Terry Hershey

Terese ("Terry") Tarlton Hershey (19 January 1923 – 19 January 2017) was a conservationist and environmentalist. Hershey took part in the environmental movement in Texas, notably preventing the channelization of the Buffalo Bayou river in Houston. She has been called "the environmental godmother of Houston." President George H. W. Bush once called her "a force of nature for nature."
Early life and education.
Terese Tarlton was born on January 19, 1923. She studied at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri and earned a bachelors of fine arts degree in philosophy at the University of Texas in 1943. She moved to Houston in 1958 and married Jake W. Hershey.
Career.
In 1966, Hershey became aware of the channelization and the degradation of the vegetation in the upper part of the Buffalo Bayou river. Hershey and other citizens of Houston visited the area, where they discovered that nine acres of trees had been cut down and tires were being burned in the same area. She believed that the river's destruction was due to the United States Army Corps of Engineers and along with several volunteers, sent pictures they had taken of the concrete Bayous to their congressman, George H. W. Bush. In response Bush invited Hershey to speak before the Appropriations Sub-committee, where she could request an evaluation of the work being done at the river, as well as offer suggestions of new technologies to deal with flood control.
Hershey then joined the Buffalo Bayou Preservation Association, where she formed and conducted the Buffalo Bayou campaign in order to discontinue the Army Corps Engineers activities that were harming the river. This campaign lasted from 1967 to its successful conclusion in 1971. Hershey's actions are credited as not only saving the river, but also bringing the Houston community's attention to environmental issues. Hershey's work on the campaign is also credited as leading directly to the 1972 passage of the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires that federal agencies notify the public about projects which could have negative environmental impact.
In 1991, Hershey became the second woman to be appointed to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission.
Awards and legacy.
Hershey was a member of groups, clubs and organizations that were interested in environmental issues and she served as an advocate for protecting parks in Houston. When her parents died she donated the property to the city of Fort Worth and it is now the "Wright-Tartlon Park". Hershey also founded organizations such as the Buffalo Bayou Preservation Association, Harris County Flood Control Task Force, Citizens Who Care, The Citizens Environmental Coalition, The Park People and Urban Harvest. Due to her determination and efforts, Texas has many acres of land that are being protected by conservation easements.
Hershey was inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame in 1989.
In 1991, the Buffalo Bayou Park was renamed the Terry Hershey Park due to her conservation efforts.
In 1994, a Terry Hershey Award of Excellence was formed by the Department of Recreation and Tourism Sciences from the Texas A&M University, and it was formed in order to recognize the contributions and improvements to the development of recreation, parks and tourism by a practitioner, board member, elected official or volunteer. Terry Hershey was the first recipient.
Hershey was awarded the Pugsley Medal in 2003 by the American Academy for Park & Recreation Administration and she was described by her peers as a "force of nature" for her impressive works in Houston and for being a remarkable advocate in bringing people together to resolve environmental issues. Hershey also received other awards such as the prestigious Chevron Conservation Award and the Frances K. Hutchison Award.


Larry Larom

Irving Hastings Larom, known as Larry Larom (June 3, 1889 – December 23, 1973), was the founding president of the Dude Ranchers Association and an owner of the former Valley Ranch near Yellowstone National Park in northwestern Wyoming.
Background.
Born in New York City, Larom's father was a prominent merchant there. Larom attended Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in Madison Square Garden in New York City in 19 and became inspired to travel to Cody in northwestern Wyoming the following year for a summer vacation on Jim McLaughlin’s Valley Home Ranch. After three more summer visits there, he decided to become a dude rancher. He persuaded a fellow New Yorker, Winthrop Brooks, to become his partner in the purchase and operation of Valley Ranch on the south fork of the Shoshone River. Larom and Brooks, scions of wealthy New York families and educated at Princeton University, had an advantage in selling the concept of a dude ranch vacation to members of their social class. In a few years Brooks left the partnership and was the president of Brooks Brothers men's clothier from 1935 to 1946.
Dude rancher.
After sponsoring pack trips for both boys and girls into Yellowstone, Larom in 1922 established a college preparatory school for boys. The operation folded in 1934 because of the impact of the Great Depression.
In 1926, Larom was instrumental in the establishment of the Dude Ranchers Association and became its first president. Larom was also involved in the civic and cultural affairs in Cody, where he died in 1973.


Tony Fitzjohn

Anthony Raymond Fitzjohn, OBE is a conservationist who worked extensively with George Adamson at Kora in Africa. In recognition of his service to wildlife conservation, Fitzjohn was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2006.
Awards.
2016 - Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award presented jointly by the Prague Society for International Cooperation and Global Panel Foundation.
References.
4. "Born Wild: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Passion for Lions and for Africa" by Tony Fitzjohn: Tony Fitzjohn's autobiography.


Invasive species in Guam

As with a number of other geographically isolated islands, Guam has problems with invasive species negatively affecting the natural biodiversity of the island.
Brown tree snake.
Believed to be a stowaway on a U.S. military transport after the end of World War II, the brown tree snake ("Boiga irregularis") was accidentally introduced to Guam, which previously had no native species of snake. It nearly eliminated the native bird population. The problem was exacerbated because the snake has no natural predators on the island. The brown tree snake, known locally as the , is native to northern and eastern coasts of Australia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. It is slightly venomous, but relatively harmless to human beings; it is nocturnal. Although some studies have suggested a high density of these serpents on Guam, residents rarely see them. The United States Department of Agriculture has trained detector dogs to keep the snakes out of the island's cargo flow. The United States Geological Survey also has dogs that can detect snakes in forested environments around the region's islands.
Threat to native birds.
Before the introduction of the brown tree snake, Guam was home to 14 species of terrestrial birds. Two of these fourteen birds are endemic to Guam at the species level: The Guam flycatcher, also called the Guam broadbill, and the Guam rail are not naturally found anywhere else in the world. The Guam flycatcher, was last seen in 1985 and is now believed to be extinct. The Guam rail (or "ko'ko"' bird in Chamorro), a flightless bird, extinct in the wild, has been successfully bred in captivity. An experimental population of Guam rails has been released on Rota, an island forty miles north of Guam in the Northern Mariana Islands. The loss of these birds is believed to be largely a result of habitat alteration and the effects of the introduced brown tree snake. The devastation caused by the snake has been significant over the past several decades. As many as twelve bird species are believed to have been driven to extinction. However, some of the birds still thrive and are common on other islands at the subspecies level in the Marianas, including Saipan. According to many elders, ko'ko' birds were common in Guam before World War II.
Other bird species threatened by the brown tree snake include the Mariana crow, the Mariana swiftlet, and the Micronesian starling, though populations are present on other islands in the Marianas.
Guam is said to have many more insects and 40 times more spiders than neighboring islands, because bird populations are severely diminished, and the forests are almost completely silent due to lack of birdsong.
Coconut rhinoceros beetle.
An infestation of the coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB), "Oryctes rhinoceros", was detected on Guam on September 12, 2007. CRB is not known to occur in the United States except in American Samoa. Delimiting surveys performed September 13–25, 2007, indicated that the infestation was limited to Tumon Bay and Faifai Beach, an area of approximately . Guam Department of Agriculture (GDA) placed quarantine on all properties within the Tumon area on October 5 and later expanded the quarantine to about on October 25; approximately radius in all directions from all known locations of CRB infestation. CRB is native to Southern Asia and distributed throughout Asia and the Western Pacific including Sri Lanka, Upolu, Samoa, American Samoa, Palau, New Britain, West Irian, New Ireland, Pak Island and Manus Island (New Guinea), Fiji, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Mauritius, and Reunion.
Other invasive animal species.
From the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, the Spanish introduced the Philippine deer ("Rusa mariannus"), black francolins, and carabao (a subspecies of water buffalo), which have cultural significance. Herds of carabao obstruct military base operations and harm native ecosystems. After birth control and adoption efforts were ineffective, the U.S. military began culling the herds in 2002 leading to organized protests from island residents. Other introduced species include the giant African snail (an agricultural pest introduced during World War II by Japanese occupation troops).
Guam has no native amphibian species, but now a total of nine amphibian species has been established in Guam. "Litoria fallax" (native to the eastern coast of Australia) has been present in Guam since 1968, and "Rhinella marina" (the cane toad) was brought to the island in 1937. The other 7 amphibian species, namely "Hylarana guentheri" (native to mainland Asia), "Microhyla pulchra" (native to mainland Asia), "Polypedates braueri" (endemic to Taiwan), "Eleutherodactylus planirostris" (native to the Caribbean), "Fejervarya cancrivora" (the Guam variety being most closely related to "F. cancrivora" found in Taiwan), "Fejervarya limnocharis" (native to Southeast Asia), have been in Guam since 2003 and the "Eleutherodactylus coqui" also commonly known as the coquí frog native to Puerto Rico that may have arrived from Hawaii, have led to fears that the noise could threaten Guam's tourism. Many species were likely inadvertently introduced via shipping cargo, especially from Taiwan, mainland China, and Southeast Asia.
Introduced feral pigs and deer, over-hunting, and habitat loss from human development are also major factors in the decline and loss of Guam's native plants and animals.
Feral chickens ("Gallus gallus domesticus") are found in the forests although they are not significantly integrated into the food webs in most areas.
Threats to indigenous plants.
Invading animal species are not the only threat to Guam's native flora. Tinangaja, a virus affecting coconut palms, was first observed on the island in 1917 when copra production was still a major part of Guam's economy. Though coconut plantations no longer exist on the island, the dead and infected trees that have resulted from the epidemic are seen throughout the forests of Guam.
During the past century, the dense forests of northern Guam have been largely replaced by thick "tangan-tangan" brush ("Leucaena leucocephala"). Much of Guam's foliage was lost during World War II. In 1947, the U.S. military is thought to have planted tangan-tangan by seeding the island from the air to prevent erosion. Tangan-tangan was present on the island before 1905.
In southern Guam, non-native grass species dominate much of the landscape. Although the colorful and impressive flame tree ("Delonix regia") is found throughout the Marianas, the tree on Guam has been largely decimated.
The Coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB) infestation has become an epidemic event of palm tree damage on Guam. The CRB infects palm trees by burrowing into the tips of the palms, effectively killing the plant by destroying the shoot apical meristem during the process. While the grubs and larvae of CRB do no actual harm to palms, they populate and grow within the damaged crowns of the palm trees, which is a specific mating habit of Guam CRBs.
A possible solution to the crisis, which has been ecologically analyzed in Western Samoa, would be the introduction of CRB predators. Centipedes, "Scolopendra Morsitans," have been found to seek out and eat the larvae of the beetle in logs and other breeding grounds. Manual insertion of the centipedes, or introduction of volatile attractors within the plant, may cause a significant dent in Guam's CRB mortality. The introduction of terpene, fatty acids, or other nitrogenous compound metabolites may allow palm trees to attract CRB-predators such as the centipede through an indirect defense response, which is triggered by mechanoreceptors activating secondary metabolite transcribers via an action potential pathway.
A secondary solution could be introducing metal hyperaccumulation into the palm population on Guam's beaches. Plants that accumulate extra inorganic minerals, such as iron, nickel, or zinc, indirectly deter herbivory by depositing excess materials in certain sections of the plants. While the excess inorganic materials may not directly affect adult CRBs (as minerals would not be deposited in the meristem sections of the plant), it may create an inhospitable and toxic environment for the immature CRBs that are growing in the trees.


