"Until Next Time, Enjoy Our Wild America!"

As a young boy, I often spent Sunday evenings watching quality PBS programs such as NATURE, NOVA, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, and of course MARTY STOUFFER'S WILD AMERICA. My brother Jacob and I had such a great time watching and learning all about nature and wildlife. It became a comforting tradition to watch nature shows. Of particular interest to us was WILD AMERICA since it focused on our own turf, usually right in the rockies themselves. We loved Marty Stouffer's soothing narration, placid and homey sweaters, and of course his awesome beard. Dad contributed to PBS pretty regularly and we got as a pledge gift 2 Wild America specials, a 10 year best of, and my favorite- Great Escapes. I had that Great Escapes video completely committed to memory, my favorite part was the snowhare escaping the lynx. If any of you have seen it, you know the one I'm talking about. I wanted to be Marty Stouffer and was dissappointed when my 2 older brothers could grow these massive full bears at 16 and I couldn't even get fuzz until I was 23. For my last birthday, my sweet wife bought me the complete Wild America on DVD!! All 12 seasons! This has re-sparked a new sunday afternoon tradition and I love watching his show again.I recently found out that Marty got into film making as a teenager and he took off alone to Alaska to film wildife. He became trapped by snowfall in a remote valley, but survived by hunting and trapping local wildlife. A modern day Jeremiah Johnson

I remember hearing about some legal troubles with Marty Stouffer, how he had been accused of staging scenes in his documentaries and even claims of animal cruelty. He was hit with some heavy fines for making illegal trails and for poaching Elk near his home in Aspen, Colorado (I wonder if he and John were pals??), and that opened up a flood of accusations and testimony from people who had worked on the set of Wild America. The accusations ranged from staging attacks, to using tamed animals. PBS investigated the show and found fault in 15 of the 110 episodes. It hit me pretty hard and I still get a little upset when I think of that warm friendly face lying to America. But I've dug into it a little deeper, wanting to hear Marty's side of the story. Stouffer denies the charges. "I am not ashamed of anything I have done;' he said, adding, "My conscience is clear. I love animals." PBS even cleared him of any wrongdoin, but due to his damaged reputation he was unable to secure the needed funding to continue the show. Wild America was discontinued in 1996.

It would really shock you to hear how many nature shows are guilty of "setups" and other falsifications. Even Walt Disney himself apparently dumped a whole pack of lemmings off a cliff into a river to film their "mass suicide" as part of his nature show. Also, 15 of 110 episodes means there are still 95 quality honest episodes of Wild America. So in the end, Marty made some good TV and I love watching his show!