Naturalist's Guide to the Americas (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Naturalist's Guide to the Americas

The Ecological Society of America is a national organization of approximately 500 members, the majority of whom are connected with universities, colleges, and other educational or research institutions. The membership includes a larger proportion of persons interested in the preservation of natural conditions for research in pure science and for educational work than any other of our national scientific societies. It publishes the journal Ecology, which is largely devoted to contributions on the original flora and fauna and on their conditions of existence.

In 1917 a committee was charged with the listing of all preserved and preservable areas in North America in which natural conditions persist. The original committee included about twenty-five members, scattered throughout the United States and Canada. The first work was to make the list and when this had made some progress, to urge the reservation of such important areas as demanded immediate attention. The whole problem of securing the preservation of areas, which is one of the objects of the committee work, is very complex. At the outset the committee felt the lack of any definite guides in carrying on the work. The organization which produced the Naturalists Guide has been a growth; committee membership is limited to those willing to do some kind of work, and includes about seventy-five members. It is a committee on the preservation of nature. Its efforts are directed toward the preservation of natural areas with original flora and fauna (or as nearly so as may obtain) and the maintenance of the natural biotic balance in existing preserves.

During the preparation of the present volume the committee aimed to have two members in each state (and province of Canada). These members(1) supplied information relative to natural areas, etc. in their territory and(2) undertook to interest one local organization concerned with pure science, e.g., a state academy or natural history society, in the preservation of natural areas, commonly indicated by the appointment of a committee. This constitutes a permanent organization charged, among other things, with the keeping of the guide up to date. Other members were engaged in investigating certain topics and writing reports, in interesting pure science organizations to support the work of publication and distribution of information, and in selecting natural areas within existing public forests.

The present volume has been prepared with the aid of various institutions and organizations.

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