Protected areas of Libya

Protected areas of Libya include any geographical area protected for a specific use.
Most protected areas are intended for the conservation of flora and fauna. Libya's national parks and nature reserves are maintained by the "Technical Committee of Wildlife and National Parks" which was created in 1990, as part of the General Secretariat of Agricultural Reclamation and Land Reform.
Areas may also be protected for their value and importance as historical, cultural heritage or scientific sites. More information on these can be found in the list of heritage sites in Libya.
There were no national parks or protected areas in Libya prior to the Libyan coup of 1969. The new revolutionary government began to designate national parks and nature reserves in the 1970s. By 2009 seven national parks, five nature reserves and twenty-four other protected areas had been established, mostly along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Among the most visited of these areas are Karaboli National Park, El-Kouf National Park, Benghazi Nature Reserve, and Tripoli Nature Reserve along the coast, and Zellaf Nature Reserve in the southwestern desert.
Benghazi Nature Reserve.
The Benghazi Nature Reserve is located north of the city of Benghazi about 14 km on the Mediterranean coast. Known for its migratory waterbirds, the reserve includes a stretch of beach dunes and salt marshes, as well as the Ayn Zayanah Lagoon. The lagoon is fed by a number of freshwater springs and flamingos winter over there. Despite its protected status, the area is also used for fishing and recreation. In a number of places garbage has been illegally dumped in the reserve.
El Kouf National Park.
El Kouf National Park is located near and to the west of the city of Bayda, in Jabal al Akhdar District in the forested hills of the Jebel Akhdar or "Green Mountains". The park is only about 15 km wide from east and west, but it streaches from the coast for a 160 km to the south, following the course of Wadi el-Kouf. There are three major habitat types, beach dunes give way to maquis shrubland at higher elevations, with a fluvial microhabitat along the course of the wadi. The park protects both marine and land wildlife. Noted species include bottlenose dolphins, golden wolves, striped hyenas and small-spotted genets. The landscape includes cliffs and caves.


Robert W. Crawford

Robert Wilson Crawford (April 11, 1906 – April 11, 1995) was an American pioneer of public park policy and served in the park and recreation field for over forty years. As the "Commissioner of Recreation" in Philadelphia, he established a national model for the local government’s provision of recreational services for all citizens, and his methods have been copied in cities nationwide.
Crawford was instrumental in establishing them as recreational areas for beneficial activities for the community. Crawford was President of the National Recreation and Park Association and a life member of its trustees' board. He was co-founder and former executive director of the National Recreation Foundation. Philadelphia's recreational facilities grew from 94 to 815 under Crawford's leadership. He is credited with developing programs for the elderly, preschoolers, and the handicapped.
Early life and education.
Crawford was born in Maryland on April 11, 1906, and raised in Iowa. Crawford graduated from Des Moines University with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1929. He also attended New York University, where he received his master's degree. He graduated from the National Recreation School in New York City.
Career.
In 1934, Crawford began his career with a job as Director of Recreation for Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. In 1946, Crawford became superintendent of recreation in Oakland, California, for five years before moving to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1952. His first position there was recreation administrator, and later, he served as Commissioner of Recreation from 1952 until 1981. He was also the President of the Fairmount Park Commission.
As the Commissioner of Recreation, Crawford established a national model for the local government’s provision of recreational services for all citizens. Under his leadership, parks in the city added trails for hikers, basketball courts for people who used wheelchairs, and exercise programs based in community centers for the elderly. He also set up advisory groups to identify the recreational needs in specific neighborhoods. When he first came to Philadelphia in 1952, the city had 95 recreational areas. By the time he left, it had 815, including parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, and community centers. Crawford worked in Philadelphia for 29 years.
Much of Crawford's career was spent lobbying government officials to increase the number of parks and recreational programs.
As Executive Director, he played a key role in the development and growth of the National Recreation Foundation. Crawford conceived the Recreation and Park Hall of Fame in 1987, while serving as Executive Director of the National Recreation Foundation.
Crawford retired on July 1, 1981. Philadelphia Mayor William Green praised him, saying, "If recreation were baseball, he would be a Babe Ruth or a Hank Aaron. If recreation were boxing, he would be a Joe Louis or Jack Dempsey." He stated that no one would be able to take Crawford's place after he left.
Temple University Libraries holds a collection of his professional papers where he held an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Public Service. He also held an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Law from Grinnell College. The Robert W. Crawford Achievement Prize is named in his honor.
In 1993, Crawford published his autobiography, "Reflections of a Recreational Professional" (/). All financial proceeds were donated to the National Recreation and Park Association.
Personal life.
He was married to Dorothy Mollenhoff Crawford, who died in 1992. They had one son.
Crawford died on April 11, 1995, on his 89th birthday, in Walnut Creek, California, from heart failure.


Fateh Singh Rathore

Fateh Singh Rathore (10 August 1938 – 1 March 2011) was an Indian tiger conservationist. Fateh Singh joined the Indian Forest Service in 1960 and was part of the first Project Tiger team. He was widely acknowledged as the "tiger guru" for his legendary knowledge of the big cat. He worked over 50 years in wildlife conservation. Rathore was noted for his pioneering relocation of villages from inside the Ranthambhore National Park in 1973–75. Largely because of Mr. Rathore, "Ranthambhore became the place which brought the tiger to the consciousness of people the world over."
Early life.
Fateh Singh Rathore was born in Choradia village in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan. He was the eldest son in a family of 6 boys and 5 girls. His grandfather Laxman Singh Rathore was a major in the army. Rathore's father, Sagat Singh, was the eldest son of Laxman Singh. He was a police officer and managed the family's land and property in their village near Jodhpur.
His mother loved him very dearly, and was a very bold lady, protecting him from his grandfather's anger when he was mischievous. She died in February 2010.
Rathore's uncles, one in the army, and the other a lawyer, helped bring him up. He was sent away to Col. Brown Cambridge School, a boarding school, in Dehra Dun and later stayed with an uncle while a college student. He was not interested in his studies, preferring to take part in dramas etc. and have fun. His uncle wanted him to be a lawyer, but his heart was not in it. Rathore graduated from the Rajputana University in 1960. After working as a store clerk and selling coal, Rathore was offered a job as a park ranger by an uncle who had become deputy minister of forests in Rajasthan.
Conservation work.
Rathore joined the Rajasthan Forest Service on the advice of his uncle. One of his first jobs was organising tiger hunts in the area which later became Ranthambhore National Park (RNP) during a visit by the Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh in January 1961. The first tiger he ever saw was one shot by the Duke: "I was not in love with the tiger at the time. We were very happy that we succeeded," he recalled.
He loved the forest service, and grew very interested in conservation. He was posted as a game warden at Sariska when there were still tigers there. He worked at Mount Abu Game Reserve between 1963 and 1970. Rathore was posted in 1971 as game warden in Ranthambhore. The area of RNP, though degraded, still existed as a forest because it was the game reserve of the royal family of Jaipur. He was sent to the Wildlife Institute of India for training, in the first batch of forest officers to be trained there in 1969. While there he showed a greater aptitude for field work and was not too interested in theory. He fared well there and his guru, S. R. Choudhury, recognized his potential.
"Project Tiger".
Project Tiger (PT) was started in 1973 at the instance of Indira Gandhi, who was very concerned about the fact that the number of wild tigers was reducing because of hunting. Hunting was banned from then on, and 9 reserves were selected under PT. Ranthambhore was one of them. Rathore was sent there as the Assistant Field Director, but was given a free hand by his senior.
At that time, the area looked very different. There were wheat fields where Padam Talao now stands – there had been an artificially created lake there, which the villagers had drained for their agriculture, and he restored the lake along with Raj Bagh and Malik Talao. 16 villages dotted the whole area, with no roads connecting them with each other. The villagers lived in extreme poverty and deprivation, with no health care or educational facilities. The vegetation had all been eaten by domestic cattle. There were wild animals around, but they emerged mostly at night and were rarely seen.
Rathore went about carving roads through the area, patrolling it regularly, and realized that the villages needed to be moved out if the tigers were to have any chance of flourishing. It required a huge amount of tact and patience to convince people to leave their homes, and Rathore frequently found himself crying along with the villagers. He managed to convince a young schoolteacher about the benefits of moving to another location, making him his wife's rakhi brother. The villagers were given a good compensation package, and finally moved to a newly established village called Kailashpuri which had a health centre and a school, and better agricultural land outside the park.
Once the villages were moved out, (1973-5), the park's vegetation started regenerating on its own. Soon Rathore began to see the pugmarks of tigers, but they were still nocturnal. A lame buffalo had been left behind by the villagers, and when he saw the pugmarks of a tigress and cubs in that area, he knew that she would kill the animal sooner or later. One day he found that the buffalo had been killed, so he climbed a tree and waited there. The tigress soon appeared with her cubs and started feeding. She was aware of Rathore up in the tree and snarled at him a couple of times. He was so excited that his hands shook as he took photos. Later, he had many opportunities to study this tigress whom he named Padmini after his elder daughter, and she tolerated his presence benignly.
In August 1981 Rathore was nearly killed by a group of villagers who resented being sent away from the park area because they used to collect fees from others for allowing their cattle to graze there. He was beaten up and left for dead with several fractures and a head injury, and it took several months for him to recover. Later he was given a bravery award for this. When he recovered he went back and confronted the villagers. Nothing was going to stop him from trying to save his tigers.
Tiger Watch.
In the 1990s a group of friends got together to form an NGO called Tiger Watch (TW), of which Rathore was made the Vice-Chairman. At first the Rajasthan Forest Department allowed TW to carry out research in the park. In 2003 a young wildlife biologist called Dharmendra Khandal (DK) was selected by TW to carry out research. In 2004 DK produced a report which contradicted the Forest Department's claim that the census showed 45 tigers in the park. According to DK's report there were just 26. He substantiated his claim with photographs taken by camera traps, a more foolproof method of tiger population estimation than the old method of taking plaster casts of pugmarks. The forest department not only denied this, but banned TW henceforth from carrying out any research within the park. TW set up an anti-poaching project, and with the help of the police, succeeded in arresting several poachers and confiscating their weapons, sometimes pre-empting their raids. Poachers’ confessions were recorded on video, and a DVD was produced called "Curbing the Crisis". The Forest Department continued to be in a state of denial and resentment.
Realising that the poachers are mainly from the Mogya tribe of nomadic hunter-gatherers with no other means of livelihood, TW has started a rehabilitation programme for them, involving the women in handicraft production, and setting up a hostel where their children can be clothed, fed and educated, to give them some dignity and better prospects in future. This is strictly on condition that the men give up poaching. As this exercise depends solely on donations from well-wishers, funds are always a problem to collect, but the efforts go on.
TW has a sister organisation called the Prakrtik Society, set up by Rathore's son Goverdhan. This organisation has set up a hospital (Ranthambhore Sevika) and the Fateh Public School for local community as part of efforts towards community conservation.
He appeared in an episode of The Jeff Corwin Experience.
Rathore always believed in working with the people to save the tiger and in a country with billion population only this people-centric approach worked.
Rathore died of lung cancer at his home in Sawai Madhopur on 1 March 2011 at age 72. Rathore is survived by his wife, Khen; his son, Goverdhan; two daughters, Padmini and Jaya; four brothers; four sisters; and four grandchildren.
His commitment to tiger conservation was summed up in 1993: "The forest and all its creatures were the creation of the gods," he argued over the village fires, "Did not the goddess Durga, the slayer of demons, herself ride a tiger? No man had a right to disturb that divine creation. The forest must be left to grow back."
Honours and awards.
Rathore received several awards and honors in recognition of his tiger conservation work.
Publications.
Picture and articles by FSR about wild tigers in Ranthambhore have been published in several books and periodicals including:


