NATURE RESERVES. The name nature reserve has been applied rather vaguely to any area withdrawn from ordinary human interference so that the flora and fauna, as well as the phys ical changes of ground, may follow their natural course. Included among motives for reservation is the desire to preserve the rem nants of unique vegetations, the breeding-grounds of particular species of birds, sanctuaries for birds and big game, or landscapes.
The movement in favour of nature reserves, which had its his toric origin in 1832 when the Congress of the United States defi nitely set aside Hot Springs reservation (Arkansas), has grown in strength in recent times. An important landmark was the estab lishment of the Yellowstone National Park in 1872 (area, 3,348 sq.miles), followed in 1890 by Sequoia reservation, by which sev eral groves of these ancient and world-famous trees (Sequoia gi gantea) were definitely withdrawn from the danger of destruction. Whilst the United States, the undoubted pioneers in this field, held, in 1928, 20 National parks with a total area of 11,846 sq. miles, and 6o minor areas termed National monuments, the estab lishment of reserves has become world wide.
As yet no standardized classification of such areas can be given. Thus in Great Britain the authorities range from single individuals or groups, local societies and town and county councils (or the like), to the National Trust, a society founded in 1895 and in corporated in 1907 "for the preservation of Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty." By 1928 this body held about 150 separate stations of which, whilst many were of definite historic interest, others of scenic beauty (mountains, downs, coast lines), a definite minority, including Wicken fen (Cambs.), Blakeney
point and Scolt head (Norfolk), Hawksmoor (Staffs.) and many other areas are nature reserves and are administered and are being used for study and research. In an old and settled country like England large areas of virgin territory, comparable to the Yellowstone park, are out of the question, but smaller par cels are continually being acquired.
In recent years attention has been paid to the protection of birds' breeding grounds, especially sea-birds, as in the case of the Farne islands, Blakeney point and Scolt head. Thus Blakeney point, presented to the National Trust in 1912 for its representa tive shingle, dune and salt-marsh vegetations, now possesses per haps the finest ternery in the British Isles, where five species reg ularly breed, including large numbers of Sandwich terns.
In other parts of the British empire great efforts are in progress for the provision of worthy reservations. This applies to Canada, South Africa, with its Paul Kruger reserve (a sanctuary for big game), Australia, New Zealand, with its innumerable scenic re serves and the recently established Otari "open-air native plant museum"—a remnant of virgin forest near Wellington where a living collection of plants indigenous to New Zealand is being established.
Other countries show results equally inspiring, and the Scandi navian group, Poland, Germany (where Conwentz was a notable pioneer), Czechoslovakia and Japan, vie with one another; Hol land is outstanding for its bird sanctuaries.