THE NATIONAL EDUCATORS CONSERVATION 



SOCIETY 



A NEW FORCE FOR WILD LIFE PROTECTION. 



THROUGH the march of events, the Permanent Fund has 

 been enabled to play a part in the creation of a great 

 force for the conservation of wild life and forests. There 

 is no better place than this, and no better time than the 

 present moment, for recording a brief history of the birth 

 of the new organization. 



In November, 1915, Mr. Nomer Gray, Teacher in Public 

 School No. 62, New York City, sought our advice regarding 

 the expansion of a Boys and Girls' Conservation Society, 

 that had been founded by him two years previously, and of 

 which he was president, secretary and financial supporter. 

 Finding that Mr. Gray was aglow with a sincere desire to 

 utilize the schools of the state in furthering the interests 

 of wild life, and was in every sense a pioneer and a reformer, 

 we opened to him a far wider field of usefulness than his 

 association of school pupils ever could occupy. We pro- 

 posed the creation of a great national body of professional 

 educators, officered solely by active professors and teachers, 

 which should promote the conservation of wild life and 

 forests, partly through educational methods, and partly by 

 aggressive campaign work against the army of destruction. 



Mr. Gray immediately sent out to all professors and teach- 

 ers of New York who were known to be interested in biol- 

 ogy, an invitation to attend a meeting for organization in 

 Parlor A in the Hotel Belmont, on January 15, 1916. About 

 80 persons responded to the call; and the representation 

 from the universities, colleges, high schools, manual and 

 secondary schools, immediately showed that the educators of 