Tree conservation areas in Singapore

Tree Conservation Areas are large urban areas in Singapore in which no tree with a girth above 1 metre when measured 50 centimetres from the ground may be felled without permission from the National Parks Board. There are currently two such areas, namely:
See: Map of area
See: Map of area
Illegal felling of a "Hopea sangal" tree.
On 20 November 2002, a large tree was chopped down by a property management company, DTZ Debenham Tie Leung. The tree in question was a "Hopea sangal", or Chengal pasir tree, a rare tree reputed to have given Changi its name. In addition, the tree was standing in a tree conservation area, which forbids any unauthorised felling of a tree with a girth above 1 metre. The tree in question had a girth of 3.4 metres.
Public sentiment against the felling was high, and the courts imposed a S$8,000 fine on the company for the offence, which has a maximum fine of S$10,000. The company was also ordered to pay S$76,035 to the state in compensation for the felling.
Nature groups and concerned citizens were determined to ensure that this episode became a lesson to be learnt for others. In September 2003, the logs which has been cut down were recovered and transformed into sculptures. A major educational drive, called "The Hopea sangal Tree: Sculpture Symposium", was organised by The Sculpture Society (Singapore) in partnership with the National Parks Board and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and with the support of the Nature Society (Singapore) and the Urban Redevelopment Authority, representing a government-NGO combined effort to raise awareness towards the conservation of trees.
Seeds recovered in September 2002 were grown in National Parks Board's Pasir Panjang Nursery. On 7 November 2004, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew planted a sapling in Hendersonville (between blocks 103 and 104), Henderson Crescent.


Montana Conservation Corps

The Montana Conservation Corps (MCC) is a young adult voluntary development program modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s, using conservation projects to foster citizenship and personal growth in its members. The MCC operates crews in four towns throughout Montana: Missoula, Kalispell, Helena, and Bozeman. In addition MCC's central office is located in Bozeman.
Overview.
These projects, or "hitches", take the form of trail construction and maintenance, but also include fencing, noxious weed control, habitat restoration, tree planting, fuels reduction, historical building renovation, and campground improvements. Working for Montana state agencies and federal agencies such as the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management, members not only have the opportunity to develop vocational and interpersonal skills but also spend their summer amid the landscapes of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and North Dakota.
MCC crews are managed by a pair of co-leaders and consist of four to five Corpsmembers, all of whom are also AmeriCorps volunteers. The Crew Leader terms last from February to November, while the Corpsmember terms last from May to October. Those who join the MCC come from assorted backgrounds: college graduates; Peace Corps graduates; other AmeriCorps Programs; environmental educators; individuals who want to work with the Forest Service or Park Service; and individuals who want to do something different with their lives.
In addition to field crews, the MCC also serves Montana teens with its Youth Service Expedition program. Expedition crew members volunteer on conservation projects for four weeks during the summer and receive a monetary award upon completion. Camp Paxson is one of the places where training occurs.
MCC also serves OEF and OIF veterans with its Veterans Green Corps (VGC) program. VGC members complete a conservation job skills training program with the end goal of pursuing employment with public land agencies.
MCC is part of the Big Sky Watershed Corps partnership (BSWC). BSWC members assist communities in watershed health and conservation.
Mission statement.
"To inspire young people through hands-on conservation service to be leaders, stewards of the land, and engaged citizens who improve their communities."
History.
• The organization was modeled after Franklin Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s and centered around small teams, diverse conservation projects and life changing experiences.
• MCC was established in 1991, by the Human Resource Development Councils in Billings, Bozeman and Kalispell. At that time, it was primarily a summer program serving disadvantaged youth.
• In 1993, the AmeriCorps National Service Program began funding the Montana Conservation Corps and enabled the progression to a year-round program. In 1995, the Montana Board of Crime Control granted the MCC funds to develop CorpsLINK, a program aimed at utilizing Corpsmembers to supervise youth performing community service and to mentor at-risk youth. These programs began utilizing Corpsmember's to perform service projects addressing community needs in addition to performing natural resource projects.
• A small staff in Bozeman manages the agency and a volunteer Board of Directors governs the organization. MCC crews do a variety of projects for natural resource agencies including: recreation area management, trail construction and repair, fence building, cave restoration, wildlife habitat improvement, stream rehabilitation, and playground construction. Community service projects performed by MCC crews include repairing senior citizen homes, distributing food to the needy, and building community gardens.
• Support for the MCC comes from many individuals and organizations that have a keen interest in the energy and enthusiasm of our young people. Over 200 public and private agencies sponsor MCC projects each year, with most of the financial support coming from City, County, State and Federal land management agencies. AmeriCorps funding through the Governor's Office of Community Service accounts for a little over half the budget with project sponsors providing the bulk of the remainder.
• MCC dispatched crews to hurricane relief in Florida in 2003 and 2004, [Hurricane Katrina] relief in 2005 and to [Hurricane Sandy] relief in 2012.


Casa Cogollo

Casa Cogollo is a small palazzo in Vicenza built in 1559 and attributed to architect Andrea Palladio. Since 1994 it has formed part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto".
Though known as the “House of Palladio”, in reality this building has no connection with the residence of the Vicentine master. Rather it is its dimensions—quite contained in comparison to the monumental emphasis of other Palladian palazzi—which has led astray those seeking a trace of the architect’s residence in the city.
In fact, the Maggior Consiglio (town council) forced the notary Pietro Cogollo to remodel the façade of his 15th century (Quattrocento) house as a contribution to the “decorum of the city”, making this provision (and a monetary investment in the work of not less than 250 ducats) a condition of their positive response to his request for Vicentine citizenship.
In the absence of documents and autograph designs, the attribution to Palladio of this most elegant façade still divides scholars. Yet, because of the intelligence of the architectural solution proposed, as well as the design of all the details, it is difficult to refer the project to any other designer. The constraints posed by a narrow space and the impossibility of opening windows at the centre of the "piano nobile" (because of an existing fireplace and its flue) induced Palladio to emphasise the façade’s central axis, by realising a structure with a ground floor arch flanked by engaged columns, and on the upper storey a tabernacle frame for a fresco by Giovanni Antonio Fasolo.
The ground level arch is flanked by two rectangular spaces which illuminate and provide access to the portico. Altogether they form a type of serliana, as already done at the Basilica Palladiana. The result is a composition of great monumental and expressive force, despite the simplicity of the means available.


