Steven Ware

Born in Central New York State in 1959, and raised between the Erie Canal and the glacial Green Lake, water and the pursuit of the outdoors have been a major influence. The early years were spent fishing, hunting and trapping in the close surroundings; with the introduction of Boy scouts exploring the Adirondack region became a new focus. Years of wilderness activities in that area helped develop confidence and skill levels that are rare in today’s standards. After graduating from a small Agriculture College near the geographic center of New York with an Associate’s Degree in Wood Products Technology, the world came into focus. The literary works of Hemingway, London, Steinbeck and Ruark, Capstick nourished desires of bigger fish, wider rivers, uncivilized cultures and lesser-explored wilderness. Opportunity arose in the form of a seasonal field technician job studying various species of seabirds and penguins. This job was funded through the United States National Academy of Sciences. The location was in King George Island on the Antarctic Peninsula, on the edge of the circle. It was the first of two expeditions to that region of the world. The second expedition to the Ross Sea; involved the capture, tagging, recording and testing of 26,000lbs of fish from under an eleven foot ice shelf. The travel to and from the Antarctic was an adventure in it’s self. The routes passed through were the East Indies, Hawaii, Chile, Peru, South Pacific, New Zealand and Australia. The time spent in Australia included a 1,600-mile self-bicycle tour, in both Tasmania and the Main Island. The opportunity to fish, hunt or outdoor adventure was never missed. The next few years were spent in the far north, above the Arctic Circle, in North West Alaska, the new home was a 9’ x 13’ wall tent, neighbors were “the eaters of raw flesh”-The Eskimos, in a small village eighteen miles down river. Occasionally up to a month would pass without human contact; the tundra, mountains and rivers became the supermarket, survival necessitated the skill of gill net, rifle and keen outdoor skills. The main focus was the care, handling and training of kennel of 90 plus Iditarod race sled dogs. The life style as hard, clean and dangerous; “Living on the Edge” almost free from society’s borders became a personal utopia. The necessity of adventure soon called from the warm seas and small islands that surround Cuba, days were spent in the sea diving, hunting shellfish and fishing for billfish; on an adventure to the largest island a spouse was met a thus a new adventure started.

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