Saving Sasquatch

 

Background

What is all this Sasquatch noise about? Is the “Sas” real or is she just someone’s overactive imagination? Is she mean and aggressive, or non-threatening and reclusive? Are all the reports of sighting “Sas” simple hoaxes or are they complex hoaxes designed to convince us that he/she is really out there? Are there any reliable historical documents available for research? Do we even care if she exists… and if we don’t, what is one good reason why we should? What about all the studies that have been conducted? Are they completed by biased individuals who simply want to promote a myth, a legend? Has any person or group completed what might be considered a marginally scientific analyses, let alone an actual scientific study…or at the very least, if not a study, scientific observations? Having asked these questions, let’s talk about who we are (the Saving Sasquatch Group) and why we are investing time and energy in “Saving Sasquatch”.

Who Are We

To gather and analyze the data, we have the following experts on our team: Our research group is a collection (some might even say an eclectic collection) of individuals with diverse professional educations and experiences. We are fortunate to have a professional tracker, a bio-chemist, a PhD whose expertise is in land management and environmental science, a Lieutenant Colonel whose background is in intel and remote sensing, an army logistics specialist, and access to other specialists who have agreed to lend their expertise to us as needed.

Objective

We have no initial interest in promoting the existence or non-existence of Sasquatch, but rather conducting a search for the truth, whatever that may be. Our objective is to provide an environmentally safe habitat not only for Sasquatch but any and all threatened, endangered or rare species, both plants and animals. Our goal: To conduct on location research, collect data from interviews, reports and remote sensors, compile and evaluate the data and use the scientific method to make a decision on the actual existence of Sasquatch. Your Saving Sasquatch research team was awarded official non-profit 501(c)3 status by the Internal Revenue Service, EIN: 84-4142536. That simply means that any donation you make to provide safe habitats for your rare and endangered species, may be written off on your taxes.

Sasquatch’s History

Let’s look at what the facts have to tell us as we now know them. The reporting of large creatures that walk upright goes back several hundred years. For a shorter period of time, about 60-70 years, reports of human-like foot imprints have been reported. Some of these imprints have been photographed and even casts of the imprints have been made. It should also be noted that sightings are not limited to years in the past. Sightings continue to be made; some by casual campers and weekend hikers as well as by professionals who make a living from being out in the environment. Over 4,000 sightings have been reported over the past twenty years.

Many Native American cultures have oral histories that tell of a primate-type creature roaming the continent’s forests. In these tales, the animals are sometimes more human-like and, other times, more ape-like. The oral history seems to have begun with the Kwakiutl indigenous peoples in what is now southwestern Canada and northwestern United States. They called her “Dzunukwa” and described Sasquatch as a big, hairy female that lives deep in the forests. Their history says that she was rarely seen because she was caring for her children and was always in a protection mode rather than a confrontation mode. When it came to a decision of “fight or flight”, she would rather slip away than be seen. She was also referred to with another name, “Sasquatch”. That name was used by the Halkomelems, who were members of the central branch of the Salishan family of languages, in southern British Columbia and northern Washington State. There are three dialect groups there, located from west to east, Island, Downriver and Upriver.

Farther south, in California, you will find the location of Painted Rock which is on the Tule River Indian Reservation, east of Porterville.

Historically, the Tules are associated with their traditional language which belongs to their larger ethnographic group known as the Yokuts. However, the tribe prefers to be called the “Tule River Indians.” Painted Rock, also known as CA-TUL-19, is a rockshelter associated with a prehistoric village. This sight, next to the Tule River, contains many artifacts including pictographs. These pictographs are in the rockshelter and are painted on both the ceiling and walls.

The pictographs include paintings of many creatures including; coyote, bear, frog, caterpillar, centipede, eagle, condor, lizard, humans and a male, female and child Bigfoot. The paintings are in red, black, white, and yellow. (Kathy Moskowitz Strain, U.S. Forest Service, Stanislaus National Forest, Sonora, CA).