La Foncalada

The Foncalada is a fountain of potable water located outside the city walls of Oviedo, Asturias, Spain; it was built by king Alfonso III of Asturias in the 9th century. This building remains the only surviving civil architectural item for public use of the Early Middle Ages. Its name was given after the inscription in written on it. Built in Pre-Romanesque style, it has been included with other Asturian Pre-Romanesque sites on the UNESCO World Heritage Site List since 1998.
It was originally placed near the city walls, next to an ancient Roman road. The decoration on top depicts the Victory Cross, symbol of Asturias.
Building.
This public fountain, which belongs to Oviedo Town Hall, is erected over a spring. The source is a rectangle of about wide. It has a shape of a vaulted chapel and is crowned by the royal ensign of the Victory Cross. Below the Asturian Cross, two inscriptions remain:


Panjal Mastan National Park

Panjal Mastan (Urdu پنجال مستان) is a scenic place in Bagh Valley of Azad-Kashmir.
The Panjal Mastan National Park is in the Bagh District of Azad-Kashmir.
Panjal Mastan National Park is at an average elevation of 2800 metres (9186 feet) above sea level, making the Panjal Mastan Plains one of the highest plateaus in the Bagh. The park protects an area of 3,00 square kilometres. It is well known for its rich flora and fauna of the Pir Panjal ecoregion. In spring it is covered by sweeps wildflowers.
Climate and ecology.
Panjal Mastan features a subtropical highland climate (Cwb) under the Köppen climate classification. It is in the outer Pir Panjal, retaining high altitude. This type of area has cold, snowy winters, relatively cool summer with drastically escalated rain, in relation with lower altitudes, and frequent fog. Precipitation is received year round, with two maxima, first one during winter and second one at summer, July–August. Total mean precipitation annually is 1,789 mm (70.4 in).[7] A variety of rare animal species can be found in Panjal Mastan, including the leopard, which inhabits the neighbouring Galiyat region. More common animals include the rhesus monkey, wild boar, foxes and various species of birds, including the cheer pheasant and kalij pheasant. The area gives its name to the Panjal vole, a rodent species endemic to Pakistan.


Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park

Khao Sam Roi Yot () is a marine national park in Kui Buri District, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, Thailand. It covers , of which are marine areas. The park was established in 1966, and was the first coastal national park of Thailand. The park includes Thailand's largest freshwater marsh.
Geography.
The limestone hills are a sub-range of the Tenasserim Hills that arise at the shore of the Gulf of Thailand, with the highest elevation being Khao Krachom at . Between the hills are freshwater marshes. Several of these marshes were converted into shrimp farms, as only of the total of marshes are part of the national park. A portion, , of these marshes are scheduled to be declared a Ramsar site.
Two white sand beaches are in the park, Hat Laem Sala and Hat Sam Phraya. Hat Laem Sala is 17 km from park headquarters and can be reached from the village Ban Pu either by boat or by climbing up and down over a hill for nearly 30 minutes.
The park is approximately south of Hua Hin.
The origin of the name "Khao Sam Roi Yot" is undetermined. Local lore has it that it means "mountain with 300 peaks," or the range had been an island where 300 survivors from a sinking Chinese junk sought refuge, or the range was named after a local plant called "sam roi yot".
Phraya Nakhon Cave.
Phraya Nakhon Cave () is about from Laem Sala Beach, approximately north of park headquarters. Visitors can go to the cave by renting a boat or by walking across Tian Mountain. After that, there is a climb up the mountain about to reach Phraya Nakhon Cave. Its most famous early visitor was King Chulalongkorn.
There is a water well at the foot of the mountain known as Phraya Nakhon Well. It is made of baked clay bricks in a trapezoidal shape.
Phraya Nakhon is a large cave which has a hole in the ceiling allowing sunlight to penetrate. At the top of the hole, there is a stone bridge known as "death bridge" because many wild animals have fallen to their deaths from it.
Khuha Kharuehat Pavilion () is a historic site built for King Chulalongkorn's visit in 1890. At certain times during certain months, the sun will shine directly on it. The pavilion has since become the symbol of Prachuap Khiri Khan Province. Later kings also visited the cave, including King Vajiravudh and King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Klong Khao Daeng.
Klong Khao Daeng is a stream running deep into mangrove forests at one end and at its mouth freshwater and seawater collide. The mangroves consist of the "samae thalay" (grey mangrove), "kongkang bai lek" (true mangrove), "kongkang bai yai" (red mangrove), and "chakhram" (herbaceous seepweed).
Climate.
The temperature in winter (between October - February) ranges from 18˚C to 25˚C.
The temperature in summer (between March - May) ranges from 23˚C to 32˚C.
The temperature in the monsoon season (between June - September) ranges from 20˚C to 30˚C.
Fauna.
The park is home to a variety of birds, including the common kingfisher, the black-capped kingfisher, the collared kingfisher, the little heron, the little egret, and the Javan pond-heron. Wildlife found in the mangroves includes "pla teen" ([mudskippers]), "pu kam dab" (fiddler crabs), "ling samae" (the crab-eating macaque), collared kingfisher ("nok kin pieo"), snapping shrimp ("kung deed khan"), mud creeper ("hoi khika"), and oysters ("hoi nangrom"). Rare animals in the park include the mainland serow ("Nemorhaedus sumatraensis"), dusky langurs ("Trachypithecus obscurus"), fishing cats ("Prionailurus viverrinus") (; ), as well as many bird species. At sea, Irrawaddy dolphins ("Orcaella brevirostris") are sometimes seen.
History.
Khao Sam Roi Yot was probably where King Mongkut hosted European guests on 18 August 1868 to observe a total solar eclipse. The king was interested in astronomy and had calculated the date and location of the eclipse himself. His calculations proved better—by about two seconds—than those of French astronomers, who acknowledged his accuracy. He contracted malaria, possibly during that event, and died on 1 October.
The national park was created on 28 June 1966. It was enlarged on 1 April 1982.
Archaeology.
The discovery of 3,000 years old cave paintings was announced by archaeologists from the Fine Arts Office in May in 2020. Some of the depicted pictures are still visible and clear, while some paintings were damaged by limestone etching. According to archeologist Kannika Premjai, paintings describe humanlike figures with accessories on their bodies, hunting scenes with bow and arrow. Moreover, there is also an animal figure seems to be serow (a goat-like mammal found regionally) found among the drawings. In October 2020, more rock art was discovered in unmapped caves in Sam Roi Yot National Park, dates back to between 2,000 and 3,000 years old.
Khao Sam Roi Yot legends.
According to Thai folklore, the giant Mong Li and his wife lived on the west coast of the Gulf of Thailand. Each had independently promised their daughter to Chao Lai and the emperor of China. When the daughter was old enough to marry, both future husbands arrived on the same date. Mong Li then cut his daughter into two halves. Chao Lai turned himself into a hill, while the traditional fruit basket to be presented to a Buddhist monk was turned into the Khao Sam Roi Yot mountains.
Islands.
The island of Ko Kho Ram on the other side of the gulf was the elephant and the ox cart with the wedding presents. Nom Sao Island is the daughter's breasts. Ao Sam Roi Yot, Kho Ram Island and Nom Sao Island's silhouette, seen from certain angles, look like a person resting in the middle of the sea. There is a goddess shrine on Nom Sao Island that is a popular attraction.
Other islands in the same area are Ko Sattakut, Ko Rawang, and Ko Rawing.


Palazzo Thiene

Palazzo Thiene is a 15th-16th-century palace in Vicenza, northern Italy, designed for Marcantonio and Adriano Thiene, probably by Giulio Romano, in 1542, and revised during construction from 1544 by Andrea Palladio.
In 1994, the palace was included in the "Vicenza, city of Palladio" World Heritage Site by UNESCO. In 1996, the World Heritage Site was renamed "City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto", and it was expanded to include outlying villas (one of which is the Thiene brothers' country home, the Villa Thiene). The palace is used as the historic headquarters of a bank and it also hosts some exhibitions and culture events.
The palazzo was the headquarter of Banca Popolare di Vicenza,
History.
The original Gothic palace was committed by Lodovico Thiene to Lorenzo da Bologna in 1490, with an East front made of bricks squared by angular lesenes worked at "diamond edge", with a portal by Tommaso da Lugano and a triple window (trifora) made in rose marble.
In October 1542, Marcantonio and Adriano Thiene began to remodel their 15th century (Quattrocento) family palace in a grandiose project, which would have occupied an entire city block of 54 x 62 metres and faced onto Vicenza's principal artery (today's Corso Palladio).
The rich, powerful and sophisticated Thiene brothers belonged to that great Italian nobility which could move with ease among Europe's most important courts; they therefore required a domestic stage adequate for the cosmopolitan expectations of their guests who might visit them. At the same time, as exponents of a well-defined, political faction in the city's aristocracy, they desired a princely palace to emphasise their proper role in the city itself, as the sign of their quasi-seigniorial power.
When in 1614 the young English architect Inigo Jones visited the palace, he noted down information directly garnered from Vincenzo Scamozzi and Palma il Giovane: "this project was made by Giulio Romano and executed by Palladio". Most probably, in fact, the original conception of the Palazzo Thiene should be attributed to the mature and expert Giulio Romano (from 1573 at the Mantuan court of the Gonzagas, with whom the Thiene enjoyed the closest rapport) and the young Palladio should be held responsible rather for the executive design and execution of the building, a role which became ever more essential after Giulio's death in 1546.
The elements of the palace, which are attributable to Giulio and alien to Palladio's vocabulary, are clearly recognisable: the four-column atrium is substantially identical with that of the Palazzo Te (even if Palladio indubitably modified its vaulting system); also Giulian are the windows and the ground storey facades onto the street and courtyard, while Palladio must have been defined the upper storey trabeation and capitals.
Works began on the building in 1542. In December of the same year, Giulio Romano visited Vicenza for two weeks as a consultant on the loggias for the Basilica. Probably on this occasion he supplied the outline project for the Palazzo Thiene. But works proceeded slowly: on the external facade is inscribed the date 1556, and in the courtyard 1558. In 1552, Adriano Thiene died in France and thereafter, when Marcantonio's son Giulio became marchese of Scandiano, family interests gradually shifted to Ferrara. As a result, only a small portion of the grandiose project was ever realised, but probably neither the Venetians nor the other Vicentine nobles would have accepted such a grandiose private enclave in the centre of their city.


