218
and probably mammals, have hybridized naturally at one time or another). But then
there is Wayne Clough, 12th Secretary of the Smithsonian whose virtual backyard
as a child was Broxton Rocks.
15
And the late Eugene Odum, whose 1953 textbook
Fundamentals of Ecology, co-authored with his brother Howard, and his later
Institute of Ecology at the University of Georgia, all but engendered the very study
of ecosystems in America as a new subset of conservation biology.
16
Add to that legacy the earliest ornithologists in America, Mark Catesby in 1723,
17
the eloquent William Bartram, son of John, America’s first official botanist up in
Philadelphia,
18
and John Abbot, whose water colors executed between 1790 and
1809, though unpublished in his time, comprise the first comprehensive ornithological study of any one state in the entire United States.
19
Alexander Wilson came to
Georgia in 1809, meandering throughout the Altamaha River basin, studying wintering birds in Georgia, and confirming his own notes with Abbot. Later, Thomas
Nuttall—whose plant collecting in the early 1800s added a remarkable storehouse
of data to science—also showed up in Savannah, as did John James Audubon.
Because the state is so biologically abundant, and the largest state east of the
Mississippi, it is little wonder that it aroused such enormous enthusiasm for students
of the natural world, including John Muir, who on September 21, 1867, wandered
into Georgia from North Carolina and proceeded to walk throughout the region,
rhapsodizing about almost everything he laid eyes upon, as was his wont.
20
15 See Clough’s book, Things New and Strange: A Southerner’s Journey through the Smithsonian
Collections, University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA, 2019.
16 See Betty Jean Craige’s Eugene Odum: Ecosystem Ecologist and Environmentalist, University of
Georgia Press, Athens, Ga., 2001; see also “An Ode to Odum,” Eugene Odum: Ecosystem Ecologist
and Environmentalist, Reprint ed., Betty Jean Craige, University of Georgia Press, Athens,
BioScience, Volume 53, Issue 12, December 2003, pp. 1229–1230, https://doi.org/10.1641/00063568(2003)053[1229:AOTO]2.0.CO;2, published, Oxford Academic, December 1, 2003, https://
academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/53/12/1229/303121, Accessed April 20, 2019.
17 See his two-volume masterpiece, The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama
Islands, London 1731–1743.
18 See Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee
Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of
the Choctaws. Containing an Account of the Soil and Natural Productions of Those Regions;
Together with Observations on the Manners of the Indians. Embellished with Copper-Plates,
London 1791; see also “Georgia Historical Society,” https://georgiahistory.com/education-outreach/online-exhibits/featured-historical-figures/william-bartram/bartram-in-georgia/, Accessed
April 20, 2019.
19 op.cit., Burleigh, pp. 6–7.
20 See “Muir’s walk across Georgia and on to the sea,” https://muirsouthtrek150.weebly.com/georgia.html; see also https://www.exploregeorgia.org/blog/muir-his-appalachian-experience-and-themodern-connection, Accessed April 19, 2019.
23 A River Somewhere in Georgia
and probably mammals, have hybridized naturally at one time or another). But then
there is Wayne Clough, 12th Secretary of the Smithsonian whose virtual backyard
as a child was Broxton Rocks.
15
And the late Eugene Odum, whose 1953 textbook
Fundamentals of Ecology, co-authored with his brother Howard, and his later
Institute of Ecology at the University of Georgia, all but engendered the very study
of ecosystems in America as a new subset of conservation biology.
16
Add to that legacy the earliest ornithologists in America, Mark Catesby in 1723,
17
the eloquent William Bartram, son of John, America’s first official botanist up in
Philadelphia,
18
and John Abbot, whose water colors executed between 1790 and
1809, though unpublished in his time, comprise the first comprehensive ornithological study of any one state in the entire United States.
19
Alexander Wilson came to
Georgia in 1809, meandering throughout the Altamaha River basin, studying wintering birds in Georgia, and confirming his own notes with Abbot. Later, Thomas
Nuttall—whose plant collecting in the early 1800s added a remarkable storehouse
of data to science—also showed up in Savannah, as did John James Audubon.
Because the state is so biologically abundant, and the largest state east of the
Mississippi, it is little wonder that it aroused such enormous enthusiasm for students
of the natural world, including John Muir, who on September 21, 1867, wandered
into Georgia from North Carolina and proceeded to walk throughout the region,
rhapsodizing about almost everything he laid eyes upon, as was his wont.
20
15 See Clough’s book, Things New and Strange: A Southerner’s Journey through the Smithsonian
Collections, University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA, 2019.
16 See Betty Jean Craige’s Eugene Odum: Ecosystem Ecologist and Environmentalist, University of
Georgia Press, Athens, Ga., 2001; see also “An Ode to Odum,” Eugene Odum: Ecosystem Ecologist
and Environmentalist, Reprint ed., Betty Jean Craige, University of Georgia Press, Athens,
BioScience, Volume 53, Issue 12, December 2003, pp. 1229–1230, https://doi.org/10.1641/00063568(2003)053[1229:AOTO]2.0.CO;2, published, Oxford Academic, December 1, 2003, https://
academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/53/12/1229/303121, Accessed April 20, 2019.
17 See his two-volume masterpiece, The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama
Islands, London 1731–1743.
18 See Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee
Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of
the Choctaws. Containing an Account of the Soil and Natural Productions of Those Regions;
Together with Observations on the Manners of the Indians. Embellished with Copper-Plates,
London 1791; see also “Georgia Historical Society,” https://georgiahistory.com/education-outreach/online-exhibits/featured-historical-figures/william-bartram/bartram-in-georgia/, Accessed
April 20, 2019.
19 op.cit., Burleigh, pp. 6–7.
20 See “Muir’s walk across Georgia and on to the sea,” https://muirsouthtrek150.weebly.com/georgia.html; see also https://www.exploregeorgia.org/blog/muir-his-appalachian-experience-and-themodern-connection, Accessed April 19, 2019.
23 A River Somewhere in Georgia