By John R. Swanson

District conservationist, SCS, Harrisville, Mich.

To rat race of neon lights, no

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waiting lines or horns. A vacationer's dream? Maybe, but at the Robert Reames farm it is a reality for those who rent his vacation cabins.

Add the personal touch of Bob and Jenny, and the dream is complete. And you can't beat the Reames' baked goods and fresh vegetables!

The 280-acre Reames farm is in Alcona County in northeastern Michigan. Within a few hours by car are cities such as Flint, Saginaw, Detroit, and Toledo.

Reames is a past director of the Alcona Soil Conservation District. It was in his term as a director that he talked over his vacation cabin idea with Dean Gordon, area conservationist for the Soil Conservation Service.

In August 1966 the Reames built a dam that made an attractive pond on unproductive pasture. SCS engineers designed the dam and supervised the work. The design for an A-frame cabin also came from SCS. Trees bought and cut from nearby Huron National Forest property were sawed into lumber at a local sawmill. Reames completed the first of three proposed cabins in July of 1967.

An ad in a Detroit paper brought the first guests. It was the beginning of many new experiences and friendships for the Reames.

That first November a heavy snow clung to the cabin and the

conifer trees around it. The scene became the color photograph on the Reames' Christmas cards. When the cards were mailed, more reservations came for the next summer. Many people called to reserve the cabin for weekends of snowmobiling and skiing. Before leaving, some of the first guests reserved the cabin for vacation the next summer.

Reames started work on wildlife habitat along with the first cabin. In an area used for 30 to 40 years as pasture for cattle and sheep, wildlife food plots and fruit-bearing shrubs have been planted on the contour in the open areas. Carl Stamm, SCS district conservationist, helped Reames select the shrubs best adapted to his soils. Reames

planted Christmas trees between the food plots.

Two miles of nature trails wind through the 65 acres of woods and open areas that once were pasture. One trail parallels a trout stream. Stone placed in the stream has created a small waterfall.

Some of the guests spend their entire vacation at the farm. They fish, swim, or hike the trails and enjoy the outdoors. Books for identifying trees, birds, and animals are on a table. Conservation practices on all of Reames' fields provide beauty and pleasant surroundings.

Haying and other farm chores are always attractions on the farm. One evening a week is tour night. Guests join in cars for a ride through the

The A-frame is the second of three vacation cabins Robert Reames plans to construct on his farm.

Huron National Forest. Wildlife is abundant. It is common to see a doe and fawns cross in front.

There are no signs on highways to guide customers to the Reames farm. Each guest is equipped with maps and complete directions on how to get there. The advertising is in city papers. Customers have told friends, who write for reservations.

In 1969, his second full summer of operation, Reames put only two ads in the paper. He received 20 calls after one ad. He had reservations for his second cabin before the footing was laid.

Reames' idea is to develop slowly and learn. He says recreation is a new business on farms. Those who have tried it have found that it is more than just providing facilities.

"You have to learn what the people like," he points out. "You can sell recreation at almost any price if you have what people want."

Study shows what plants deer prefer

The New Mexico Department of

Game and Fish has been interested for years in seeding browse plants on game ranges. To help, the department entered into cooperative agreements with two institutions also interested in game range improvement. The first was New Mexico State University, which with the Soil Conservation Service operates the Los Lunas Plant Materials Center. The second agreement was with the Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station.

In summer 1965, 10 species of potted plants from the Los Lunas Center were placed in a rabbit's cage. Notes were taken daily to determine which plants the rabbit preferred. This led to the idea that a deer preference study could be conducted in somewhat the same way.

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In 1966 a herd of seven deer and

six fawns was located in a fenced area at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. The herd had lived for several years in the 80-acre pasture at about 7,500 feet elevation in ponderosa pine timber.

Ninety-nine browse plants of 16 species were transplanted into the pasture August 12, 1966. On the morning of August 13 the plots were inspected. The deer had found them. Eight of the plants had been sampled.

After 14 days the degree of plant removed by the deer was as follows: Skunkbush 62 percent, black locust 40 percent, silver buffaloberry 36 percent, honey suckle 26 percent, mountain mahogany 22 percent, Siberian elm 9 percent, desert peach 7 percent, Siberian pea 6 percent, fourwing saltbush 6 percent, and bitterbrush 3 percent. There was no use of cliff-rose, Russian olive, New Mexico olive, Apache plume, dune broom, and winterfat.

A followup study in 1967 with similar plants corroborated the first year's findings.-SAMUEL H. LAMB AND DANIEL L. MERKEL, federal aid coordinator, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, and plant materials specialist, SCS, Santa Fe, N. Mex.

