Dziedzic : Quarante AnnOes d'Activit~ en Pologne

de Boisernent et d 'Espaces Verts, cons t i tuant le pro-

longement de son activit6 statutaire.*

Cet te Section effectue des t ravaux dans le domaine

de l '6 tabl issement de proje ts et de l ' am6nagement des espaces verts, des hoisements , des p6pini~res, de la cons t ruc t ion de centres de repos, de la r6cup6rat ion et l ' am6nagement des terrains d~t6rior6s pa r l ' industr ie , ainsi que dans le domaine des publ ica t ions de publici t6

et de vulgar isa t ion. Par exemple: 404 hectares ont 6t6

am6nag6s en 1967 pa r la p l an ta t ion de 198000 arbres

et 178000 arbustes. Dans tout le pays, 11 filiales r6gionales de Section

exercent leur activit6. Ce sont des unit6s structurel les au tonomes , subordonn6es ~ la Direc t ion de la Section

de Boisement et d 'Espaces Verts. Les r6sultats de l 'activit6 de la Ligue, ob t enus ju squ '~

ce jour , const i tuent une durable valeur sociale, cul- turelle et 6conomique. lls con t r ibuent ~t la r6al isat ion

des t~ches de la p ro tec t ion de la Nature , en tant qu 'en- semble des moyens d 'u t i l i sa t ion judicieuse pa r

* La Ligue pour la Conservation de la Nature base ses activit6s sur des revenus de double provenance, c'est-~-dire sur les cotisations de ses membres (la cotisation annuelle pour une personne adulte est de 6,- zlotys et pour la jeunesse de 1,- zloty) et surtout sur les b6n~fices qu 'appor te - -par l'interm6diaire de ses propres entreprises sp6cialis6es--son activit6 6conomique des plus vari6es darts les domaines de la production et des services.

31l

l 'Hornme des biens de [a Nature qui sont indispen-

sables pour satisfaire t o u s l e s besoins non seulement des g~n6rations actuelles, mais aussi 5, venir.

Le m o t - d ' o r d r e pr incipal de la Ligue pour la Conserva t ion de la Nature est ainsi congu: ' la protec- t ion de la Na tu re est la p ro tec t ion de l ' H o m m e ' , et il est int6ressant de noter que, juste avant son V l l l e Congr6s Nat iona l du 'Jubi l6 ' , la Ligue s 'est vu ddcerner

une haute dist inct ion par l 'O rdonnance du Conseil des Minis t res du 20 aofit 1968, qui l 'a reconnue comme

Association d'Utilitd publique supdrieure.

Ouvrages cit6s

BIULETYN SPECJALNY (1968). [Bulletin Special] r6dig6 et 6dit6 par l 'Administration Centrale de la Ligue pour la Conservation de la Nature. 15ditions de la Ligue, Warszawa, 70 pp.

LENKOWA, ANTONINA (1968). Histoire de la Ligue pour la Conservation de la Nature. Editions de la Ligue, Warszawa, 201 pp., illustr.

MINISTE, RE DES FORETS ET DE L'•NDUSTRIE DU BOIS (1968). Les Pares nationaux en Pologne. [16] pp., illustr. [similarly in English, Russian, German, and Polish].

SZAFER, WLADYSLAW (Ed.) (1965). Conservation de la Nature et de ses Ressources [ouvrage collectif]. Acad6mie Polonaise des Sciences, Section de Con- servation de la Nature, Krakow, 1078 pp., fllustr.

Environmental Science in the Canadian Rockies

The University o f Calgary has recently established an Environmental Sciences Centre for teaching and research on the natural environment in the Kananaskis Valley some fifty miles (80 km) west of Calgary, Alberta, and thirty-five miles east of Banff in the Canadian Rockies. The Centre is concerned particularly with the interrelations between organisms and t heir total environment. Thus a maj or purpose is to encourage interdisciplinary studies, and so members of the University's Biology, Geology, Geography, and Chemistry, Departments are already associated with the Centre's activities.

The centre has come into existence at a time when the environment over large parts of the earth's surface is no longer capable of dealing with the products and effects of Man's activities. It is evident, from recent investigations on the contamination of the environment, that we lack basic information against which to measure the effects of various contaminants. By stimulating teaching and research on the properties of natural communities, the Centre should be able to make significant contributions to what has been a neglected but is now a rapidly expanding and important field of study. At the present time we lack adequately trained people to manage natural resources and to maintain the quality of the human environment. There is a growing demand for a new type of resource management, and this will require people with a knowledge of many aspects of natural resources.

The Environmental Sciences Centre is associated with the work of the University's Committee on Resources, Environment, and Planning, under whose aegis opportun- ities are to be provided for interdisciplinary programmes at the graduate level. At one end of the scale, students will learn about the fundamental properties of the environment and about the interrelations between organisms and their environment; at the other, they will learn about the economic and social implications of natural resource problems in relation to Man.

