At the November Monthly Meeting for Oconee Rivers Audubon Society, we had Will Harlan speak about his book Untamed about Carol Ruckdeschel and Cumberland Island. Carol heard about Will's presentation, and she read our summary of Will's talk. Carol asked that we share some points of clarification regarding Will's presentation and our subsequent summary. Below are some corrections shared directly from correspondence with Carol that she would like shared with our group:
- I have no "conservation management plans" per se.
- No one thwarted making the marriage place of JFK Jr. and Carolyn open to public tours. There are bus tours through the Wilderness there every day.
- I do NOT recommend controlling the horse population to maintain healthy herds.
- I oppose controlled burns in the Wilderness area.
- I did not help start a federal agency.
- I never directly helped design the trawler enabling device (TED).
- I never planned to leave the island except to protect my life.
- It is my belief that the island needs no one; would be better off without us.
We appreciate Carol sharing these points of clarification regarding her work and Cumberland Island.