| Backcountry
airstrips are subject of lecture
This Thursday, as part of the 14th Annual Historical Museum at St. Gertrude Fall Lecture Series, pilot and author Richard Holmes, Jr. will tell of his adventures researching backcountry airstrips for his book, Bound for the BackCountry. 
Holmes graduated from the University of Idaho in 2005 and has combined his studies in environmental science, forestry, and history with his passion for flying. He grew up in McCall, where some of his family has lived since the early 1900s, often visiting the remote places he would later write about. “When you live in a mountain town, you have to take advantage of your surroundings,” Holm says. “I grew up in a place where history was talked about. History was all around us.” While an intern at the U.S. Forest service, Holmes wrote his first book on the fire lookouts on the Payette. As a historian, Holmes has shown a knack for interviewing the old-timers who hold so many stories of the past. “These people are elderly and it’s important to get that oral history down,” he says. “It’s something I’ve tried to do in my books…the oral history is what’s slowly leaving us. It’s important to capture those experiences in the backcountry and our local communities.” Through the stories he has gathered, Holmes has written books many consider to be the most comprehensive histories of fire lookouts on the Payette, Points of Prominence: Fire Lookouts of the Payette National Forest, and of remote airstrips in central Idaho, Bound for the Backcountry: A History of Idaho’s Remote Airstrips. This Thursdays lecture will focus on his work with the latter. The lectures, held on Thursdays during the month of October, provide insights into the history of our region and presentations on topics of interest to the local public. Lectures begin at 7:00 p.m. and end at 8:30 p.m. A Q&A session with the presenters follows the lectures. Light refreshments are provided. The events are held in the Johanna Room at Spirit Center at the Monastery of St. Gertrude located at 465 Keuterville Road, Cottonwood, Idaho. Suggested donations for the lectures are $5.00 for singles and $7.50 for couples. For further information on the Lecture Series, contact the Museum at 208-962-2050. in Cottonwood, Idaho.  |
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