Conservation and birds help control insects

With the right habitat, plenty of nesting cover, water, and food, numbers and varieties of insectdevouring songbirds can be multipresident, Forrest Keeling Nursery, plied, reports Hugh Steavenson, Elsberry, Mo.

He says the nursery maintains hedge-rows or shrubs every 100 feet or so for windbreaks and for seed production. It also has many border, edge, and fringe plantings that permit a near-maximum of songbirds and other wild creatures. As a result, Steavenson says, Keeling Nursery's insect problem in growing a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and evergreens is minimal, and spraying only occasionally is necessary for some specific pest. ◆

Meetings...

An anniversary and "Turning Points in Time"

The Soil Conservation Society of America celebrates its 25th year of advancing the science and art of good land use at its meeting in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, August 9-12.

Its theme, "Turning Points in Time," represents the spirit of today's SCSA. Speakers will cover more than 10 major topics-among them "Waste Utilization and Our Land Resources," "Current Research in Land Resource Use," "People in a Northern Environment," "Water Management and Multiple Use," and "Conservation and the City." Award presentations, technical tours, and a Silver Anniversary Banquet complete the program.

Keynote speaker will be Joseph L. Fisher, president of Resources for the Future, Inc. Other major natural resource conservationists to

speak include N. C. Brady, director of research, Agricultural Experiment Station, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.; Leon W. Weinberger, vice president, Zurn Environmental Engineers, Washington, D.C.; J. R. Wier, chairman, Fisheries Research Board, Ottawa, Ontario; and J. P. Bruce, director, Canadian Center for Inland Waters, Burlington, Ontario.

changing world Agronomy Society's

The American Society of Agronomy, Soil Science Society of America, and Crop Science Society of America plan a joint annual meeting at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz., August 23-28.

The American Society of Agronomy is planning special symposiums on "Agronomy in a Changing World" and associated subjects. Papers in the other two societies will cover a wide range of scientific subjects.

In all, about 1,400 are expected to contribute more than 800 papers for about 120 sessions.

The Soil Science Society will "sponsor a special field tour to review results of several studies of soil geomorphology in the state. Other tours, as well as special programs for the ladies, are in view.

Geographers to discuss many environmental topics

Varied subjects to be discussed at the Association of American Geographers' 66th Annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif., August 23-26, include: Urban geography, geomorphology, western landscapes, climatology, Appalachia, rural geography, community of survival, pollution, and remote sensing.

Education emphasizes quality living

"Conservation Education for Quality Living" will be the theme of the Conservation Education Association's national meeting August 16-20. The group will meet in Lafayette, La., on the campus of the University of Southwestern Louisi

ana.

Dates and places

August 2-4, Community Development Society, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga.

9-12, Soil Conservation Society of America, Toronto, Canada

16-20, Conservation Education Association, Lafayette, La.

23-26, Association of American Geographers, San Francisco, Calif.

23-28, American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science Society of America, Tucson, Ariz.

Review

Functioning of Terrestrial Ecosystems at the Primary Production Level. EDITED BY F. E. ECKARDT. 1968. UNESCO, Paris (distributed by Unipub, Inc., New York). 516 pp., illus. $19.

In this scholarly volume, UNESCO delivers the results of another of its symposiums on ecolZone Research Programme launched ogy that have grown out of its Arid in the early 1950's.

"It became clear," Editor Eckardt notes in the foreword, "that the ecologists were much better armed than overall vegetation; much less, to study the plant as a single item. therefore, the ecosystem."

Accordingly, an international symposium devoted essentially to the title subject was held in Copenhagen in 1965.

The papers of that symposium are reproduced here, the full text in either English or French with a summary in the alternate language.

Titles range from such broad subjects as "Energy Exchange in the Biosphere" and "World Distribution

of Plant Biomass" to the finest technical details of laboratory and field methodology.

Both price and the technical level of the papers will keep the book from finding a place in many individual working libraries, but it is a valuable addition to the background reference material on a subject of increasing concern to conservationists.-B.O.O.

The

28-29, Madison, Wis. September

Nature Conservancy,

13-16, Farm_and Industrial Equipment Institute, Toronto, Canada

13-17, American Fisheries Society, New York, N.Y.

14-18, International Association of Game, Fish and Conservation Commissioners, New York, N.Y.

27-30, National Recreation & Park Association, Philadelphia, Pa.

