Mike Douglas started The Good Earth School in 1989 while a student at the University of Maine. Between classes Mike ran courses on survival, tracking, and awareness. In 1993, he moved the school to Augusta where he expanded the curriculum, brought on instructors and incorporated as a non-profit in 1995. Mike also ran many programs at schools, camps, and businesses such as L.L. Bean, Barnes & Noble, the Maine Conservation School, and the Boy Scouts of America. In 1998 The Good Earth School disbanded
In 1998 Mike started the Maine Primitive Skills School. In 2003 a group of students sat down with Mike to discuss helping him run the school and from that point on MPSS started to grow. Facilities were upgraded and advanced students became staff. The Maine Primitive Skills School now includes not only students and instructors but volunteers, assistant instructors, administrators, and elders. Many folks have emerged, seemingly out of nowhere, to offer profound insights and much needed help. We continue to rely on this sense of community for our success and would like to thank everyone who has been and will be a part the Maine Primitive Skills School family.