“NATURALIST”
July 14, 2009: For over thirty years, Rudy Mancke has been the star and voice of “Nature Scene” on SCETV. He has taken nature walks in all 30 of South Carolina counties, and all 50 states of the US. He told us that a naturalist “is a person who studies the world of nature and marvels at all of it.” From his earliest recollection he has been fascinated by all forms of nature be it animals, bugs, plants, fish or any other aspect of nature. The question most asked of him is: “What is it?”. Every day he receives several e-mails with photos of things people have seen and are curious about. That natural curiosity must be satisfied. Once they know what it is, the second question is: “What good is it?” This is a question that for the most part cannot be answered, but a more important question to ask, that can be answered is: “How does it fit in with the rest of the world?”
South Carolina is the smallest of the southern states but has an incredible diversity of natural areas, from the mountains to the sea, with many regions in between. One famous plant, the Venus Fly Trap is only found in South Carolina and a small part of North Carolina. Thus, it is vitally important that we all continue to work to save the natural resources that we have. South Carolina and SCETV is known the world over for its work by naturalists.
He has concerns currently about the drought going on in the mountains and the resulting surge of insects eating away at many major trees, but over all feels that the people of this state are working to conserve what we have for future generations. He noted that some of the worlds greatest conservationists like John Audobon, traveled through the Charlestown area. We are at the very center of an important part of the natural world.
Reported by Fred Sales, Keyway Committee