Natural Historians in Canada and it is vital that this important 
     
     organization remain strong to lobby against environmental abuses as 
     
     well as produce a magazine which all of us enjoy. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Federation has made considerable cut—backs in publishing costs, 
     
     staff, type of binding, travel costs, etc. The Federation has made 
     
     a sincere effort to reduce spending while not significantly reducing 
     
     the quality of their magazine. In an effort to promote membership, 
     
     they had several suggestions: Societies such as the Natural History 
     
     Society could send complimentary memberships to potential members. 
     
    

    
     If each person would make a sincere effort to recruit one new member, 
     
     this would be a great help. When buying Christmas or birthday gifts, 
     
     remember that the CNF has a wide selection of books and stationary 
     
     and a very efficient staff! 
     
    
   
   
    
     As well as the board meetings and the interesting papers presented, 
     
     there were a number of enjoyable field trips. The west coast, and in 
     
     particular Vancouver Island has an extremely rocky coast surrounded 
     
     by cold ocean water. This make for a wide variety of plant and 
     
     animal life in the tide pools and at the ocean edge. As well as the 
     
     wide variety on the "rocky" beaches, we were impressed by the fact 
     
     that most plants were on a scale three times larger than we Easterners 
     
     are used to. Some trees had a circumference of 10 — 20 feet, the 
     
     bracken fern may be 6 feet high, and even the slugs grow to a length 
     
     of 6 inches! The weather cooperated to make the meeting with its 
     
     accompanying field trips informative and enjoyable. 
     
    
   
   
    
     - Kathy Martin 
     
     P.E.I. Respresentative Director 
     
     to Canadian Nature Federation 
     
    
   
   
    
     P.S. If anyone wants extra brochures on Canadian Nature Federation, 
     
     you can pick them up at the October meeting.