The Mountaineer La 
cleanest of all sports. It accords well with this primary interest 
that it should work for the establishment and preservation of 
national parks where people may camp unhindered and live to 
the full that outdoor life which is so necessary to their highest 
physical and intellectual health. Where such parks have already 
been established the pecuniary rewards of power development 
will for a long time render them subject to invasion by power 
grabbers. Only large organizations, created for disinterested 
ends and vigilant on behalf of the public, can hope to interpose 
an effective check to corporate greed. 
It is fitting that the stimulus which the awakened scientific 
imagination gave to the art of mountaineering in its infancy 
should in these days of its relative maturity lead to the cultiva- 
tion of certain scientific interests that can be most fruitfully 
pursued amid the free life of the forests and the mountains. 
The publication of accurate information regarding the trails, 
passes, and topography of a mountain region is certainly one of 
the tasks to which a mountain club should address itself. 
Next in order comes the study of the silva and flora of our 
mountains. The botanical survey of many of our western 
mountain regions is still very imperfect. Almost any moun- 
taineer with a good eye and a fair knowledge of botany can 
make a valuable contribution. When all the species have been 
described and classified there remains the even more interesting 
task of studying the ecology of mountain plants, their adapta- 
tion to their environment and to each other. 
Particularly interesting from the point of view of plant 
geography are the bryophytes and liverworts that inhabit the 
higher altitudes. Some of them at least may prove to be sur- 
vivors from past ages of the world’s geological history. Certain 
isolated peaks are found to be veritable islands of plants that 
live only at certain altitudes, and which, co-incident with the 
disappearance of arctic conditions after the ice age, were left 
stranded on the mountain tops like sailors after a shipwreck. 
Any expert bryologist would be delighted to receive and report 
on specimens of mosses secured during an ascent and carefully 
labeled as to date, altitude, and place, and the character of the 
substratum on which they were found growing. Reports or 
descriptions of this nature could be printed from time to time in 
the club publications, which would thereby, in time, become 
indispensable sources of reference for special investigators. 
