34 ToH E* AYU DeUrB OFN BU lt bee ee 
BOOK REVIEWS 
SURFACE MINING AND OUR ENVIRONMENT 
A Special Report to the Nation from U.S. Dept. of the Interior 
Government Printing Office, Washington. $2.00 
In March 1965, Congress directed the Secretary of the Interior to conduct 
a study and survey of the surface mining operations throughout the nation. 
This investigation was authorized under the Appalachian Regional Develop- 
ment Act; one year later an interim report (Study of Strip and Surface 
Mining in Appalachia, $1) was published. 
The final report contains data gathered from 693 site inspections and. 
from 18,000 questionaires sent to individual mine operators. The survey 
includes every type of mining which disturbs the earth’s surface, from 
the phosphate mines of Florida to the gold dredging operations of California. 
The 124-page book contains many fine color pictures which graph- 
ically document the report. These illustrations, together with the many 
charts, make the brochure an ideal for use in school geography and <on- 
servation classes. The report also contains an important section on the 
recommendations of the commission. These include: federal regulations 
and standards for reclamation, and federal assistance to aid the states in 
restoring the two million acres which are still unreclaimed. Following the 
text are 17 tables which compile much of the information on reclamation 
costs, acreage disturbed, and production figures on a state by state basis. 
One of these tables reveals that over 132,000 acres of wildlife habitat 
in Illinois have been adversely affected by strip mining. This figure will 
no doubt rise sharply as bigger machinery is put into use. These statistics, 
together with the awesome picture of the ravaged countryside, do much 
to document the urgent need for stronger and better control over the 
mining industry. In compiling this report, the commission has made a 
fine beginning. It is now up to the Congress and the people of Illinois to 
provide the legislation and the money to make the commission’s recom- 
mendations a reality. 
—Mrs. William Joy, Centralia, Ill. 
THE SHOREBIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA 
Gardner Stout, Editor: Peter Matthiessen, Text; R. V. Clem, Paintings. 
Viking Press, 625 Madison Ave., New York, 1967. 270 pages. $22.50. 
America has suffered a serious and irreparable loss of its shoreline in the 
less than 200 years that it has existed as a nation. With this loss of shore- 
line, comes the loss of bird life and the opportunity to go freely down io 
the sea. Instead of the vast, wild, and lonely shore, because we acted too 
late to protect our heritage, we now have shantytowns and industrial 
smokestacks and new dull marinas. Tardily, efforts are being made to 
save our estuarine areas and access to our remaining shores of lakes and 
streams. 
“Shorebirds of North America” may quietly inspire more Americans 
to save what is left of this vanishing shoreline. Some of these wild spirits 
of the bird world are not often seen by the bird watcher. It takes some 
effort to visit their haunts of the wild ocean shore, the tundra, and the 
lake. In his text, Peter Matthiessen says they are the most affecting of 
wild creatures, and he thinks of them as birds of the wind—as “wind birds.” 