Baekje Historic Areas

The Baekje Historic Areas are a group of monuments located in three South Korean cities: Gongju, Buyeo, and Iksan. They relate to the last period of the Baekje Kingdom, representing the period from 475 to 660 CE, which was one of the three kingdoms that flourished from 18 BC to 660 AD. The property designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site has eight archaeological sites. These are: The Gongsanseong fortress () and the royal tombs at Songsan-ri, related to the capital city of Ungjin, now Gongju; the Busosanseong Fortress () and Gwanbuk-ri administrative buildings, the Jeongnimsa Temple, the Neungsan-ri royal tombs, and the Naseong city wall in Sabi, now Buyeo; and the Wanggung-ri Palace and the Mireuksa Temple in Iksan, a subsidiary capital region of Sabi.
The Baekje Historic Areas were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 8 July 2015 at the 39th session of the Committee. They were inscribed both as a cultural heritage under Criteria II, for the cultural and architectural features which the ancient East Asian kingdoms of Korea evolved in respect of construction methods and Buddhism and exchanged with China and Japan, and under Criteria III, for the extraordinary architecture, culture, religion, and artistry of the Baekje Kingdom in its capital cities, Buddhist shrines and funerary structures, and stone pagodas.
Location.
The heritage sites are located in the hilly mid-western region of the Republic of Korea, in the Iksansi Buyeogun in the Jeollabukdo, and Gongju-si in Chungcheongnam-do.
History.
In Baekje, an ancient kingdom of Korea that flourished for 678 years from 18 BC to 660 AD, interaction with East Asian countries enabled the development of its own unique culture, differing from those of the other two neighboring kingdoms of Goguryeo and Silla. Baekje had been founded on a small area on the banks of the Hangang River, which is the present-day Seoul (Hanseong), in 18 BC, with population migrating from Goguryeo, and over the years the city was enlarged toward the southwestern part of the country. It became famous culturally and economically. Eventually wars broke out among the three kingdoms, and in the battle Goguryeo won and occupied Baekje, the capital of the Baekje Kingdom. Baekje then relocated from Hanseong to Ungjin, where the Gongsanseong Fortress was erected in 475 AD, and established it as its capital. This relocation facilitated the fledgling state of Baekje to imbibe from Chinese culture and architecture related to city planning, and it also subscribed to Buddhism. Baekje also transmitted its cultural and religious values to Japan, and Ungjin (built in the center of the Geumgang River in the form of a diamond, to the east of Seoul,) became a powerful influence in East Asia.
However, there was a further movement of the capital to Sabi, and a powerful kingdom came to be established in Buyeo in 538 AD. This relocation was necessary for reasons of trade and commerce, as the main capital did not have this advantage. Here the city was developed with a royal palace, forts, royal burial grounds, and a security cordon of a city wall. During the regime of the Sabi period ((538–660 AD), King Seong shifted the capital to Buyeo in 538. Iksan was established as a second capital for administrative purposes. In 660 AD, Baekje suffered defeat at the hands of the Silla, who had aligned with the Tang Dynasty of China.
Buddhism found its way to Baekje from China for the first time in the late 4th century. In the 6th century, Gyeomik, a Buddhist monk of Baekje, went to India to learn more about Buddhism and bring back the scriptures, which were translated to the local language. Buddhist philosophy spread widely among all sectors of the society, and the ruler considered himself as Buddha to exercise royal control over his subjects. During this period, many large Buddhist temples and pagodas were built in Baekje. This also enabled a close interaction with China and Japan, not only in the field of religion and philosophy but also in building temples in these countries during the 5th to 7th centuries. This period also witnessed the emergence of East Asia as a "geo-cultural circle" with a uniform writing pattern with Chinese characters, practice of Buddhism, and adoption of Confucian legal codes. The city prospered for nearly 700 years from 18 BC to 660 AD with its neighbouring kingdoms of Goguryeo to the north and Silla to the east.
The historic monuments of the period of Baekje were buried; upon excavation, they were found in a well-preserved condition. These were recorded by the Government of Korea as Heritage sites under the 1962 Cultural Heritage Protection Act, amended 2012, and the 2004 Special Act on the Preservation and Promotion of Ancient Cities, amended 2013. The sites have also been brought under the purview of local governments' Cultural Heritage Protection Ordinances such as the Chungcheongnam-do of 2002 and Jeollabuk-do of 1999.
A special organization called the Baekje Historic Areas Conservation and Management Foundation has been set up with all stakeholders on board; central, provincial, and local governments and community associations are involved. An overall Conservation and Management Plan for 2015–2019 has also been put in place to ensure that the "Outstanding Universal Value" of the monuments in the inscribed property are well preserved with an appropriate Tourism Management Plan for the sites.
Features.
The eight sites featured in the heritage list are elaborated.
The Gongju Gongsanseong Fortress was initially known as Ungjinseong and subsequently as Gongsanseong during the reign of the Goryeo Dynasty. It occupies an area of , presently in the Geumseong-dong and Sanseong-dong districts. It was unearthed during the archaeological excavations done after 1980s, when the constriction methods in building the forts's rampart, the royal palace, and the associated structures of the royal palace were revealed. The fort is located atop the Gongsan mountain (elevation ) and extends over a length of , with its stone wall in length and the balance made of earth. It was built as a defense fortification adapted to the local topography by linking mountain peaks and bridging the valleys. Following the collapse of the Baekje empire, the ramparts were rebuilt fully as stone walls. The fortress has been illuminated. It functioned both as a defense structure and a royal palace.
The Royal Tomb of King Muryeong belongs to the 25th king of Baekje. It is also known as the Royal Tombs in Songsan-ri or the Royal Tombs of Baekje. It is located on top of a small hill (elevation ) on the southern side of the Geumgang River. It was unearthed in 1971 in an intact condition, though some excavations had been carried out in 1927 and 1932. When excavated, the King's tomb was found in a well-preserved state with its more than 4,600 antiquities in good condition. The King's queen was also buried here. This was part of six other tombs found among the Royal Tombs at Songsan-ri. The tombs were built around 475 AD after the capital was relocated. The tomb of the King and the tomb no 6 are made of bricks with a vaulted ceiling, while the other five tombs were built as stone chambers with domed ceilings.
The Busosanseong Fortress, located on a small hill, was known in the early period as Sabiseong. It formed the backyard garden of the royal palace and was an emergency escape route. Archaeological excavations carried out in 1993 unearthed this fort. It is situated on the Busosan Mountain (elevation ) located on the northern extremity of Buyeo, on the west bank of the Geumgang River. The fort wall has a perimeter of with a base width of , and it is in height built by the rammed earth method. It has two gates, one on the south and the other on the east; the south gate is the main gate. The finds here also indicate that the fort was in use as a military establishment for more than 1,000 years.
The 'Nakhwaam Rock', meaning "Rock of Falling Flowers", a rock ledge, is known for the Baekje's tragic legend of 3,000 royal ladies committing suicide by jumping off the cliff.
The Jeongnimsa Temple Site layout is a popular architectural layout throughout Korea and has a "pagoda–prayer hall–lecture hall layout". It is located on a flat terrain and is in the backdrop of the Geumseongsan Mountain to the east and Busosan Mountain to the north. Built during the Sabi period, the temple has engravings on the pagoda that memorialize the Tang Dynasty's victory over Baekje. The temple has a layout of a central gate, prayer and lecture halls, and the monks' residential area, all linked by passages. The buildings were made of wood founded over tiled plinths. The site has a five-story pagoda, in height with a low platform and a high main body on its first level, and with reducing size at further higher levels. Other archaeological finds include many roof tiles and clay figurines.
In the Mireuksaji Seoktap site, the temple is a large stone pagoda which is considered the largest temple site not only in Korea but in the whole of East Asia. The eastern tower of the pagoda was refurbished in 1993. The west tower was also under restoration. The Pagoda is well preserved.
The Royal Tombs in Neungsan-ri exhibit a change in the architectural style of the ceiling from vaulted to flat. The tombs were excavated between 1915 and 1917. Seven tombs were unearthed here, with six arranged in two rows and the seventh located away. Three tombs have stone chambers with a passage and with vaulted ceilings in hexagonal and square designs.
The Naseong City Wall built to defend the city is in length and constructed of earth and stone. It provided security to the northern and eastern part of Sabi. The wall was built with rammed-earth technology, which was then innovative. The eastern part of the wall has been refurbished. The earthen walls have been built with wood planks, twigs, and leaves along certain stretches. Excavations revealed the main gate on the eastern part of Buyeo, next to the Royal Tombs in Neungsan-ri, which was of width built with rectangular stones. Another gate located away was also found in 2013.
The Temple Site of Busosan Mountain has on its southwestern slope a Buddhist temple unearthed during excavations in 1980. The temple covers an area of . It has one pagoda and one prayer hall layout. Among the artifacts found here is a gilt-bronze waist belt that is believed to have belonged to a person of high rank.


Pulacayo

The historic industrial site of Pulacayo is located in the Potosí Department of Bolivia. The mining center developed around Huanchaca, the world's second largest silver mine, and was founded in 1833. Features of the mining center include:
Pulacayo also contains a train that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid robbed.
World Heritage Status.
This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on July 1, 2003 in the Cultural category
References.
Pulacayo, Industrial Heritage Site - UNESCO World Heritage Centre Retrieved 2009-03-18.


