Mike Needs plays Bret Harte for Forest Service

If you click on the headline you can see a YouTube video of Mike Needs portraying author/humorist Bret Harte in the Lake Alphine Theatre of the Stanislaus National Forest in California. It's part of his job as an interpretive specialist for the U.S. Forest Service. Mike lives at an elevation of 8,000 feet near Bear Valley, CA in the high Sierra Nevada. He produces and organizes programs for the outdoor amphitheater that serves a group of campgrounds in the Stanislaus Forest. He also leads hikes and does presentations throughout the area.

The mailing address for Stanislaus National Forest is 19777 Greenley Road, Sonora, CA 95370

Said Mike, enjoying his new career at age 58, in a June 2009 BJ Alums post:

"It's a great job. I love it out here."

If you want to read the announcement about Mike's performance, goes to

http://thepinetree.net/index.php?module=announce&ANN_user_op=view&ANN_id=12976

In case you missed the photos of Mike's farewell party from the BJ, go to

http://www.jimarnold.org/galleries/mike_needs_party/

Among Mike's duties at the BJ were Features Editor, Public Editor (ombudsman for the readers), running the BJ's online Ohio.com web site, Design Editor and, for a brief time, wine columnist.

My thanks to Mark Dawidziak, who does a great author/humorist, too (Mark Twain) for finding the YouTube video of Mike doing Bret Harte.