Welsh Journals

Oliver, Conservation Officer of the North Wales Trust, for contributing some of the examples of succession used in this article. REFERENCES KREBS, C.J. (1972) Ecology (the experimental analysis of distribution and abundance). Harper & Row, New York, 694 pp. ODUM, E.P. (1975) Ecology. Holt, Rinehart & Wilson, London, 244 pp. TANSLEY, A.G. (1939) The British Islands and their Vegetation. C.U.P., Cambridge, 930 pp. WARREN, A. and GOLDSMITH, B. (1974). Conservation in Practice. Wiley, London, 512 pp. 101 Talbot Road, Talbot Green, Pontyclun, Mid Glamorgan. DYFED WILDLIFE APPEAL Ian Watt The West Wales countryside and its wildlife are under threat. Today, armed with modem technology, man can alter the landscape more rapidly than ever before. This fact has given the impetus to ordinary people to form 40 Nature Conservation Trusts in Great Britain. The Duke of Edinburgh was once asked how one could help in the conservation of nature. His reply was "Make contact with your local Naturalists' Trust they are the front line troops in the Battle for the Countryside." We have got to act while there is still time and time is running out. The West Wales Naturalists' Trust like the majority of other Trusts is a voluntary, independent organisation which draws its funds and its membership of over 2000 from every walk of life and every age group. It has been apparent for some time that, with the best will in the world, the Trust did not have the financial resources to secure and protect representative habitats by purchase or by lease. This dependence upon the voluntary efforts of members also extended to administration and this limited its overall effectiveness. Full time staff were required so that the Trust's influence could be widened and so that our existing reserves could be managed more intensively. New campaigns to recruit members were also required. In late 1977 it appeared that some attractive and vital areas in need of conservation were going to come on the market; however, to purchase them relatively large sums of money were going to be required. The Trust did not have sufficient resources to make any realistic offers for such areas.