Editor's Introduction xi 



them who can be counted on to give stimulating and enlightening 

 papers. On the other hand, those persons who are most closely iden- 

 tified with conservation problems and issues are usually deeply com- 

 mitted to one side or another in fields where controversy appears to 

 be one of the chief signs of vitality. The result would have been either 

 a lopsided presentation or a series of debates requiring the nicest bal- 

 ancing. Furthermore, most of the leaders in the conservation area are 

 highly articulate; their views are already widely known. So a plan was 

 adopted by which each of the six authors of the principal papers, 

 though deeply interested in, and familiar with, his respective conser- 

 vation topic, was chosen primarily as one who would represent the 

 scholar's breadth and detachment rather than the credo of a protago- 

 nist. In selecting the authors of the discussion papers one of the main 

 objectives was a wide range of responsible opinion, so that identifi- 

 cation with a special viewpoint was not necessarily a disadvantage. 

 Nevertheless as a group the commentators, too, were marked by a 

 scholarly attitude and an ability to see the whole picture. The pro- 

 fessional fields of the Forum contributors included economics, geol- 

 ogy, political science, geography, demography, public administration, 

 and planning. 



The idea of the 1958 Forum originated with Joseph L. Fisher, 

 associate director of Resources for the Future, who also took the lead 

 in shaping and carrying out the detailed plans. He was assisted by an 

 informal staff group consisting of Henry P. Caulfield, Jr., Francis T. 

 Christy, Jr., Irving K. Fox, and Henry Jarrett. Mr. Fisher and Reuben 

 G. Gustavson, executive director of Resources for the Future, divided 

 the job of chairing the Forum sessions. 



Special guest of honor at the first program was Hermann Hagedorn, 

 poet, biographer of the first Roosevelt, and director of the Theodore 

 Roosevelt Centennial Commission. "Theodore Roosevelt's interest in 

 conservation," Mr. Hagedorn said, "came out of his dee^ feeling for 

 people. Conservation to him was not land, or water, or oil, or gas, 

 or minerals; conservation was meeting the needs of people." 



Horace M. Albright, chairman of the board of directors of Re- 

 sources for the Future, was honor guest at the final session. Mr. Al- 

 bright, a former director of the National Park Service and business 

 executive, is a veteran conservationist of broad interests. In looking 



