Show MUIR mui NATIONAL NU is PARK ss if Is Z 1 I 4 ecologists ashfor air she pt reservation of crociato glacier bay region y in Alaska 1 11 by JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN S OUS UR magnificent gm system to of natio national at parka to be still atin further ear enriched lebed by br figo the ill addition of an arm in A alaska asks that embodies so en ehll new features ea and if this extraordinary area Is added shall hall it 11 be 11 given ill the name fame of muir national pull paile tile aliese a anre questions that can be en an swend only by cal congress gress offhand there seeing means no reason why hy I 1 it I 1 should aramm le tot not meaver answer yes to the scot first question and it if 1 its to ans answer er Is yea the very first fire no name m a that would suggest itself atif to well informed eat nature lovers am eiery where when would be muir national park par anyway the geological ecological society of america lias as asked con congress greas to amb lah all a national oual park in the glacier bay any region of worthe southeastern matern alaska for met scientific title research and ed education flim and tor for the permanent use and enjoy jay ment cut of the people right bight here hem two questions just not nat orally ill ask themselves what 1 la an and by to he so BO inter ested to ift the glacier bay region of earth southeastern as in alaska these them question tlona may my be answered sa vered briefly thus th alie ecologist 1 Is botanist at with nith a special pro bug buff lim he sen I 1 part particularly interested in the way corn grows a in illinois the growth of a tard tand of paz pine in Loul louisiana ablen ave gives lim no ill thrills illa what hat he wants i is a in 10 study plant life under abnormal conditions and nd to see now irow nature adapts itself to circumstances perhaps he may be called a botanical evolutionist the em foRist a interested in the hie guels glacier bay region because there an eternal warfare Is going go on an between the list ice and the for forests is sog A ga glacier 1 on its way to the sea ove overwhelms lolon a to for rat est and ob obliterates ter tes it A new forest bertes prink up in n the destruction left behind bin d another glacier comes along it in the 0 course o m of time and again wipes out the th forest which again springs up and so on the ecologist wants santa to see sea what effect all this has bum on an the forest fl botany Is in of course a very old study solomon soloman you will ill remember spoke of trier trees from the cedar which Is in lebanon even unto the hissop bap that mot out at of the won wall man early fly began to study the plants to in ills his sk search of things to eat and tor far rem rare effim edlea for far his lelless aches rod and value pains but 1 for I I a in long time h herbs shrubs and trim rl trees w was all the there e was to botany Lin iaela 1707 78 is reckoned the in fa tile of modern modem botany No nowadays adas e ourse it is a science with ith many branches and many eldah w alch brings bring us to ecology and the oclo alsta lat botany nowadays Is 15 that branch of the wider science of biology which it deals s alth plants ecal ecology 0 a Is that 1 branch h 0 of botany which deals with the mutual relations between organ ila lains and their environment L air Is IM again g alu divided into ill three di departments department filart a one is aby physiological ecology neloa do deals bilth in the ill id study of time 1 tl I us is to environment ont A second 1 la ecoy ecology which d deals 1 alth ith plant societies detles and means 1 influenced by soil 11 con on milan rather than by climate rho che elrd J Is geographic ecology ay or 1 real ecology af c cail bollich he has to do sie a etli afi the ole leading plant plan I 1 formations irum from t alie c climatic Itu realm impact pact I 1 av P big these them end and out of the ordinary but it la Is absurdly easy to see a what an ecologist la else he a really a botanist who Is 18 interested principal ly IY in freak plant growth under freak conditions now alaska has the largest glaciers in 1 tile the world ald outside of tile the polar regions gi it also has many glaciers of them being of sufficient t bat importance ortance to have received names ap and south matern eastern alaska Is the place where they perform most stupendously the mal seldom glacier on the northwest imus hwo shore bar of yakutat bay is larger than the whole abole state ot of rhode island about 1 aid square miles hubbard glacier extends inshore 28 miles with ith many feeders feeder it discharges icebergs iceberg con from ft a f or several miles ax long and fe feet s t hanh d L the muir glacier which hilb ana ill discovered b john muir in old and beins basis ills his name in IB a tremendous thing affiant Vii iliam skinner cooper professor probes wr of botany lots I 1 at the university of minnesota and chairman of the glacier bay committee of the ecological society describes ibea the sen am front of muir glacier as a cliff of lee ice a mile and a half long and feet fact high lie ile sala every few minutes with a mighty Is roar