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The most dominant pictograph at Painted Rock is that of the Hairy Man, also known as Mayak datat or Sunsunut1 (Fig. 5; Johnstone, 1975). Hairy Man measures 8ft 6in high by 6ft 3in wide, and is red, black, and white. The painting represents a two-legged creature with its arms spread wide. He has what appears to be long hair and large haunting eyes (Fig. 6). The Yokuts identify the lines coming from the eyes as tears (because Hairy Man is sad according to their creation story). The pictograph is in very poor condition due to weathering and vandalism.

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Probably the most unusual feature of this site is the presence of an entire Sasquatch family. Beside the male Hairy Man, there is a female and child Sasquatch. The mother measures 5ft 9in high by 3ft 10in wide, and is solely painted red (Fig. 7). Like her husband, she represents a two-legged creature with her arms open (Fig. 8). She has five fingers and little other detail.

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Immediately adjacent to her, and directly under her right hand, is her child. The child measures 3ft 11in high by 3ft 3in wide. He is also solely red, stands on two legs, and has five fingers (Fig. 9). The figure has an unusually rounded head, suggestive of a sagittal crest (Fig. 10). Clewlow (1978, p. 625) estimated that the paintings were made around A.D. 500, but could be as old as A.D. 1 or as young as A.D. 1200 (2000 to 700 years old).

Many common attitudes surrounding our Sasquatch are very negative. It seems as though many people, who have been interviewed, have either wanted to shoot him or run away to avoid the encounter. However, there are no modern accounts of the Sasquatch being aggressive or even willing to pursue the observers. Our objective is to be in a position to interact with “Sas” so we can begin to untangle the myth and legend from the reality of a “close encounter of the third kind.” It should be noted that a “first kind” encounter is simply an observation of Sasquatch at a distance (over 300′) with no interaction. An encounter of the “second kind”, is when physical effects are observed, such as vegetation or grass being pressed down or perhaps twigs and branches being broken. Electronic observations would also fall into this category such as Infra-Red imagery or interference in the functioning of electronic devices. Even reactions of other animals or psychological effects are among these definitions. Some reports have included psychological effects such as paralysis or heat and simple discomfort of the witness. Perhaps like when the hairs on the back of your neck stand up for no apparent reason. Close encounters, vs encounters at a distance, occur at distances of less than 300′. So a close encounter of the third kind is when a mutual interaction (*even limited to visual observation) occurs between the observer(s) and Sasquatch at less than 300′.  A close encounter of the fourth kind occurs when there is some type of interaction. It could be positive ( offering or accepting food or “gift”;  staying close and observing; exhibiting curiosity; making purposeful contact) or negative (running away when seen; displaying anger or protective bluster; showing aggression such as a “bluff charge”, throwing item(s) designed to either injure or intimidate). It is important in this type of encounter to remain calm and safe. It is good to note here however, that there are no known reliably documented cases of an attack by a Sas. This type of encounter is what makes your ability to document the events so very important to advancing the Sasquatch research.

Moving Forward

The logical follow up question then becomes; How do we put ourselves in that position, to interact and have a close encounter? This is how we do that very thing. First we reviewed and then studied all the history that we could obtain. Second, we analyzed the documented sightings…thousands of them, to find and determine the commonalities in the reported sightings.  Third we determined that the most common observation was the environment in which Sas was encountered. The contacts were nominally located in a forested area. It seemed as though while forested areas were of importance, the under-canopy growth made very little difference as to whether it was thick or sparse. Fourth, we looked for any other important commonalities. Obviously, food and water sources are vitally important for the sustainability of any species, including Sasquatch.  A forested environment would  provide both fauna and flora as food sources. Fifth, we began researching water source locations that could be tagged to the encounter locations. It was determined that 83% of sightings were within an average of 4.3 miles of an identifiable fresh water source.

