MAN ON THE LANDSCAPE 



"Here is a stream. There are some fish in it. Fish can live in 

 it. There is plenty of water. I fish another stream of the same 

 size. It has three times as many fish. This stream is fished out. 

 The state ought to stock it every year." 



He might be right, of course, but when stocking for a year or two 

 brought no improvement, did he question his assumption? Usually 

 not. Streams have been stocked for twenty years in a row, with no 

 improvement. Why did they keep it up ? Ignorance. 



Any consideration of the environment of the fish, in the light of 

 basic knowledge, would bring an immediate inquiry into food supply, 

 oxygen and carbon dioxide supply, toxins and silt effects, etc. Even 

 without such studies of the environment, we would suspect that the 

 stream, if long established, had reached a state of equilibrium, was 

 supporting all the life possible under present conditions, that the 

 population could not be increased without improving the environment, 

 that the reproductive capacity of fish would quickly restore any de- 

 crease due to fishing, that restocking was unnecessary and a waste of 

 money. 



In this special problem, all the new information the teacher needs 

 is a few facts about the reproductive powers of fish. These he may 

 have already. 



The same pattern will be followed in understanding such prob- 

 lems as erosion control, reforestation, fertility restoration, flood con- 

 trol, drainage, reclamation, irrigation, water table and spring flow 

 restoration, insect control, plant diseases, weed control, upland game 

 management, pollution, stream bank improvement, spoil bank man- 

 agement, waterfowl resoration, songbird activities, etc., etc. 



Finally, and most important, having this fundamental knowledge 

 and understanding, the teacher will be better prepared to guide pupils 

 through experiences which will result in better citizenship. This 

 citizenship will arise from the realization that man has the responsi- 

 bility of maintaining his total natural environment in a state of 

 balance at its highest peak of development, that only then can man, as 

 a species, hope to continue his cultural progress or even retain what 

 he has. 



