Before U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell got down to the serious business of enjoying herself on a pair of outings in the newly formed Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, she smiled after fielding a decidedly off-beat question.
“Are you going to call a moose?” I asked.
“I will if you teach me,” Jewell said.
Not 10 minutes later, after checking out a few exhibits at the Patten Lumbermen’s Museum, Jewell was ready for her lesson.
“You were going to teach me to call a moose. OK. Let’s do it,” she said.
It didn’t take long before the good-natured Jewell had drawn a crowd, as several others who would be touring the national monument land wanted to see if she could really, truly, learn to talk like a native Maine moose.
Quick answer: She could. And she did. And she continued to do so throughout the day, so long as she got a little tutoring before she tried.
To read the full story about John Holyoke’s day with Jewell touring the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, click here.