While the above paragraph only took you a minute to read, we spent over a year of research and analyses, just to be in a position to report the above data to you. So where does that leave us in our quest and how do we initiate our close encounters of the third kind? Let’s pull together a little more background information to illustrate how we arrived at our final decision.

Cartography experts from “EarthArtAustrailia”, specialize in creating extremely detailed imagery of earth including our country’s forests. Over a billion acres of trees and forests were pulled together using the imagery from the Landsat satellite. In a different but related study, Joshua Stevens, a doctoral candidate at Pennsylvania State University, used data compiled by the Bigfoot (Sasquatch) Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), and plotted 3,313 data points showing where people have made reports of Sasquatch sightings. Stevens stated that it is obvious that the sightings are not evenly distributed throughout the United States. There are distinct regions where sightings are “incredibly common” but tend to be inversely corelated to population density. Put another way, high sighting rates tend to be in areas of low population density. We then overlaid the Sasquatch sighting report location map onto the EarthArtAustrailia map of our country’s forests. Right away we saw that the correlation between reported sightings and forested areas are directly related. That means that our study area must be in a forested area.

The problem we have with that is the fact that the reported sightings range from New York to California and from Canada to Mexico. Because we, as a group, are not independently wealthy and don’t have the luxury of unlimited time, we had to come up with a hybrid, and unique plan to begin our study and evaluation. If we don’t have the means and time to explore the nation searching for Sasquatch, let’s bring Sasquatch to us!!!

Really? Ok, so how would that be possible, you ask? The concept is as simple as it is unique and groundbreaking. Based on all the accumulated data referenced above, we are creating the perfect, protected habitat for Sasquatch. The location includes the following attributes. First, our field study would be set up in an area containing an existing high density of reported sightings. It must provide protective cover as found in a forested area. The forest must be a productive ecosystem providing plenty of fauna and flora to meet his nutritional requirements. It should have a fresh water source within a four to five mile radius and perhaps most important, the location must be a protected, environmental set aside where rare and endangered species can flourish without being encroached by commercial, industrial or private development. This is why we have chosen northern Michigan for the establishment of the protected forested area for both rare and endangered plants and animals, including the Sasquatch family. It is for these reasons that we appealed to the Federal Government to provide us with a 501(c)3, non-profit foundation designation from the Internal Revenue service (which they did in 2019). This allows us to apply for and receive both private and government set asides, grants and tax exempt donations.

THE REST OF THE STORY

This is just the beginning of the story. You are going to play a critical role in the continued success of this project. While some of you may have never been part of a research program, this is an opportunity to do so. As most of you know, the quality of any given research is driven by the quality and number of data points that are generated. The more involved you are in this project, the better the final outcome. One of the ways we need your help is by sharing your experiences with us regarding any encounters you have had with any Sas family members. Click here to go directly to the reporting page. Another significant area we need your help in, is to share with us your ideas on how we can create a better research program or how we can make improvements in any aspect; communicating with you, creating teachable moments, sharing environmental concepts with elementary age school children, suggesting concrete ideas on generating financial support (remember, as a non-profit foundation, all donations are tax deductible), improving website content or even its layout. Please click here to share your ideas with us.  The one area that we need your help the most, is with your support.  Federal, State and Local Grants are of course an obvious source of funding.  However, they don’t provide the commitment to the cause like you do. Please take a moment now and go to our donation page.

HELP SAVE OUR ENVIRONMENT   We are excited to offer our newest environmental participation project. We have expanded our Plant A Tree Program. Unlike the majority of tree planting opportunities, you are limited to the planting of the cheapest evergreens (pine trees). Here’s the problem with that. Not all areas are optimal for the planting of pine trees. Additionally, some endangered species require specific habitat. For example, the endangered Kirkland Warbler nests almost exclusively in an evergreen tree called the “Jack Pine”. 

Tree Investment

Let’s list a few reasons why we find value in adding trees to our environment.

1. There have been devastating wildfires over the past several years. As a result, we have lost a significant amount of ground cover and the root systems of brush and trees that bind soils to prevent erosion.  They also anchor river banks during high water levels and flooding events.