Gloria Hollister

Gloria Hollister Anable (June 11, 1900 – February 19, 1988) was an American explorer, scientist, and conservationist. She served as research associate in the Department of Tropical Research of the New York Zoological Society (now the Wildlife Conservation Society), specializing in fish osteology, and she made record-setting dives in a submersible called the Bathysphere off the coast of Bermuda in the 1930s. During the 1950s, she helped to found the committee that preserved that Mianus River Gorge, which subsequently became the Nature Conservancy’s first land project.
Early life.
Gloria Elaine Hollister was born to Elaine Shirley Hollister and Dr. Frank Canfield Hollister in the family's home at 264 West 77th Street in New York City. The home also served as the office and laboratory of Dr. Hollister, a physician and diagnostician who attended Physicians and Surgeons College at Bellevue Hospital. Through both of her parents, Gloria Hollister was of notable early American ancestry: her father was the direct descendant of Captain John Hollister of England, who settled at Wethersfield, Connecticut in the early 1640s, while her mother's relatives included William Shirley, the final governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1741 to 1745.
As a child, along with her brother Frank, Hollister spent her summers at the family's summer home in Suffern, New York, at the foot of the Ramapo Mountains. It was here that she developed her lifelong passion for and interest in animals and the natural world. Her father encouraged this love and partnered with her to raise and care for prize-winning poultry and horses as well as a host of pet cats and dogs. Her father also satisfied her deep curiosity about the natural world by performing for her benefit dissections of specimens that died on the farm. Inspired by these sessions, she hoped to follow in his footsteps and become a doctor herself, but her father disapproved; he did not believe in women doctors. Instead, he guided her toward a career in the natural sciences.
Education and early career.
In 1920, Gloria Hollister enrolled at Connecticut College for Women, taking her childhood love and applying it toward a major in Zoology under the tutelage of Pauline Dederer. She graduated in 1924. During her college career, she served as class president and graduated Phi Beta Kappa; she was also heavily involved in sports and played varsity basketball and soccer, was a high jumper and a discus thrower on the track team, and was chosen in 1920 as a member of the All-American girls' hockey team.
In Fall 1924, she continued her studies in Zoology at Columbia University, working under Florence Lowther and William K. Gregory. She received her MS in Zoology from Columbia in Spring 1925.
Following her graduate studies, she served as research assistant to the renowned biologist Alexis Carrel at the Rockefeller Institute, working in his laboratory on cancer research.
Career with the Department of Tropical Research.
In early 1928, weary of spending long hours inside of a laboratory and yearning for an opportunity to return to the outdoors, Gloria Hollister applied for a position with the famed naturalist William Beebe in his Department of Tropical Research (DTR) at the New York Zoological Society. Beebe was seeking a professional naturalist, skilled at dissecting, to join his staff for an upcoming oceanographic expedition to Bermuda. Dismissing concerns from some about the capabilities of women scientists, Beebe hired Hollister and several other women, including Jocelyn Crane, to join the team.,
During the DTR's Bermuda Oceanographic Expeditions of 1928 to 1940, Hollister honed her expertise in fish osteology and continued this work in the DTR's West Indies Oceanographic Expedition (1932-1933) and the Pearl Islands Oceanographic Expedition (1934). In Bermuda she developed a new technique for preparing fish specimens in which the skin and internal organs of the fish were made transparent, rendering their skeletons far more useful for study than under previous methods. Her work helped to extend scientific knowledge about deep sea and reef fish.
Also in Bermuda, Hollister set the world record for the deepest dive undertaken by a woman. She performed the dive in the Bathysphere, a large steel submersible in which Beebe and the Bathysphere's engineer, Otis Barton, undertook deep sea explorations throughout the early 1930s. On June 11, 1930, her thirtieth birthday, she went down 410 feet for the women's descent record. In 1934, she would nearly triple her own record by descending to 1,208 feet. The dives were not simply feats for Hollister but, as for Beebe, a chance to explore the deep-sea world.
In 1936, having served as part of the oceanographic expeditions under Beebe's leadership, Hollister undertook her own expedition for the DTR, leading an exploring party 200 miles through the jungles of Guyana (then known as British Guiana) to the Kaieteur Plateau. Using a light plane on that trip, she recorded 43 waterfalls, many of which had not been observed by anyone outside of local peoples. Along the way, she also studied the golden frog, the rainbow tanager, and the elusive hoatzin, and brought back the first captive specimens of these animals to the Bronx Zoo, the DTR's headquarters.
Gloria Hollister lectured extensively on behalf of the DTR about the team's expeditions and scientific findings. Filled with her personal experiences and photographs as well as scientific information, her lectures were very popular, and through them she raised two-thirds the costs of the Guyana expedition she led.
Her expeditions, the publicity surrounding them, and her scientific publications brought her recognition. She was a member of the Society of Woman Geographers and later received their Outstanding Achievement Award. In addition to her mentors Carrick and Beebe, she counted among her friends Dan Beard, Lincoln Ellsworth, Amelia Earhart, Raymond Ditmars, Roy Chapman Andrews, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, and Martin and Osa Johnson.
Marriage and career with the Red Cross.
In 1941, Hollister met Anthony Anable, a chemical and metallurgical engineer, and they married that year. In December 1941, following the US's entry into World War II, Hollister resigned from the DTR and joined the American National Red Cross where she helped to found the nation's first blood donor center in Brooklyn, and later served as the assistant chief of the Speaker's Bureau of the American Red Cross in Washington, DC.
Mianus River Gorge conservationist.
In 1952, having settled in Connecticut with her husband, Gloria (now Anable) became enchanted with the Mianus River Gorge and subsequently concerned about its preservation. On December 12, 1953, the Anables, along with Edna Edgerton, James Todd, and Robert Hamershlag, founded the Mianus River Gorge Conservation Committee. The committee became a full member of The Nature Conservancy in 1954, and the Mianus River Gorge became The Nature Conservancy's pioneer land project.
In the summer of 1954, Gloria Anable undertook a major effort to acquaint local associations with the Gorge and the threats it faced from subdivision. She took more than 400 visitors through the Gorge that year, and support for its preservation grew. She served as the committee's secretary, chairman, and later chairman emeritus. In 1964, the Gorge became the country's first natural history landmark to be registered by the Department of the Interior. The preserve, originally 60 acres, now includes 770 acres, with another 176 acres under conservation easements.
Death.
Gloria Hollister Anable spent the last three years of her life in the Carolton Convalescent Hospital in Fairfield, CT. She died of cardiac arrest on February 19, 1988 at the age of 87.


Bolsa Floresta Program

The Bolsa Floresta Program (Programa Bolsa Floresta PBF) is a program run by the Amazonas Sustainability Foundation in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, to encourage conservation of forests through sustainable use. It provides direct financial assistance and indirect support to the residents of sustainable use protected areas of Brazil in exchange for their engaging in conservation measures.
History.
The Amazonas Sustainability Foundation (Fundação Amazonas Sustentável: FAS) is a private NGO based in Manaus, Amazonas, that promotes environmental conservation through sustainable development in state conservation units. It is a partnership between the government of the state of Amazonas and Banco Bradesco.
The FAS was created in December 2007 to manage environmental products and services from State conservation units, and manage the Bolsa Floresta program.
It is funded by affiliated NGOs, government bodies and private individuals and enterprises.
Most of the funding comes from private sources such as Coca-Cola, Samsung, Grupo Abril and Marriott International.
The Bolsa Floresta Program (Programa Bolsa Floresta: PBF) has its origins in the "Zona Franca Verde" initiatives launched in 2003 by The Amazonas State Secretariat of the Environment and Sustainable Development (SDS) to promote sustainable use of natural resources in order to increase the environmental benefits of the forests.
The SDS initiated the program in September 2007 and assigned it to the FAS in March 2008.
Bolsa Floresta is the main FAS program.
The main funding comes from Bradesco and the Amazon Fund, which is supported by the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) and the Government of Norway.
Deforestation is monitored annually by the FAS, SDS, and analysis of satellite images by partner organisations.
Participation.
The Bolsa Floresta program, which is voluntary, involves families living along the rivers within state-run conservation units in Amazonas.
The initial focus on conservation units is due to the availability of an existing legal framework. It is planned is to later extend the program to other areas.
The formal income of most of the eligible families would place them at the extreme poverty level.
However, this is raised considerably after accounting for the value of slash-and-burn cultivation of cassava, hunting, fishing and collection of forest products.
The program provides social benefits and support for community associations in return for participation in workshops on environmental services, commitment not to open new areas of cultivation in the primary forest, and permanent enrolment of children in school.
The basic goal is to improve the quality of life by valuing the standing forest.
Bolsa Floresta imposes slightly more stringent rules than those set out in the conservation unit management plans.
The family must join the reserve association and pay the association fee, must send their children to school, cannot increase the area under cultivation and can only clear secondary growth for crop rotation.
However, enrolment in Bolsa Floresta by eligible families is close to 100%.
By the end of 2008, the program covered the Uatumã, Mamirauá, Piagaçu-Purus, Uacari and Cujubim sustainable development reserves and the Catuá-Ipixuna Extractive Reserve.
There were plans to extend the program by 2010 to also include Maués State Forest, the Amanã, Juma, Rio Madeira, and Rio Amapá sustainable development reserves and the Rio Gregório Extractive Reserve.
As of 2016 the program was operating in fifteen conservation units covering a total of more than .
Of these the Juma Sustainable Development Reserve was a certified REDD+ initiative and the other fourteen were in the REDD+ readiness phase.
Program components.
The program has four components: income, family, association and social.
The income component of the program supports sustainable income-generation activities including local processing of products to add value, ecotourism, fish farming, natural honey production and breeding of small livestock.
The family component gives a small monthly payment of R$50 (US$30) to each household in exchange for a commitment to preserve the forest.
The stipend is paid to the mothers of families who live in conservation units as a reward for conserving the forest.
The association component provides funds to associations of residents of the reserves, who may freely decide how they want to use the funds.
The association component, which aims to strengthen community organisation and control of the program, is equal to about 10% of the family component.
The social component, coordinated with government institutions, improves education, sanitation, health, communications and transport infrastructure.
Health is seen as an essential part of the program, since the other benefits have limited value if not accompanied by improved health.
The program works with other state and private organisations to improve health among the Bolsa Floresta participants.
Malaria, diarrhea, influenza and helminthiasis (worm infection) together make up about 95% of diseases in Bolsa Floresta conservation units.
The FAS is involved in training health care workers in ways of preventing these diseases, and in developing plans for each conservation unit.
For example, distribution of sachets for purifying water in Rio Gregório Extractive Reserve in 2015 resulted in a drastic drop in cases of diarrhea.
Replacement of the program.
In 2018, it was replaced by a new program called "Programa Floresta em Pé" ("Standing Forests").