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THE Working Together. By TIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CONSERVATION DISTRICTS AND THE SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE. National Association of Conservation Districts, League City, Tex. 1970. 14 p. folder. Presents a program of action by both organizations. Conservation districts are being challenged to provide assistance in community planning, making orderly changes in land use, multiple-use of resources,

water-supply development and protection, soil and water management in urbanizing areas, watershed and river basin planning, reclamation of mined and other disturbed areas, pollution abatement, wildlife and recreational improvement, conservation education, and environmental enhancement. SCS, in addition to providing help to individual farmers and ranchers through its various programs in districts, has new responsibilities and authorities that embrace more kinds of land and greater numbers of land users. More recent assignments include rural development, technical assistance in urbanizing areas, soil and water pollution abatement, natural beauty, and outdoor recreation. Districts and SCS are working together in these newer areas of responsibility and opportunity as they have in the traditional field of conservation planning and application on farms and ranches.

The Biology of Poor Seed Production in Tephrosia Vogelii. BY FRANKLIN W. MARTIN AND EUGENIO CABANILLAS. 1970. USDA Tech. Bull. 1419. 34 pp., illus. Tephrosia vogelii Hook. f. a potential source of the insecticide rotenone, plant flowers well, but sets pods and seeds poorly in Puerto Rico. Various factors cause poor fertility, principally pollen abortion and failure

of anthers to dehisce. Abortion is associated with weather conditions and may result if moderate temperatures and high humidities do not occur during the week preceding anthesis.

Building, Planting, and Maintaining Coastal Sand Dunes. USDA Soil Conservation Service Conserv. Inf. 32. 8 pp., illus. Recommends rebuilding or repairing dunes quickly if vegetative damage occurs; using sand fences to rebuild barrier dunes; spreading salt hay or other mulch material for temporary protection; planting American beachgrass; and fertilizing.

Gardening on the Contour. BY THE SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE. 1970. USDA Home and Garden Bull. 179. 6 pp., illus. $0.10. Folder gives guidelines for protecting soil and plants and improving water use in home gardens. Tells how to build terraces and make plant rows fit natural contours.

Soil surveys

Hitchcock County, Nebraska. By RONALD R. HOPPES, NORMAN W. HUBER, HOWARD E. SAUTTER, AND MAX A. SHERWOOD. 1970. 50 pp., illus.; maps 3.17 inches to the mile (1:20,000).

Wood and Wirt Counties, West Virginia. BY W. J. ELLYSON, R. F. FONNER, AND W. M. Kinkle. 1970. 79 pp., illus.; maps 4 inches to the mile (1:15,840).

Recon...

Bills calling for a master plan for Virginia's soil survey and the manpower to complete it by 1990 were passed this spring by the state legislature. The General Assembly asked the Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Commission to have a plan ready for action by the 1972 session. A second bill created a scholarship fund for potential soil scientists. Virginia Polytechnic Institute was authorized to establish 20 annual soil science scholarships. Graduates who take jobs in soil science will not be required to reimburse the state.

Evoking wide attention to our threatened biosphere is the aim of Catalyst for Environmental Quality -a spokesman for "the new conservation." The first issue included an article by Dr. LaMont C. Cole, prominent ecologist; a description of Sediment (SCS publication); and an advertisement for a Soil Conservation Society of America scholarship. The quarterly will focus on American aspects of international problems of pollution, population, and planning. Editor is Vivian Fletcher; offices are at 333 E. 46th St., New York, N.Y., 10017.

Connecticut's first sanitary landfill district has been created by consolidation of solid waste-disposal operations in four towns. Winchester, Barkhamsted, Colebrook, and New Hartford (all within the Litchfield Hills Planning Region in northwestern Connecticut) will share a 60-acre site chosen with the aid of unpublished soil survey field sheets. and composite maps. The landfill district is authorized to charge fees, regulate carriers, and prepare its own budget. Onsite availability of

sufficient inexpensive cover material was a primary consideration during final review of 23 potential locations. Had each town developed its own site, two would have been saddled with $10 per capita operating costs. Favorable cost-sharing arrangements between the state and the district bring the cost down to $2 per capita in the four towns.

Conservation practices can substantially reduce water pollution by dieldrin and other organo-chlorine insecticides. After analyzing data insecticides. After analyzing data from the Northeast Appalachian Watershed (Coshocton, Ohio), Agricultural Research Service scientists in Beltsville, Md., concluded that conservation practices could prevent pesticide transport either in runoff or on eroded soil particles. Results showed that dieldrin leaving fields in runoff was less than 0.03 percent of the amount applied even when conditions favoring surface water movement were created.

Abandoned railroads can become roads to adventure, leisure, and nature. After tracks are taken up, the long, wide, well-drained roadbeds required by trains make ideal trails for riders, cyclists, and hikers. So says a multiscreen slide presentation put together by the Department of Park Administration of Texas Tech University. Replanting may be necessary in spots, but native vegetation usually abounds along railroad rights-of-way. Frequently, grade is gentle enough for people of all ages and degrees of agility. Historic sites and picnic areas might be included in plans for development. The slide talk makes a case for public acquisition and development of this unusual reworkable resource.

