"To Take Wilderness In Hand"

Conservationists need to to come together. Climate changes are not waiting and neither should environmentalists. In "To Take Wilderness In Hand," Michelle Nijhuis describes Connie Barlow's journey in trying to help save the Torreya taxifolia, an ancient tree species, located in Torreya State Park in Florida. Today, there are less than a thousand of these trees left with the causes being unknown to scientists and ecologists. Barlow made a vow after her visit to Torreya State Park that she would make a stand to change this fact, even if it took moving all the trees someplace else. However, Connie Barlow was very serious in her intention to move the trees or more recently termed "assisted migration." Many conservasionists are horrified at the thought including David Printiss, a manager of the Nature Conservancy Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve, who says it would "make an already bad situtation worse." Michelle Nijhuis states, "But climate changes calls all this into question." The research showing rising seas, increasing global temperatures and plants and animals moving toward the poles is undeniable. Without new stategies toward preserving the Torreya taxifolia all of the trees in time will die and possibly become extinct later down the road. Everyone should realize sooner than later that climate changes are not going to stop. They will only worsen. A job must be done by conservationists if they want to win the fight against global warming.