l6 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



III 



THE PRESERVATION OF NATURAL MONUMENTS 

 Some years ago the Director made an appeal to the people of the 

 State through his reports and by special circular, for the preserva- 

 tion of " natural monuments " of noteworthy or exceptional inter- 

 est. These natural monuments are objects which possess a peculiar 

 educational and scientific value ; the extraordinary or unique natural 

 creations which no progressive commonwealth appreciative of its 

 best possessions can afford to have invaded or compromised by the 

 progress of settlement. There is the cliff or hill, ravine or cataract, 

 notable above its fellows not so much for its beauty or majesty as 

 for the lessons it teaches ; the tree or grove which may be the last 

 survivor of its kind growing within the boundaries of the State ; the 

 swamp, woodland or rocky islet where rare birds are still nesting 

 while their former breeding places have been deserted and de- 

 stroyed ; and so on through a variety of natural phenomena. Unless 

 someone looks after these natural possessions and makes it his 

 business to arouse individual or public concern in them, regrets will 

 come with time and our successors may have good reason to re- 

 proach us. 



The people of the State have taken upon themselves the con- 

 servation of our natural possessions in a large sense as an ordinary 

 matter of public policy. Nearly one-third the area of the State 

 is in public forest ; our native beasts, birds and fish are safeguarded 

 by an elaborate and rather intricate array of statutes. A generous 

 and high-minded sentiment has gone much further than this, in 

 creating as public parks great areas of extraordinary scenic attrac- 

 tiveness. Each one of these majestic reservations, now in the 

 custody of the people for their own uses and enjoyment, has meant 

 individual initiative, generosity and sacrifice and, in many cases, 

 long and unremitting struggle within and without the legislative halls 

 in order to convince a sometimes overcautious or uninformed legis- 

 lature of the wisdom of assuming these public trusts. There are 

 the Niagara Falls Reservation, the Watkins Glen Park, the Palisades 

 Interstate Park, the Saratoga Mineral Springs Basin, Letchworth 

 Park on the upper Genesee river, and more recently the John Boyd 

 Thacher or Indian Ladder Park of the Helderbergs which, like the 

 Letchworth Park, is a fine expression of an individual benefaction 

 to the people of the State. 



