. One beautiful little bird is the Inigo Bunting. Five years ago we would only see this bird occasionally but now we see this bird every time we have been at Goose Pond this spring. This little bird feeds on insect pests and weed seed.

We have been told that that we do not have tourists here. So my friend Kegan and I thought we would talk to some of the campers over the weekend to see what they thought about recreation in Geene Co. We spoke with several people camping and ask them to rate their experience here on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best). Every camper we talked with rated their weekend at an 8 or better and most being a 10. (And they would be back). All but 1 of these campers where from the northern part of the state. So we found that yes we do have tourists and they like it here. They came and spent their money on gas, food, fast food, camping supplies, camping fee's and hunting and fishing license. Which helps our local economy.

We have been told that the mosquitoes will be bad because of our wild areas, but anyone who has traveled to any of the northern states to use their wild areas can tell you we do not have a mosquito problem like they do and they have a tourist industry second to none. We can have a tourist industry if we accept it and work toward that goal.