Some wild-but not unrulyneighbors will be invited to move into an Illinois subdivision. Plans prepared for a Will County developer include natural areas on each

lot line. Strips of grass and shrubs 20 to 40 feet wide will be left be tween homes to provide potential wildlife cover.

In Manitoba, Canada, inspectors enforcing the Clean Environmer: Act need no warrant to enter any building, other than a dwelling, to investigate possible sources of contamination. They provide front-line muscle for the province's "watchdog over pollution," the Clean Ervironment Commission. The commission assesses probable impact of soil, water and air pollution, sets limits and standards for treatment and disposal of wastes, and grants licenses for discharge of wastes into the environment.

Windbreaks of corn helped soy bean plants grow taller, produce more dry matter and larger leaves. and retain more water in recent Agricultural Research Service tests at Morris, Minn. The 2-row "cornbreaks," planted across the prevailing southwesterly winds, boosted soybean yields as much as 6 bushels

an acre.

Quality fishing?

In promoting quality fishing there is the inevitable question: What is quality? We believe quality has three basic dimensions: the aquatic environment (the fishery), the shoreline environment (water-influence zone), and the spatial distribution (angler density) . . . The dimension of space directly influences the quality of the experience regardless of other factors. So the final chapter in the maintenance of quality fishing will be the disposition of angling pressure-people management.-LLOYD M. ANDREWS AND THOMAS J. BOARIO, biologists, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Data on roadside erosion in Wisconsin (Soil Conservation, Sept. 1969) have been summarized by the Extension Department of the University of Wisconsin in a publication, Erosion on Wisconsin Roadsides. It is available from the Wisconsin Chapter, Soil Conservation Society of America, P. O. Box 5155, Madison, Wis. 53705.

From the Administrator:

From teach-in to teaching

This year seems likely to go down in history as the one in which "ecology" moved out into the popular vocabulary, literally shoved into the limelight through the momentum sparked by the April 22 "Earth Day" teach-in's and the growing environmental concern among students.

What was not said often enough or clearly enough during the verbal deluge which preceded Earth Day is that conservation is ecology in action; conservation practices have always been, for the most part, based on applied ecology.

It is still too early to make any assessment of lasting results from the nationwide educational thrust of April 22, but one trend already surfacing indicates that a growing number of colleges and universities are gearing up for at least one course designed to give students a look at man's relationship to his environment.

But to expect a one-semester college survey of environmental problems to compensate for years of lost opportunities with students in secondary and elementary schools in developing an understanding of conservation principles is totally unrealistic.

The need for conservation education as a part of the school curriculum, kindergarten through high school, becomes more imperative each year, particularly in view of the growing complexity of environmental and conservation decisions facing these students as adult citizens.

The Soil Conservation Service, together with other resource agencies and organizations, stands ready to offer technical services and ecologically sound information which can help teachers and school administrators inaugurate and develop conservation studies within established curricula.

What we, as professional conservationists, have to offer is not a curriculum package with all the corners neatly tucked in. We do not need even to know all the answers to all the questions-there are still discoveries

ahead for the child to ponder. What we sometimes forget is that many of the details of resource relationships which we have come to take for granted through years of familiarity are fresh new wonders for the student. The sensitivity and enthusiasm with which we meet his questions will enter into his attitudes and his personal response to the broad ecological base upon which resource use and management rests and will be absorbed into the texture of his understanding of his own place as a steward of environmental quality for himself and for others.

Local schools traditionally have reflected the social, cultural, and economic philosophy of the community, and this is not likely to change soon-nor should it. Most local school boards are made up of conscientious citizens who do their utmost to bring the best educational opportunities to the children of the community.

In this context, soil and water conservation district leaders, equally aware of the needs of their own communities, have probably the greatest opportunity of any single group to work toward a conservation education program within every state.

If the ecological and environmental questions raised by the Earth Day teach-in's do nothing more than stimulate a public awareness of the importance of conservation understanding and concepts as a fundamental part of education, much will have been accomplished.

A recent article in The American Biology Teacher magazine quoted Dr. William Stapp of the University of Michigan, a leader in environmental education: "Environmental education is aimed at producing a citizenry that is knowledgeable concerning the biophysical environment and its associated problems, aware of how to help solve these problems, and motivated to work toward their solution... Natural resources serve man in many ways, whether in a relatively undisturbed condition or in the highly altered utilitarian forms."

This pretty well sums up what both teach-in's and teaching are all about.

Kenneth E. Shant