Location and Research Areas The Centre is in the grounds of the Kananaskis

Forest Experimental Station which is operated by the Canadian Federal Department of Forestry, and the sur- rounding area of 21 sq miles (54 sq kin) is set aside for research. Both the Federal Research Station and the Environmental Sciences Centre lie within the Rocky Mountain Forest Reserve, which has a total area of 373 sq miles (966 sq kin) and is under public ownership. The elevations available for research range from 4000 to 11,000 feet (1219 to 3353 m). The Station and Centre are at about 4500 ft.

Marmot Creek, which is also within the Rocky Moun- tain Forest Reserve, is of special importance to the Centre because it is the site of a major watershed programme forming part of the International Hydrological Decade. It consists of three sub-basins of a major tributary system draining into the Kananaskis River. There are some 27

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meteorological stations distributed over the area and both water flow and water quality are being measured. Close collaboration exists between the staff at the Centre and the various agencies responsible for the Marmot Creek experiments. Much of the Centre's biological and chemical work will be carried out within the Marmot Creek area where the background information on geology, climatology, soils, and vegetation, is substantial.

Accommodation The present laboratories provide special areas for

analytical chemistry and geochemistry, for radio-chemistry and organic chemistry, for plant physiology, and for geography and soil biology. There is an adequate series of controlled growth-chambers, and the Centre is provided with an excellent range of modern research apparatus. The laboratories have been constructed to meet specialist requirements but are used on a communal basis, with scientists of different interests and disciplines working in close contact with one another.

Living accommodation at the Centre so far consists of lounge, dining and mezzanine areas, five rooms for two women each, and a men's wing with six cubicles and two rooms providing accommodation for sixteen men in all. Three trailers provide accommodation for the Director, resident technician, and visitors.

Biological Conservation

are great gaps in our knowledge of the basic properties of natural environments, and opportunities for training future workers in these interdisciplinary areas are largely lacking. At Kananaskis, the University of Calgary is attempting to develop something which is, in many ways, unique, and the research and teaching programmes must be modified in the light of experience. There is no intention of developing the Centre on rigid lines.

At one end of the range of what is needed the Centre should initiate or cooperate in studies on the presence and influence of pollutants in the natural environment. At the other end, it should provide an adequate basis for studying some of the direct effects of Man or renewable natural resources--in particular, the effects of Man by way of recreation and other activities on natural lands. The ulti- mate aim of these studies is to develop a strategy of land- use.

The Centre will be available for specialist seminars by visiting groups of scientists, and for scientific meetings.

Research Plans for the Centre The main role of the Centre is to encourage teaching and

research activities of an interdisciplinary nature. This aim is to be fulfilled by having a small permanent staff, sup- plemented on a part-time basis by members of faculty of the University, by graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, and by distinguished visiting scientists.

In addition to the major integrated programme, en- couragement will be given to other research projects, not necessarily part of the overall plan but for which the Centre can provide suitable facilities.

It has been decided that the major theme of the Centre will be the study of coniferous forest and neighbouring ecosystems in the Rockies. Although these ecosystems form the dominant systems of the major watersheds of the North American continent, no fully coordinated studies of the type now proposed have been made in the Rockies.

The investigations will be concerned with the complex of ecosystems over an altitudinal range of 4,000 to 11,000 ft in the neighbourhood of Kananaskis. They will include studies on:

(a) Primary and secondary production within such sys- tems.

(b) The ecological role of the major organisms. (c) Chemical and energy balance-sheets.

Whilst much of the detailed work will deal with areas covered by spruce, alpine fir, and aspen poplar, the con- struction of chemical and energy balance-sheets necessi- tates a broad survey covering all types of community occurring locally and ranging from valley bogs through various forest types to alpine grasslands and mountain-top associations.

Future Development of the Centre If the quality of the human environment is to be safe-

guarded, then many problems in environmental science, of an interdisciplinary character, must be investigated. There

Graduate Studies A number of graduate awards and post-doctoral fellow-

ships are available. The Centre is supported by a grant from the National Research Council of Canada and N R C awards are tenable at the Centre. Prospective graduate students and Post-doctoral Fellows should apply to the undersigned, stipulating the main line of research which they wish to follow. The normal procedure is for a graduate student to be registered in one of the University depart- ments, e.g. Biology, Chemistry, Geography, Geology, but every encouragement is given to students interested in subjects which cut across the boundary lines of the normal disciplines.

J. B. CRAGG, Killam Memorial Professor and Director, Environmental Sciences Centre ( Kananaskis), University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Vice-Chairman of lUCN's Commission on Ecology

Pollution of Ground-water: Council of Europe Studies

Among the studies recommended recently by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to the governments of its 18 member States--studies to be made, or continued, both nationally and internationally--were several important ones concerning ground-water. These were as follows: the possibility of artificial recharge and storage of ground-water deposits, the control of ground- water pollution, inventories of existing ground-water deposits (whether exploited or not), and geo-hydrological characteristics of ground-water basins.

Ground-water resources being far from inexhaustible, and being used in most cases for man's consumption, pollution of them is an increasing danger, so this action of the Committee of Ministers is particularly welcome. It forms part of the Council of Europe's over-all programme for the conservation of the natural resources which make up man's physical environment. The Council of Europe plans to lay special stress on this aspect of its work during European Nature Conservation Year, 1970--see our second issue (Biol. Cons., 1(2), pp. 1734).