Victor Shelford (1877-1968), a charter member and first president of the ESA, epitomized the concept of “interdependence” in his upbringing, his training, and his research. His research spanned not only terrestrial and marine systems, animals and plants, but he fully appreciated the interconnections of the academic and lay spheres. He was part of the national experiment of developing land grant institutions, and was committed to their ideal of making education and research relevant to farmers’ problems. Ironically, however, his research also highlighted the massive changes in the native landscape stemming from its rapid and extensive agricultural conversion. In the policy realm he drew no distinction between serving the aims of the new discipline of ecology and serving society as a whole. His arguments to preserve natural areas led to a policy crisis within the ESA that only recently has been bridged, if not answered. I explore the development of his preservation ethos and his efforts to systematize its acceptance far beyond the confines of the ESA using his publications, archives and secondary literature.
Results/Conclusions
Though the cultural landscape has changed significantly from Shelford’s time, the challenges that he faced throughout his career are equally pertinent today for the new paradigm of sustainability. Shelford worked tirelessly to preserve nature through his message of interdependence and unification, prompted at first by his upbringing, but later by his dismay over the growing separation of academic and public spheres.
