USES OF NATURAL AREAS 



13 



areas, where natural conditions can 

 be studied readily facilitate good geo- 

 graphic descriptions in two ways. First 

 they afford examples of natural con- 

 ditions. Only after type areas have 

 been studied can a really good descrip- 

 tion of a region be written. Second, 

 the setting aside of definite areas for 

 preservation results indirectly in in- 

 creased information about the location 

 of typical areas, the methods of reaching 

 them, and other significant facts con- 

 cerning them. Fairly full information 

 is gathered and made available con- 

 cerning very few privately owned tracts 

 partly because the work and expense 

 entailed may soon have been in vain. 

 The owner may decide to keep out 

 even the most worthy scientists, or 

 else the natural biota may be largely 

 destroyed as by the cutting of the tim- 

 ber or otherwise altering the conditions. 

 Thus _ although many nearly natural 

 areas still remain, few geographers 

 know just where to go, how to get there, 

 and what they will find when they 

 arrive. 



Teachers of descriptive geography 

 will benefit, also, from the presence 

 of preserved areas especially near 

 cities, for in such areas their students 

 can learn much in a short time about 

 natural conditions, the conditions the 

 pioneers encountered. 



This leads to the advantage to his- 

 torical geography of the preservation 

 of natural areas. The specialists who 

 interpret the historical development of 

 any region must have a full appreciation 

 of conditions as they were in earlier 

 times. Carefully preserved natural 

 areas will aid greatly in understanding 

 primeval conditions. 



Ecological geography differs from 

 plant and animal ecology chiefly in 

 being more comprehensive, including 

 both, and as the advantages to each 

 have been discussed at length elsewhere, 

 it is not necessary to consider the nu- 

 merous advantages to this phase of geog- 

 raphy which would result from the 

 preservation of numerous typical natural 

 areas. However, there are many prob- 



lems which special students of either 

 plants or animals have not adequately 

 investigated but which the geographer, 

 with his more inclusive view wishes to 

 study. For example, the influence of 

 geographic factors which because of 

 their rareness, have not been considered 

 significant, such as the "free-air foehn," 

 or the hurricane, need to be investi- 

 gated. The native flora and fauna may 

 show far plainer adjustments to such 

 influences than do the recently intro- 

 duced forms. Since it is probable that 

 in the future there will be a great in- 

 crease in the number of ecological 

 studies carried on by geographers, it 

 is advantageous to geography that 

 many areas be preserved now before 

 it is too late. 



Economic geography with its interest 

 in all products of commercial impor- 

 tance is interested in the preservation 

 of natural areas especially because of 

 the probability that in the future new 

 uses will be found for native plants and 

 animals not now very useful. If many 

 are exterminated, as will surely result 

 unless numerous natural areas are pre- 

 served promptly, all possibility of their 

 ever being of economic importance will 

 have disappeared. After a form is 

 extinct, or practically extinct, it will 

 be very distressing to learn that it had 

 potentialities of great value had they 

 been taken advantage of. Until every 

 living form is well known, none should 

 be allowed to become extinct. Eco- 

 nomic geographers join with agricultur- 

 ists, physicians and students of many 

 other sorts, therefore, in advocating the 

 setting aside of areas where the native 

 forms can continue to live and can be 

 advantageously studied. 



4. THE IMPORTANCE OF NATURAL 



AREAS TO BIOLOGY AND 



AGRICULTURE 



BY V. E. SHELFORD 



Some biological subjects are of course 

 only remotely related to habitat ques- 

 tions; others can hardly proceed to 

 certain conclusions without reference 



