Wilderness Society Member Builds Canoes
Born on the Maine-New Brunswick border, Burt Libby grew up with forests. “I was always interested in going into the woods and seeing what the animals were doing,” he recalls. After graduating from the University of Maine, he became a biologist for the state. Then, at age 30, came an opportunity to do graduate work at the University of Alaska. Subsequently, the university hired him for a project, and he went on to work for the Alaska Fish and Game Department.
While there, he met one of the giants in the field, Olaus Murie, a federal biologist who led the effort to protect what would become the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. “I remember driving him to a meeting of the Tanana Valley Sportsmen’s Association,” says Libby, “and warning him that I was probably the only club trustee in favor of his initiative. And before that meeting was over, he had people thinking it was their idea.” As a fan of Murie, who served as The Wilderness Society’s president, Libby became a Society member decades ago. He is deeply committed to our wilderness mission. He also is an enthusiastic supporter of The Nature Conservancy and other organizations.
Once back in Maine, Libby and his wife Marnie started a hunting, fishing, and vacation camp on Lower Spednick Lake. “Before it forced us to starvation, we gave it up, and I took a position as an appraiser for the state highway department,” says Libby, who lives in Litchfield, 16 miles southwest of Augusta. He retired in 1987. “About that time, my wife was trying to find a canoe light enough that she could get it on and off a car by herself, and there was nothing satisfactory. So I said: ‘Why don’t I build you one?’”
Made of canvas and wood, that canoe was the first of many. Libby also creates miniatures, including a five-foot canoe he donated for display at our Washington headquarters. “It’s not a business,” he notes; “it’s an obsession.”
