More about Thoreau, conservation and botany on the Internet:

• An environmentalist group has a Thoreau page with a biography of him and of other leading environmental thinkers.
• The Smithsonian Institution's Conservation and Research Center is one of the world's leading centers for conservation research and training. Their site has information about plants, animals and other conservation issues.
• The World Conservation Monitoring Centre, based in the United Kingdom, provides information services on conservation and sustainable use of the world's living resources, and helps others to develop information systems of their own.
• Birding in Maine, from the Audobon Society.
• Habitat Magazine, published four times a year by the Audubon Society
• Maine Birding Homepage has rare bird alerts, bird sites, weather, visit reports, and information about Puffins.
• Maine Nature News is a weekly online periodical covering natural history events, occurrences and observations in Maine.
• The Nature Conservancy's site includes information about the Maine Chapter and protected lands in Maine.

Plant links

The Bearberry, or arctostaphylos uva-ursi. Photo by Peter Nelson used by permission from the photographer and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Web site.

• Botanical Index of Thoreau's Journal, from Ray Angelo at Harvard University.
• Viburnum: Thorea calls this bright red fruit a "tree-cranberry" but it is not actually related to the cranberry. He picked a couple of quarts for use in a sauce, and tried two other varieties, which he found "rather insipid and seedy."
• Creeping snowberry (gaultheria hispidula): Thoreau's Penobscot Indian guide Joe Polis says this plant, with its small evergreen leaves and white fruit, makes "the best tea of anything in the woods." Thoreau liked the wintergreen flavor, calling this his favorite of the many teas he and his companions made in the woods.
• canada lily (lilium canadense): Thoreau sees one of these - 6 feet tall, with 12 yellow flowers - on the West Branch of the Penobscot River. Polis says the roots can be used to thicken soups, taking the place of flour.
• White pine (pinus strobus): The tallest tree on the East Coast, though by the time Threau arrived many of the oldest and tallest already had been cut down. In the 18th century, pine trees measuringmore than two feet in diameter and within three minles of water were branded with the "King's Arrow" - a mark that reserved the trees for the British Navy, which used them for masts on ships. "The pine is no more lumber than man is," Thoreau wrote.
• mountain cinquefoil (potentilla tridentata) and bearberry (arctostaphylos uva-ursi): Even on Mount Kineo, a 700-foot-high mass of hornstone that Throeau calls "a dangerous place to steady your nerves," the author wanders about looking at plants. These two, found near the water, "chiefly attracted our attention," he writes.
• White spruce, black spruce and balsam fir (abies basamea): These are the most common conifers Thoreau sees, though he sometimes confused the two types of spruce. The White spruce is taller and has longer, smoother needles and lighter bark. The balsam fir has the triangular shape of a Christmas tree.
• Labrador Tea
• Teaberry
• Clinton's Lily (Clintonia borealis)

Taking it into the classroom

• Help make one of Maine's rivers a Heritage River by writing to President Clinton.
• Educate yourself about current threats to our environment such as dioxin and pesticides.
• Take a walk outside and take notes about the plants and animals you see. If you don't know their names, use a field guide to try to identify them, and learn more about where they grow, the conditions they prefer, and what varieties they come in.
• What do you and your family do to preserve Maine's natural resourses?
• What do you do to harm the environment?
• Why should you care about the earth's environment?