count of flying up the San Joaquin Valley

cruising behind AC-9, one of the last free-fly-

ing California Condors, enroute to its night-

time roost. These and others, are images that

fuel one's conviction and devotion to conser-

vation.

While I was reading Wild Echoes last

spring, an editorial on endangered species

was printed in the Minneapolis Star Tribune .

Spurred by the current controversy over the

Spotted Owl , the author quoted Julian Simon,

a University of Maryland economics profes-

sor, who called into question many of the

ecological and utilitarian arguments for sav-

ing endangered species . Because Simon be-

lieves that we will soon have the ability to

freeze the sperm and egg of an animal and

reproduce it later, he argues that "The only

way you can justify keeping these things alive

is for religious or moral reasons .... We should

say, ' We should save it because we love it."'

I discounted hi s argument at the time , reason-

ing to myself that it is the sc ientific arguments

that can successfully persuade the public

about the need for endangered species preser-

vation. Wild Echoes, however, has reminded

me of the importance of the ethical and aes-

thetic arguments. The question remains

whether they alone are persuasive enough to

convince people of the need for change.

Bergman himself writes, " It comes down

to what we are - we need new hearts and

minds." Are we capable of such change ? On

a summer's eve in Key West , Bergman comes

to peace with his own answer. Hi s book Wild

Echoes, will challenge and entertain you

while you explore the question for yourself.

Lee Pfannmuller, Minnesota Department

of Natural Resources, 500 Lafayette Road,

St. Paul, MN 55155.

WOMAN BY THE SHORE by Robert W.

Nero, is a tribute to Louise de Kiriline Law-

rence , noted nature essayist, on her ninety-

sixth birthday. Nero, of course, is well known

as an ornithologist and author of two Smith-

sonian Nature Books: Redwings, and The

Great Gray Owl, Phantom of the Northern

Forest. Nero lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba ,

and Lawrence at Pimisi Bay, Ontario .

In the foreword to the book , Nero admits

that even nature poems , let alone love poems ,

run the risk of being trivial , and that some

of these poems are love poems. Therefore we

may expect some triviality here. Well , yes,

the reader may find a trivial line here and

there , but the connections, insights, and ten-

derness submitted with strong control of lan-

guage are worth a cliche now and then .

Homer dozed whole pages, and Shakespeare

stumbled, I dare say.

Two of my favorites in this book of fifty-

one pages and forty-two poems are "Large

Owl ," and "Teacher," each about a Great Gray

Owl. In the former poem Nero answers "Non-

sense" to those who repeat the cliche that an

owl " is not as big as it looks." In a beautiful

and appropriate metaphor, he compares the

large owl to a tree - feathers to leaves -

then asks, " who would question/where the

tree begins?" No one pokes through the

foliage of a tree to the trunk and says the tree

is not as big as it looks ; why do people poke

fingers through the feathers of an owl and

say the owl is not as big as it looks?

In "Teacher," the poet learns from a Great

Gray Owl's attentiveness how to listen to such

sounds of silence as aspen leaves "still on

their twigs/rustling in a cold breeze/set to

tapping against/each other.., He had heard this

sound before , but learned to perceive it from

the owl. There are differences between hear-

ing and perceiving .

Other poems show enviable sensitivity to

detail. Not surprisingly, there are several

"feather poems. " I am always pleased to find

simple facts simply stated in a poetic manner.

You must read the entire poem "Fallen Feath-

ers" to enjoy it , but "a grackle's feather/

caught on a spruce bough" illustrates the kind

of sensitivity to common detail that belongs

in good poetry. Joining the grackle's feather

in this poem are feathers from a Blue Jay and

flicker.

Tenderness? Of course there is tenderness

for the woman by the shore, Louise De

Kiriline Lawrence , but there is also tender-

ness for Ruth Nero. In " First Outing," he

writes of "The shared intimacies of small

birds/flitting through leafless boughs ... Oh,

laughing girl, your throat builds/a measured

rhythm that matches a host/ of spring-mad-

dened birds singing/ in chorus." These lines

are spring-time lines , written against the

background of a winter that lies behind them,

and years and illness that fell away when he

"watched your smile and tilted face/ brighten-

ing to spring's own urge."

So these are poems written out of tender-

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