Narrative

Nonfiction

IA G I LL
BY M A R
SAVE THIS SPACE! BY MARIA GILL

PAIRED
The Journey of Lewis and Clark
READ
 STRATEGIES & SKILLS
Comprehension Content Standards
Strategy: Ask and Answer Social Studies
Questions History
Skill: Cause and Effect

Vocabulary
debris, emphasis, encounter,
generations, indicated,
naturalist, sheer, spectacular
Word Count: 2,235**

Photography Credit: Cover Ben Meyer/Cultura/Getty Images, (bkgd) Siede Preis/Photodisc/Getty Images
**The total word count is based on words in the running text and headings only. Numerals and words in
captions, labels, diagrams, charts, and sidebars are not included.

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ISBN: 978-0-02-119238-0
MHID: 0-02-119238-3

Printed in the United States of America.

11 12 13 14 15 DOC 22 21 20 19 18 G
 Genre Narrative Nonfiction

Essential Question
How can experiencing nature change the way
you think about it?

r ia G i ll
by M a
Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Chapter 1
Verplanck Colvin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Chapter 2
Aldo Leopold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Respond to Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
PAIRED
The Journey of Lewis and Clark . . . 19
READ
Siede Preis/Photodisc/Getty Images

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Focus on Social Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Introduction

Have you ever been to a place that stayed in your

memory because it was so special? How would you feel
if it were destroyed?

Imagine if the rock walls of the Grand Canyon were

covered with signs, towns were scattered across its valleys,
and trash bobbed up and down in the Colorado River.

(t bkgd) Siede Preis/Photodisc/Getty Images, (b) Medioimages/Photodisc/Getty Images

The millions of tourists who visit the Grand Canyon
every year would be disappointed if they couldn’t see
black bears, bald eagles, or beavers because these animals
were extinct.

Many people have been so deeply moved by a place

they visited that they tried to save it from development.
Naturalist Aldo Leopold made sure the Grand Canyon
and its wildlife survives for future generations. Verplanck
Colvin did the same for the Adirondack Mountains in
New York State.
The Grand Canyon is 18 miles
wide at its widest point.

2
 Cutting down trees and building roads
can destroy the wilderness forever.

Colvin and Leopold realized that logging and building

roads destroy precious wilderness areas. Both men
recorded what they saw in their journals and told people
what would happen if they didn’t stop the destruction.

Colvin worked to preserve forests in order to protect

lakes and waters. He drew maps of the Adirondack
Mountains and explored the source of the Hudson River .
Aldo Leopold changed people’s ideas about the importance
of wildlife and the landscape. He also taught people how
to take care of the environment.
Digital Vision/Getty Images

3
 Chapter 1 Chapter 1 Verplanck Colvin

Verplanck
Colvin

(tl) Courtesy of The Adirondack Research Library of Union College, and Protect! the Adirondacks, (t bkgd) Siede Preis/Photodisc/Getty Images, (b) Digital Vision/PunchStock
Verplanck Colvin was born in 1847 in Albany, New
York. From a young age, Colvin was interested in nature
and loved hiking in the hills near his home.

When he was 18, Colvin read a book about one man’s

adventures in the Adirondack Mountains. The author
described fishing in mountain lakes, traveling down
fast‑moving rivers, and camping in pine forests. The book
captured Colvin’s imagination, and he set out to explore
the Adirondacks himself.

Colvin took many trips there, and in 1870, he climbed

Mount Seward, one of the highest mountains in the
Adirondacks. Colvin wrote about his experience:

“[There was] ... wilderness everywhere; lake on lake,

river on river, mountain on mountain ...”

The Adirondacks are in northern New

York State. Today many people enjoy
hiking, fishing, and camping there.

4
 THE Adirondack Mountains

r
rive
son
r

Hud
Mt. Seward

rive
Mt. Marcy
N E W YO R K s tat e
THE ADIRONDACKS son
key Adirondacks

lakes
Hud

Rivers

However, during his expeditions in the Adirondacks,

Colvin noticed that large areas of the forests were being
logged. He saw the debris left by the loggers and realized
that the logging would have terrible consequences.

