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Life and Death of a Salt Marsh by John Teal; Mildred Teal Review by: Paul B. Sears Forest History, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Oct., 1970), p. 29 Published by: Forest History Society and American Society for Environmental History Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4004207 . Accessed: 15/06/2014 11:51 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Forest History Society and American Society for Environmental History are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Forest History. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 195.78.108.47 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 11:51:31 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Life and Death of a Salt Marshby John Teal; Mildred Teal

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Page 1: Life and Death of a Salt Marshby John Teal; Mildred Teal

Life and Death of a Salt Marsh by John Teal; Mildred TealReview by: Paul B. SearsForest History, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Oct., 1970), p. 29Published by: Forest History Society and American Society for Environmental HistoryStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4004207 .

Accessed: 15/06/2014 11:51

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Forest History Society and American Society for Environmental History are collaborating with JSTOR todigitize, preserve and extend access to Forest History.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.47 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 11:51:31 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 2: Life and Death of a Salt Marshby John Teal; Mildred Teal

LIFE AND DEATH OF A SALT MARSH. By John and Mildred Teal. (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1969. 278 pp. Index, illustra- tions. $7.95.)

Mrs. Frances Trolope Hlved in the United States from 1827 to 1830. Her Domestic Manners of the Americans was heartily reviled; yet no less an authority than Mark Twain acknowledged that she was merely telling the truth. Three quarters of a century were to pass before one of her abomina- tions - unrestricted spitting in public places was banned by law. This action was not, be it observed, for esthetic reasons, but because of its menace to health.

Another of her indictments had to do with the almost universal pursuit of the dollar, regardless of consequences. She saw this as an affront to decent human relationships and a threat to the beauty of a landscape which she much admired. Today we are beginning to see what it has cost, not only in those terms, but in damage to the health of the total landscape of which we are an inescapable part.

Among the less widely appreciated sacrifices to Mammon and "progress" and no less important for that reason has been the reckless destruction of tidal marshes. These rich nurseries of biological resources, enriched both from land and sea where the two meet, have been regarded by us as ex- pendable, to be poisoned by wastes or filled for "development" at will.

The Teals have examined and explored these salt marshes along the Atlantic from Nova Scotia to the mangroves of Florida, working closely with the professional scientists engaged in their study. Their report is handsomely adorned with drawings by the artist-naturalist Richard Fish. The illustra- tions alone should make this first edition a col- lector's item regardless of text. Its scope is suc- cinctly put in the introduction: "This book is about the marshes of the East Coast of North America: how they were formed; why they continue to exist; the interplay of plants and animals; and the effect of that influential animal, man."

These themes are developed in three sections: Birth and Death of a Marsh, Ecology of Salt Marshes, and Marsh Conservation. South through New Jersey coastal marshes are an aftermath of glaciation. The more extensive marshes below that latitude have experienced a longer history. Begin- ning with such matters of geo-biology, Part I re- constructs the effects that have followed the ad- vent of man. The Indian was essentially a non- destructive user, fitting into the biological cycle. Early settlers were slightly less so; they multi- plied and brought economic and technical pres- sure until many of the marshes succumbed.

The roughly 150 pages on marsh ecology, ex- cellently descriptive, attempt a difficult task of compression and exposition. It is here that the lay reader, unless he is a good amateur naturalist, may find going rough, though rewarding. The physiological problems of plants and animals living in saline habitats get the attention they deserve. But the discussion of osmosis could be improved by emphasis on the push of diffusion pressure in water rather than the pull of air and solutions where water is less concentrated.

Of unquestionably broad interest and value is the concluding section of Part II on the produc- tivity of salt marshes. Not only is productivity surprisingly high as a source of game birds and shellfish, but also as nurseries for valuable food and commercial fishes. Our haywire system of ac- counting minimizes these unique assets as com- pared with the cash return to individual and cor- porate exploiters who are so rapidly destroying them.

The final Part III on marsh conservation is ex- cellent, not least for its temperate and reasonable discussion of a highly controversial question - an example to both sides of conflicting issues. Justi- fying the irreplaceable values of salt marshes and facing the problems-notably mosquito con- trol-that they present, the authors review sources of damage and what is being done, state by state, to counteract them. More than this, they conclude with sensible suggestions as to how such efforts can be made more effective with the legal and tech- nical means at our disposal.

It is no secret that the present concem over en- vironmental problems, especially among the young, is splitting on revolution versus evolution as a means of remedy. The Teals and their artist file an impressive brief for the latter approach.

PAUL B. SEARs

Mr. Sears is professor emeritus of conservation, Yale University. He is author of many books and articles, including Lands Beyond the Forest (1969).

OCTOBER 1970 29

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