KTVA FRONTIERS PROGRAM — Dick Proenneke: At Home in the Wilderness

Dick Proenneke eating fresh blueberries in a spot along the Chilikadrotna River. © MAGGIE YURICK. Courtesy of National Parks and Conservation Association.

After two years of research and production, Rhonda McBride & Will Mader are pleased to announce completion of their film about Dick Proenneke, a self-educated naturalist who lived alone for nearly thirty years in the mountains of Alaska in a log cabin that he constructed by hand near the shore of Twin Lakes in what is now Lake Clark National Park and Preserve.

Rhonda says, “Will Mader and I have been working on this show, off and on, for more than two years — and have turned to many of you for help. We want to thank you for your patience and support.  We hope this show raises awareness about a great Alaskan, who is probably better known outside our state. Somehow, that just shouldn’t be. So here’s our attempt to change that.”

There are two versions of the program. The half hour show has these elements:

-Dick Proenneke’s Personal Frontier: The story of how Dick Proenneke became a wilderness icon.

-Handmade Home: Efforts to restore Dick’s Cabin.

-Keepers of the Legacy, the Journals: John Branson talks about editing more than 90 pounds of notebooks.

-Keepers of the Legacy, the Archive: Katie Myers shows us the Dick Proenneke collection at the NPS archives in Anchorage.

The one hour version of the show includes these additional elements:

-Friends and Neighbors: With help from the NPS and the Alaska Moving Image Preservation Association, a look at friendships Dick had with his nearest neighbors — Jay and Bella Hammond and the Alsworth Family.

-Wilderness Princess: Former NPS Ranger Patty Brown talks about her friendship with Dick, who she said made her feel like “royalty” and how she came to hop off a float plane, landing at Twin Lakes, in a black evening gown.

-Friends of Dick Proenneke and Lake Clark: Fred Hirschmann shares his memories of Dick and talks about the need to protect and preserve the Proenneke homestead.