The Preservation of Nature in Germany

Abstract

IN 1907 the Prussian Ministry of Education instituted the Central Office for the Care of National Monuments. The office is in the old Botanical Museum in Berlin, and it contains, besides other rooms, a library and a large hall for meetings and lectures. The staff includes a director, two naturalists, a lawyer, librarians, and clerks. Associated with the Central Office there are in the provinces of Prussia forty local committees, on which are representatives of the Imperial. Government, the local administration, the agricultural and forestry departments, and the local% universities and museums. The provincial committees are not supported financially by the State; they receive, however, small grants from the provincial administrations for the purpose of working expenses. The aims of the Central Office are:—(1) To discover the existence of natural monuments1 and to investigate and preserve them; (2) to make records of their situations and the conditions of their ownership; (3) to make maps and photographs of them for permanent preservation in the office; (4) to form a collection of all the literature dealing with the dangers threatening such places and their prevention, the laws relating to the ownership of land, and any scientific books discussing in particular the areas reserved or worthy of reservation.