a portion of the cl cliff if breaks away ft a miss asias equal to 10 a ligh high inthe d dral with pinnacles pinnacle much resembling church spires or else a million of smaller fragments in a I 1 torrent ot of rushing whiteness lope rami mid and another on 1 ice or berg Is ib hem bom or nr a whole brood brand of little ones once I 1 saw a great col cal mon of tee lee extending tile the whole height of the cliff clia bao the title tide noil ad at least as much main below separate itself from am tile the main mass rise paril p alb from the water ter topple and sink ma am in a graceful erace ful cune cue to the he sea men A few minutes later a aarlea lee of great atnes es called rolled in at my ay feet a mile slid md a half away on another day 1 I 1 stood on a rocky point shoat about tile the same dha anis from ill the lea in cliff 1 tor or un an hour I 1 watched it and during that time there were SO 80 falls of ice one every 45 43 seconda mound that made commotion enough to ro ile he heard at that distance such Is 1 tile the mot glacier today and there them are am eight others to keep it minimal compani so the ecological of if amer lea im in 1 looking king tor for a place to study ill t the man results he I 1 a on plant life of eternal or film between lee ice and forest has picked out exactly the tight region south is alaska Is 11 nigh ith and ad rocky ky the Ale alexander candor co ers it its coast line alth ill IU a mure man of islands und channa which allm afford s an almost can contin it boua inner protected course afar lAlum from puget sound hit h to cross sound tile the 61 are am hoh jig fical 3 OUO to feet eel ulie ilia high und and came 1 deeply indicated indented with fiorda amid down these theme march ur the g glaciers act to ill throw their lee lea into the ca I 1 and this part of rf alaska la 11 n 1 land 11 1 of 11 forest a I 1 too th mee to inanda a west western hemlock still bitka spruce wea orn era red cedar and yellow cedar in in abl coast at forests forest a and white spruce white birch poplar block cottonwood and sepal aspen in the interior it is IB also too a lead land of abundant plant pilot lit life and ad flowers flower for the temperature Is moderate with heavy rainfall ports PM in thui this region are open the year around amund there is constant steamship tamus bip service between puget sound porta port and juanm professor cooper and his fellow ecologists are of course more mom inter ested red in the forests and plant life than in the b glaciers as glaciers the net nat ii ural l lonu processes essom of rolo bowlin art after the pu ilg of 1 a glacier should ban a furnish import int information they think As am the ice recedes elders and dense a m of retie arctic willow spring up and ad bite uI te and ad store v star ater and humus next roine the it idling spruced final azam ly of after a oratory century or so 0 o a new spruce lores forest ila lias cochic replaced it a ill the destroyed for fill set est to hold 80 suay ay until another glacier mines comes along ibis process Is actual not at imaginary glaciated took rocks still noil burled buried fragments fragment of mail and plant bear atness to tile die strife of centuries and surely there them eat can be no more mom am dame me than muir national park for far such on an area a us the a ecologists ask of can congress a so for I 1 the L name of john muir 1 la a household word aid bemer nature lovers ivers ancl ad imn national us park enthusiasts enthusiast and botanist bat end ad naturalists natura lists and sup explorers lorms mad and out of doors f folk lk congregate cons hem born in scot land in a 1838 muir mine came here a boy after four year denra of study at the rol amity of wisconsin he thought he was going blind 8 so h he decided to free am all 11 h lial cound old and led chou abou the country taking a look at the plants and rinks a as lie he u hindered he ended up 1 I L in the california sierra with ilia ile ees as good as ee sime then than his boork bektas bel nis to file lie american people its he loved holed tile the elcira and talt best belt but he it did 1 d a lot of exploring lie he n ni ul tie first american america to uh wader bay and ad cured nine inc ME great t gl gh alers and found handled erta of smaller ones once bucit bark from the micro and he uEn gendered dered all or it the world arld including siberia and tho the stud studying yink furest emst groethe row tha he HB arh w rote many a volume ionic on an the grout out or of doors delta and these books banks vou von hlll ill find in the tire line libraries as a well as a in I 1 tile the amor fo lie boo kense of tile the nature estate 11 lover this glacier bay miam would make nn an attractive national park llie ilia ell mote mate 1 la not at all arctic the mom been ery it Is inspiring with mith some same very high mountains for rood good measure ordinary talk folk would pro babI find it int Inter catin tin sis as well a as the mab lo 10 contress cons ress co can he be induced t to 0 say yea tea cip dull it tile tha pick oui arela A g government raiment owned area that hot will cost cast nothing not li ing |