BOTANISTS AND THE CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES 363 



of the problems of fission which its formation had exemplified. Groups such 

 as foresters, agronomists, and limnologists, whose interests are fundamentally 

 ecological, have found it expedient to withdraw more and more into their 

 especial spheres. 



From 1916 on, the parent Botanical Society began holding joint sessions 

 with the Ecological Society. The first evidence of interest in Conservation was 

 an endorsement in 1919 of the Save-the- Redwoods League. Then at the 

 Chicago meeting in 1920 resolutions were passed reflecting an attitude which 

 has persisted and intensified since. The work of the Ecological Society in 

 preserving natural conditions was endorsed, and support of the National 

 Research Council requested. A study of the effect on native species of the 

 clear-cutting of roadsides (now, thanks to weed sprays, an even more serious 

 problem) was urged, and an inquiry into the relation of drainage of upland 

 marshes to floods was recommended, along with an examination of the 

 biological importance of those marshes. 



Certainly it is safe today to assume that the vast majority of botanists, 

 officially and individually, are concerned about the conservation of natural 

 resources. But concern is one thing, effective action another. It seems advis- 

 able, therefore, to consider the problem of conservation itself. 



The meaning of conservation is not a simple matter. If we define it as 

 "wise use," we are dealing in subjective and qualitative terms. Neither wisdom 

 nor utility can be measured impersonally or absolutely. There is a concept 

 of wise use quite prevalent that practically eliminates the usual doctrine 

 of conservation. This is the belief that an expanding and accelerating economy 

 must be served at whatever cost in resources, since science will find ways 

 and means to keep the process going. In sharp contrast to this is the idea 

 that we have an ethical obligation to remote generations, so that resources, 

 like river water under British law, will reach those downstream in amount 

 undiminished and quality unimpaired. 



And finally resources are not limited to the physical entities, renewable 

 and nonrenewable, that supply us with needed materials and energy. As 

 resources we should include many processes and relationships in nature, for 

 conservation is in fact concerned not only with problems of depletion, but 

 those of disruption as well. There is also concern in many quarters to conserve 

 facilities and conditions whose values are intangible — historical, scientific, 

 ethical, and aesthetic. 



A somewhat more than cautious, considerably less than middle, ground is 

 that of the economic forecasters, who feel that they have trouble enough in 

 trying to look ahead twenty-five or fifty years at most. Population estimates 

 made in 1935 have been upset. The consumption of nonrenewable resources 

 has been accelerated, with the United States now absorbing more than half 

 the world production of minerals. The rest of the world is eager to follow our 

 pattern of industrialization, a high proportion of the world's people are on 