Lake Elmenteita

Lake Elmenteita is a soda lake, in the Great Rift Valley, about 120 km northwest of Nairobi, Kenya.
Geography.
Elmenteita is derived from the Maasai word , meaning "dust place", a reference to the dryness and dustiness of the area, especially between January and March. The town of Gilgil is near the lake. In the south-to-north sequence of Rift Valley lakes, Elmenteita is between Lake Naivasha and Lake Nakuru. The major Nairobi-Nakuru highway (A104 Road) runs along the nearby escarpment affording motorists a spectacular vista towards the lake. Today the lake is a protected area due to its bird life, and has been named as an UNESCO heritage site together with Lake Nakuru and Lake Bogoria.
At the southern end of the lake are the "Kekopey" hot springs, in which an introduced fish, the Lake Magadi tilapia, breed. The reed beds nearby are fishing grounds for night herons and pelicans.
History.
The Lake Elmenteita area saw its first white settlement when Lord Delamere (1879-1931) established Soysambu, a ranch, on the western side of the lake. Delamere gifted the land on the other side of the lake to his brother-in-law, the Honorable Galbraith Lowry Egerton Cole (1881-1929), part of whose "Kekopey Ranch", where he is buried, is preserved today as the Lake Elementaita Lodge.
Soysambu ranch is still occupied by Lord Delamere's descendants, including the controversial Thomas P. G. Cholmondeley who has been instrumental in setting up the Soysambu conservancy. The conservancy covers 2/3 of the shoreline and is home to over 12000 wild animals.
Lake Elmenteita has been a Ramsar site since 2005.
Ecology.
Over 400 bird species have been recorded in the Lake Nakuru/Lake Elmenteita basin. Elmenteita attracts visiting flamingoes, both the greater and lesser varieties, which feed on the lake's crustacean and insect larvae and on its suspended blue-green algae, respectively. Lake Magadi tilapia were introduced to the lake from Lake Magadi in 1962 and since that time the flamingo population has dwindled considerably. The tilapia attract many fish-eating birds that also feed upon the flamingo eggs and chicks. Over a million birds that formerly bred at Elmenteita are now said to have sought refuge at Lake Natron in Tanzania.
The lake's shores are grazed by zebra, gazelle, eland and families of warthog.
The lake is normally very shallow (less than 1 m deep) and bordered by trona-encrusted mudflats during the dry seasons. During the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, Lake Elmenteita was at times united with an expanded Lake Nakuru, forming a much larger dilute lake. Remnants of the former joined lake are preserved as sediments at various locations around the lake basins, including former shorelines.
Recently the lake level and number of flamingoes has receded as increased human activity has dried up catchment areas.
Associated sites.
Nearby is the Kariandusi Museum, at an important prehistoric site where stone handaxes and cleavers were discovered in 1929 by Louis Leakey.
Elmenteita Badlands is a lava flow to the south of the lake, covered in bush and including some spectacularly scenic peaks.


Drentsche Aa National Park

National Park Drentsche Aa is a national park of the Netherlands located in the province of Drenthe on the west side of the Hondsrug. It consists of the cultural landscape surrounding the valley of the small river the Drentsche Aa. The landscape is currently nearly the same as it was in the mid 19th century, as the several agricultural landscape reforms of the 20th century were not implemented in this area. Because of this, many hedges, heathlands and traditionally managed fields ('essen' in Dutch) were spared from transformation. The national park is part of the (three times) larger national landscape Drentsche Aa.


Appropriate Rural Technology Institute

Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI) is an Indian non-governmental organization founded by a group of about 20 scientists and technologists to develop innovative and environmentally friendly rural technologies based on modern scientific knowledge in 1996. For its work in sustainable energy, ARTI has won two Ashden Awards.


Henry Philemon Attwater

Henry Philemon Attwater (28 April 1854, Brighton – 25 September 1931, Houston) was a British-Canadian-American naturalist and conservationist.
Educated at St. Nicholas Episcopal College in Shoreham, West Sussex, Attwater emigrated in 1873 from England to Ontario, Canada, where he engaged in farming and beekeeping. In 1883, a friend, John A. Morden, and he prepared and exhibited natural history specimens. In 1884,the two Canadians collected specimens in Bexar County, Texas. During the latter part of 1884 and early 1885, Attwater and Gustave Toudouze, a naturalist and taxidermist from Losoya, were hired by the state of Texas to prepare and exhibit the Texas Pavilion's natural history specimens at the New Orleans World's Fair.
On New Year's Eve in 1885 in Chatham, Ontario, Attwater married a widow with two children. In 1886 Attwater with his acquired family moved to London, Ontario, where he ran a small museum, which proved to be financially unsuccessful and closed in the summer of 1887. In 1889, the family emigrated from Canada to the US, where they lived in Sherman, Texas, and then in San Antonio. During the 1890s, Attwater collected and lectured throughout Texas and wrote on natural history and agricultural subjects. In 1900, he moved from San Antonio to Houston to become the Southern Pacific Railroad's agricultural and industrial agent. He continued in this position until his retirement in 1913. In the 1920s, he sold his natural history collection to the Witte Museum.
His three ornithological papers deal with the nesting habits of fifty50 species of birds in Bexar County, Texas, the occurrence of 242 species of birds in the vicinity of San Antonio, and the deaths of thousands of warblers during a blue norther in March 1892. Attwater also contributed specimens to the Smithsonian Institution, collected birds for George B. Sennett, and provided notes for W. W. Cooke's "Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley" (1888) and the mammal section of Vernon Bailey's "Biological Survey of Texas" (1905).
Attwater was the director of the National Audubon Society from 1900 to 1910. He worked for the passage of the 1903 Model Game Law and hunting license laws. He also promoted legislation to protect the mourning dove "Zenaida macroura".
The species "Peromyscus attwateri" (Texas mouse or Attwater's white-footed mouse) is named in his honor.


Khao Khitchakut National Park

Khao Khitchakut National Park () is a national park in Chanthaburi Province, Thailand. The park is located in the Soi Dao Mountains, the Thai part of the much larger Cardamom Mountains, and is home to waterfalls and forests. The venerated Buddha footprint is also within the park premises.
Geography.
Khao Khitchakut National Park is northeast of Chanthaburi town in Khao Khitchakut District. The park's area is . The highest point is Khao Phra Bat peak at . The park, one of Thailand's smallest national parks, borders the much larger Khao Soi Dao Wildlife Sanctuary.
History.
On 4 May 1977, Khao Khitchakut was designated Thailand's 14th National Park.
Attractions.
The Khao Phra Bat mountaintop is the site of a Buddha footprint and is an important religious place for Thai Buddhists. During the time around the Magha Puja holiday (in February or March) large numbers of visitors make the pilgrimage here. Also on Khao Phra Bat peak there are rock formations to which the shapes of various objects have been attributed: a pagoda, a monk's alms bowl, a turtle and an elephant.
The park's largest waterfall is Krathing, a waterfall of 13 separate levels, intersecting nature trails at various levels. These falls are fed by the Chanthaburi River. Other park waterfalls include Changsay and Klong Piboon.
Flora and fauna.
Animal species include gaur, sambar, barking deer and serow. Herds of wild elephants have also been sighted here.


Stenshuvud National Park

Stenshuvud is a hill in the southeastern corner of Sweden, in the province of Scania, close to Kivik in Simrishamn Municipality. Since 1986, it is one of the National parks of Sweden. The park covers an area of about .
The hill is high and faces the Baltic Sea. Since the surrounding landscape is relatively flat, it can be seen from a great distance and has traditionally been used as a landmark for seafarers. Many visitors trek up the hill to enjoy the view which is very good in clear weather.
Most of the area is covered with broadleaf forest, especially European hornbeam. The park also contains heaths, meadows and swamps. Because of the mild climate and varied habitats, many different animal and plant species can be encountered in the park. The park contains unusual Swedish wildlife such as the hazel dormouse, Eurasian golden oriole, European tree frog and agile frog. There are about 600 vascular plant species, including several types of orchids and the very rare barren strawberry.
Below the hill there is a popular beach for swimming. Close to the top are the remains of a ruin of a 5th- or 6th-century fortress.
According to local folklore, the hill got its name ("Sten's head") from a giant living in the cave Giddastuan.
At the north of the hill is the Hällevik arboretum.


Nwanedi Provincial Park

Nwanedi Provincial Park, is a protected area in the northern part of the Limpopo province of South Africa. It is located about 20 km east of Tshipise and 35 km north of Thohoyandou, to the west of Kruger National Park.
The Nwanedi park has an area of about 11,170 Ha and includes a part of the wooded foothills of the Soutpansberg Range. The twin dams, the Nwanedi Dam and the Luphephe Dam, at the confluence of the Nwanedi River and its main tributary, the Luphephe River, are located in the protected area.
One of the secrets of the Game Reserve is their spectacular waterfall, known as Tshihovhohovho Falls.
The park is well stocked with game, including a fair number of white rhino in its lowveld zone.
The Soutpansberg or “Tha vhani ya muno” (mountain of salt) is in the traditional area of the Venda people. It is rich in plant diversity with yellowwood trees, twelve acacia species, including fever trees, giant cabbage trees, proteas and ancient tree ferns. The rocky summits are a haven for birds of prey.


Vestibule, Split

The Vestibule (The Rotonda), (The Atrium), is the first section of the imperial corridor in Diocletian's Palace that led from the Peristyle which was once the formal entrance to the imperial apartments of the Palace.
History.
Built up to the beginning of the 4th century, as the original part of the ancient palace. It is a circular hall, once topped with a dome, 17 meters in height and 12 meters in diameter. Built as a grand meeting hall only for and selected audiences such as ambassadors. The entrance was adorned with a large door dimension of 2.56 x 3.96 ms with an abundance of relief decorations. The Vestibula area was cleared of four semicircular niches that were filled with statues of unknown deities. Southeast of the vestibule is the Medieval quarter, where the oldest building is the early Romanesque house from the 10th century. On the opposite, inside the church of St. Andrija (now part of the Ethnographic museum).
Today.
The space is used by klapa groups to perform popular folk songs during the summer months, taking advantage of the acoustics for an a cappella performance.


Vatica cauliflora

Vatica cauliflora is a species of plant in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is a tree endemic to Borneo. It is a critically endangered species threatened by habitat loss.


