AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.
Create a link to this page
Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:
Byline: David Saito-Chung
Investor's Business Daily
As a botany professor, Dick Goodwin did a lot of lecturing. But when it came topreserving areas rich with nature, he let his actions speak for him.
In the early 1940s, a group was trying to save the Bergen Swamp from development. Located near Rochester, N.Y., the wetland was an oasis of white cedar trees. A lawyer told Goodwin, then a teacher at the University of Rochester, that they wanted to do a land survey but did
n't have the $5,000 to pay for it.
Goodwin answered the call - for nothing. After walking around the swamp, he persuaded an acquaintance to take aerial photos for free. He dug up old recordsof land ownership and drew a rough map. Then he met with farmers who had land on the edge of the swamp.
After many tries, Goodwin at last found one willing to sell his land - five acres for $125. The group bought it. Today, the swamp is part of a 2,000-acre preserve and a government-designated National Natural Landmark.