2. Trees absorb carbon dioxide and lock up carbon for as long as the tree lives.  In one year, an acre of trees will absorb the same amount of carbon dioxide as your car produces when driven 26,000 miles. Even as those trees die and decompose, they provide a food source and shelter for micro organisms, insects and all manner of plant life.

3. Even more amazing is that trees release oxygen into the atmosphere for us to breath during the process of photosynthesis.  Even more interesting, they will absorb odors and pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, ozone and even ammonia.

4. Trees are the earth’s natural air conditioner, especially in towns and cities like yours.  Trees provide a two fold air conditioning system. First and most obvious, is the shade they provide. Second is evaporation of moisture from the leaves which doubles the cooling effect. 

5. By planting new trees, wildlife habitats are established where none existed before.  When trees are added to an environment, a new ecosystem emerges. This ecosystem provides shelter, food, and protection, drawing in insects (an important food source) birds and all our four legged friends. Can you imagine eagles trying to nest without trees?  While trees don’t provide us with vegetables, they do give us nuts and fruits. 

6. One of the most interesting building materials in the world is trees. It’s different from steel, glass, granite, concrete or many other substrates and compounds. Once you use granite, steel  or pour concrete, those items will not be used in the future. All wood products can be renewed right in the same field from which they were initially harvested. No matter if it is used for fuel, building or decorative purposes, you can always plant more trees.

Now, more than ever, you have an opportunity to help save our environment and at the same time, create a safe space for rare and endangered species. Go to your tree store here.

The Jack Pine Tree

Why is the Jack Pine so important to be included in the preserve?  It turns out that the Jack Pine Tree is the exclusive roosting tree of the endangered Kirtland Warbler. Fifty years ago the Kirtland Warbler was nearly extinct. There are a couple reasons contributing to their near extinction. First is the fight against forest fires. The good news is that fighting forest fires protects our property. But, for every good thing, there is usually an unintended consequence. In this case, fewer forest fires meant fewer Jack Pine Cones being exposed to elevated temperatures, which prevented the cones from releasing its seeds. That is partly due to the unique reproductive process of the Jack Pine. The seeds are encased in the pine cones similar to all pine trees. However, the seeds are sealed in the cone with a resinous bond that requires high temperatures to open and liberate the seeds. The heat required is usually provided by fire as it takes upwards of 160 degrees F to open the cones. Additionally, the Kirtland Warbler utilize  a Jack Pine stand of t least 80 acres to serve as their preferred nesting grounds. Modern development has reduced these areas of Jack Pines, which has impacted the environment of the Kirtland Warbler. Just as a side note, the Kirtland Warbler’s common name is the Jack Pine Bird or the Jack Pine Warbler. They are most commonly found in the NE quadrant of lower MI and up into Canada as well.

Kirtland’s warbler is the premier wildlife species associated with jack pine.
In naturally regenerated jack pine forests, low-intensity ground fires may
occur every 10 to 80 years. Fires kill some or all of the existing forest cover,
remove competing plants, expose mineral soil, open cones and create ideal
conditions for stand regeneration. Full sunlight promotes the growth and development of the new seedlings. Fire can also reduce fungal pathogens, insects and parasitic plants such as mistletoe. About three-fourths of Michigan jack pine occurs in jack pine stands. A typical stand is often a natural monotype, or nearly so. Understory vegetation is sparse, allowing easy walking. Blueberries, sweetfern, bracken fern and reindeer lichen are understory plants closely associated with jack pine sites. Clearcut jack pine
is an endangered species well on its way to recovery through an aggressive management program on state and national forestlands. Many other species are associated with jack pine as well, including rare animals such as the black-backed woodpecker, crossbills, sharp- tailed grouse and the pine-tree cricket; and more common animals such as deer, pine grosbeak, bluebirds, upland sandpipers, sandhill cranes, fisher, pine marten, spruce grouse and others.

Michigan’s Rare Animals