tere HOU Dee BOON Y Boo Li Bell N v 
are gone, their value will be realized, but then they are irreplaceable. For 
that reason they must be saved now, he pleaded. 
Baker reported that one of the purposes in founding the system of 
nature camps (the first one, in Maine, was begun in 1986) was to train 
teachers and youth leaders more effectively so they in turn can interest 
youngsters in nature and conservation. The Junior Audubon clubs need 
more leaders. Baker said the clubs, with a current membership of 300,000 
to 400,000, ought to enroll a million members a year. 
The four nature camps now in operation have a total enrollment of 
1,000 adults a year. Baker said the national society hopes eventually to 
have a dozen camps, reachable from all over the country. 
‘The foregoing may sound as if the delegates spent all their time listen- 
ing to talks and speeches, but this was far from the case. We had hardly 
arrived and got settled when it was time for the first field trip, a hike 
through the camp. 
The Greenwich camp differs from some of the other Audubon camps 
in that it is a perfect laboratory for the study of ecology. 
t is a former farm, which had both woods and meadow. The woods 
is still there, and the meadowland has been allowed to grow up. As a re- 
sult almost every stage of plant succession is right there. There is clipped 
lawn; overgrown meadow; brushy thickets; an old orchard; young forest; 
climax forest, and all the stages in between. With the guidance of Mohr, 
the camp director, and other staff members, we tramped along the trails 
where the plants, trees, ferns, mushrooms, and wildlife were identified for 
us. I think few, if any, of the campers had ever been able to visualize so 
well the interdependence of plants and animals. It became obvious why 
one plant might be disappearing, because its habitat might no longer be 
favorable. 
We also learned how introduced species can become dangerous — in 
this case the oriental bittersweet, which is trying to ‘take the place,” 
strangling trees and crowding out more desirable species. ‘We were told 
it cost $4,000 to eradicate this vine from an eight-acre plot on a neighbor- 
ing farm. It resembles the familiar bittersweet we all know, but is not 
the same plant. 
We also practiced taking soil temperatures in areas representing dif- 
ferent stages of plant succession, and did soil testing as well. For example, 
the temperature in a small meadow near camp headquarters was 70 de- 
grees, and the soil tested alkali, probably because it was limed when the 
plot was a cabbage patch 25 years ago, Mohr said. We found by actual test 
how the soil beneath evergreen trees tends to be acid, killing off the under- 
growth. 
Mohr, who is a genius at making such learning fascinating and whose 
knowledge is almost inexhaustible, explained after these lessons how an 
intelligent approach to conservation is the only way to make men see the 
folly of destruction to wildlife and its habitat, and the only way to restore 
them. 
For example: When a certain species of animal disappears (usually a 
game animal is the one that attracts attention) many uninformed persons 