Sempervirens Fund

Sempervirens Fund, originally established in 1900 as Sempervirens Club, is California's oldest land trust. Founder Andrew P. Hill’s goal was to preserve the old-growth forest that became Big Basin Redwoods State Park, the first California state park in 1902. Sempervirens Fund's mission is to protect and permanently preserve coast redwood ("Sequoia sempervirens") forests, wildlife habitat, watersheds, and other important natural features of California's Santa Cruz Mountains, and to encourage people to appreciate and enjoy this environment. Sempervirens Fund does this by purchasing land for protection and transferring it to state or local agencies. Sempervirens Fund has also worked to establish conservation easements and trail linkages between parks and coastal marine preserves. As of 2013, Sempervirens Fund has saved more than 34,000 acres of redwood lands.
History.
In 1899, San Jose photographer Andrew P. Hill was on assignment in Northern California's Santa Cruz Mountains. His photographs were to accompany a news story about a recent fire in the redwoods that had been put out using wine from a local vineyard. While Hill was photographing a very large redwood tree, the owner of the grove stopped him, accused Hill of trespassing and demanded the negatives. Hill refused, and though he had not thought of himself as a conservationist, returned to San Jose and started a campaign to save the coast redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains and make them accessible to the public.
At the time, logging of the coast redwoods was moving at a frantic pace to meet the demand for redwood lumber to build the new towns and cities of a booming California. Concerned that the redwood trees of the Santa Cruz Mountains would be lost forever, Hill, with the help of Stanford University's President David Starr Jordan, convened a meeting of scientists and other influential people at the Stanford University Library to discuss what could be done to protect the redwoods. At this meeting, a surveying committee was appointed, headed by Hill and Carrie Stevens Walter from the San Jose Woman's Club. They went camping along the banks of Sempervirens Creek in what is now Big Basin Redwoods State Park and then there formed the Sempervirens Club. The Club committed to lobby for the protection of the redwoods and for the creation of a public park at Big Basin. They passed a hat, collected $32 to finance their efforts, and launched a fundraising and lobbying campaign to achieve their goal.
For over two years, the Sempervirens Club members campaigned for the creation of a state redwood park in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Skillful lobbying by Hill, Santa Clara College (now Santa Clara University) President Father Robert Kenna, S.J., San Francisco attorney D.M. Delmas, and Harry Wells, editor of the "San Jose Mercury News", convinced the California Legislature to pass a bill in 1901 allowing for the creation of the park. In 1902 the efforts of the Sempervirens Club paid off; the state acquired 3,800 acres of ancient redwood forests in Big Basin for the people of California — preserving coast redwoods for the first time anywhere. California Redwood Park, later named Big Basin Redwoods State Park, was the first park established in California in the current state park system.
The Sempervirens Club continued to work to protect other redwood forest lands adjacent to Big Basin. The club envisioned the establishment of a much “greater park” that substantially expanded the boundaries of Big Basin. Their goals included acquiring the privately owned parcels within the natural boundaries of the Big Basin area and extending the park westward to the coast so that Big Basin would become, in the words of Andrew P. Hill, “one great playground for the people of California and the world.”
By 1968, Big Basin Redwoods State Park was indeed a great recreation area that received high public use. More than 7,000 campers had been turned away the previous year for lack of room. At the same time, the area was being threatened with severe ecological damage from subdivision and development on over 750 acres of private land in key locations within the boundaries of the Waddell Creek watershed. Recognizing that Big Basin would remain threatened unless the greater regional ecology was preserved, a group of local conservationists, including Tony Look, Dorothy Varian, Howard King, George Collins, and Doris Leonard, joined together to work toward protecting the entire Waddell Creek watershed and establishing a new state park at Castle Rock, 14 miles northeast of Big Basin. The group renewed the charter of the original Sempervirens Club and changed the name to Sempervirens Fund to reflect its new emphasis as a fundraising organization. Castle Rock State Park was successfully completed in 1968. In 1976, the fund acquired 1,600-acre Rancho del Oso at Waddell Beach, preserving the Waddell Creek watershed and transferring the property to expand Big Basin Redwoods State Park.
Recent Efforts.
Through the years, the redwood conservation movement has grown considerably but Sempervirens Fund remains the only organization devoted exclusively to permanently protecting the coast redwood forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Sempervirens Fund's largest transaction – acquisition of the 8,532-acre CEMEX property near the town of Davenport – was completed in 2011 in partnership with the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, The Nature Conservancy, Peninsula Open Space Trust, and Save the Redwoods League.
Sempervirens Fund continues to protect redwood forest lands in the Santa Cruz Mountains, providing critical habitat, watershed protection, and opportunities for public recreation and inspiration. Sempervirens Fund's guiding vision is to create a “Great Park” – an area of protected lands spanning San Mateo, Santa Cruz, and Santa Clara Counties. The Great Park would connect Big Basin Redwoods, Butano, Portola Redwoods, Año Nuevo, and Castle Rock State Parks, along with Pescadero Creek County Park, Long Ridge, and Saratoga Gap Open Space Preserves, Sanborn County Park, Coast Dairies, Wilder Ranch, and Henry Cowell State Park.


Duinen van Texel National Park

Duinen van Texel National Park "(duinen = dunes)" is a national park located on the North Holland island of Texel in the Netherlands. All dune systems on the western side of the island and the large coastal plains on both the northern and southern points of the island are part of the park. The park covers approximately and attained national park status in 2002. The visitor center is located in the natural history museum .
In 1927 botanist Jac. P. Thijsse made an illustrated book about the flora and fauna on the island, and pointed out the major environmental values of the island. This book was one of a series, the book was sold very cheaply, and the pictures for the book came free with each Verkade chocolate bar.
There are many walking trails which follow either red, yellow, blue or green signs
The green routes are not accessible during the bird breeding season. Many bicycle trails cross the park as well.
Areas.
From south to north the park comprises the following areas:
De Hors.
"The Hors" is at the most southerly point of Texel and is largely owned by the Dutch Ministry of Defence. The terrain is used for amphibious training. The defense complex build on the "Mok bay" is called "de Mok". The southern part of the Hors is a large coastal plain which was formed because in the past shoals "walked" toward the island, the last shoal to do so was "Onrust" in 1910.
On the plains new dunes are being formed. On the newest dunes "biestarwegras" ("Elytrigia juncea" subsp. "boreoatlantica") is found, and on the somewhat older dunes you will find marram grass. In the moist dune valleys Parnassia, Dactylorhiza and Centaurium have sprung.
The "Kreeftenpolder" is a dune valley which was formed because a sandbar was built separating it from the coastal plain. The supervisor of the project, Jaap Kreeft gave the polder its name. In the valley the "Liparis loeselii" and the "armbloemige waterbies" ("Eleocharis quinqueflora") grow. Since the year 2000 a large part of it is flooded. On the other side of the sandbar two small lakes have formed, the "Horsmeertjes".
De Geul.
"The Geul" is a wet dune valley, originally it was part of "Mok bay", but a dam was built so that drinking water could be extracted from the dunes. Here the largest colony on Texel of common spoonbill breeds. After the extraction of water stopped in 1993 the area became much wetter. Through a ditch with fish ladders, water can escape to "the Mok", and three-spined stickleback can enter "the Geul" from the Wadden Sea. The presence of these fish made the spoonbills decide to breed here. Both highland cattle and Exmoor ponies graze in the area.
De Bollekamer.
"The Bollekamer" is situated between beach poles 9 and 12, north of Den Hoorn. In the eastern part rocky loam is found very near the surface, this surface does not let water through, therefore this area has the highest groundwater level of the entire dune system. The valleys are influenced by the lime rich groundwater. Highland cattle graze on "the Bollekamer".
De Muy.
"The Muy" is named after the dune lake that was formed when the North Sea broke through the outer dunes in 1851. This is the oldest known breeding spot for the spoonbill on Texel. In the 1990s the number of spoonbills decreased, while more breeding great cormorants came to the area. "De Nederlanden" is also part of "the Muy", in a land improvement project pastures were made. That area is now managed extensively. Among other plants the Green-winged Orchid grows here.
De Slufter.
The main part of "the Slufter" is a wide dune valley which has an open connection to the North Sea through a hole in the outer dunes . At high tide seawater streams into "the Slufter" though creeks and at low tide it streams out again. The large "Sluftercreek" at the beach is where the water comes through most of the time. Over time the creek has moved in a northern direction. Because this creek was heavily damaging the dunes on the northern side in May 2004, intervention was needed. A new creek was constructed on the far most southern part of "the Slufter", and the old creek was closed up a week later. On an average high tide the seawater only gets into the creeks and small lakes, on an extreme high tide the larger part of "the Slufter" is inundated.
The vegetation consists largely of salt marsh plants. In June the area colors mainly purple because of the Sea-lavender. In October it is mainly red because of the Common glasswort. Sea-buckthorn also grows here.
Many birds visit "the Slufter" estuary. The common eider breeds here, the spoonbill comes to forage and a variety of waders only enter on a high tide.
Many seashells of the present sea fauna, as well as many fossil seashells dating back to the Eemian Stage wash on to the coastal plain of "the Slufter".
"The Slufter" is separated from the North Sea by two long dune strips, this area is called "De Lange Dam". In between the dune stripes there is a valley with fresh water, many orchids grow here.
Fauna.
Texel has a very rich variety of species.
Birds.
Commonly sighted birds on the island are: greylag goose, brent goose, shelduck, wigeon, eider, scoter, spoonbill, oystercatcher, pied avocet, golden plover, peewit, knot, dunlin, bar-tailed godwit, common pheasant, european herring gull, lesser black-backed gull, black-headed gull, common tern, sandwich tern, short-eared owl and the hen harrier. Many passerine birds make their home within the dunes, such as starling, northern wheatear, european stonechat, whinchat, white wagtail, western yellow wagtail and meadow pipit.
Mammals.
Within the dunes itself common mammals to be found are rabbits, hares, hedgehogs, various small rodents (mice, voles) and the stoat. The beaches, sandbanks and surrounding waters are home to two species of seal, common seal and grey seal, as well as porpoises.


Tabachnik Garden

Tabachnik National Garden is a National Park located in the southern downs of Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, next to the Hebrew University. The garden preserves some Jewish burial caves from the Second Temple period and two small modern cemeteries, the Jerusalem American Colony Cemetery and the Bentwich Cemetery. Two lookouts are also located within the park, an eastward one facing the Dead Sea and the Judean Desert, and a westward one towards the Temple Mount.
Jerusalem American Colony Cemetery on Mount Scopus.
The main cemetery of the American Colony is located here. Another cemetery of the Colony is situated on Mount Zion.
Bentwich Cemetery.
A small cemetery beside the American Colony Cemetery is dedicated to Herbert Bentwich and his family.