Many of the rivers and waterways in New York State,

including the Hudson River, start in the Adirondack
Mountains. Snow collects in the mountain forests during
the winter. In spring, the snow slowly melts and the
run‑off feeds the rivers and streams.

The forests keep the snow from evaporating or melting

too rapidly in the spring. Colvin saw that if too much
land were cleared, the source of water for the rivers and
streams would be destroyed.

5
 Many loggers lived in
the Adirondacks while
they were felling trees.

Colvin knew that people in New York depended on

the rivers and streams for water and transportation, and
he wanted the government to protect the land.

In February 1885, Colvin carved a chunk of ice from

the upper Hudson River. He took the ice to a meeting in
New York City and arranged for the ice to be put into all
the drinking glasses for emphasis. He said:

“The ice that tinkles in your goblets, and the pure

water which upholds the ice, are both fresh from the
head-waters of the Hudson ... We must guard our water
supply ... and maintain the forests which protect the springs
at the river sources ...”
Corbis/Corbis Historical/Getty Images

6
 At this time, there were no reliable maps of the
Adirondacks. Colvin believed accurate maps would make
it easier to protect the area from development. In 1872,
he convinced the government to let him survey and map
the entire Adirondack region.

This was not an easy task. Colvin and his team hiked
across rough land, kayaked along rivers, and climbed over
sheer mountains to draw the maps. Colvin even invented
Courtesy of The Adirondack Research Library of Union College, and Protect! the Adirondacks

a portable boat that he could use to explore rivers.

Colvin and his team came close to dangerous wild

animals while working in the mountains. Once Colvin
wrestled with a 7-foot-tall black bear, and another time,
he shot a panther that was stalking him.

To create a map, the surface of

the land needs to be measured
and drawn. This is called surveying.

7
 “But how wild and
desolate this spot!
... First seen as we
then saw it, dark
and dripping with
the moisture of the
heavens ...”
This drawing shows

(tl) Don Hammond/Design Pics, (tr) Courtesy of The Adirondack Research Library of Union College,
Verplanck Colvin Colvin and his team at
Lake Tear of the Clouds.

Colvin spent nearly 30 years surveying and mapping

the Adirondacks. He sketched, mapped, and wrote notes
in his journal about every lake, river, and forest he
walked through.

Colvin named many great and unknown lakes in the

and Protect! the Adirondacks

Adirondack area. He followed the Hudson River to find
out where it began and was the first person to discover
its source, Lake Tear of the Clouds.

How to Measure a Mountain

Colvin used a surveying method called triangulation.
He positioned his men around the mountain. He measured
a line (from point A to point B) using a 66-foot-long
chain as a tape measure.

Then from the top of the mountain (point C), Colvin

used a telescope to figure out the angles between the
three points. He used those angles to figure out the
distances between the points. These calculations also gave
him the height of the mountain.

8
 As he was working on the maps, Colvin was also
lobbying people in the government to preserve the land.
He wrote newspaper editorials explaining why it was
important to protect the Adirondacks. Finally Colvin and
other naturalists succeeded in having the area named a
park in 1892. Then in 1894, a law was passed that said
the park was to be “forever kept as wild.” None of the
land could ever be developed.
Michael Melford/The Image Bank/Getty Images

Colvin died in 1920, but people still enjoy what he

left behind: the natural wilderness of Adirondack Park.

A B

9
 Chapter 2 Chapter 2 Aldo Leopold

Aldo
Leopold

(t bkgd) Siede Preis/Photodisc/Getty Images, (br) Robert Shantz/Alamy Stock Photo

(tl) Courtesy of the Aldo Leopold Foundation, [Link],
Like Verplanck Colvin, Aldo Leopold loved the
outdoors. Leopold was born in 1887 in Burlington, Iowa.
From an early age, Leopold loved to set out with his dog
to explore the woods near his home and to go hunting
with his father. Sometimes on the way to school, the boy
spent so much time looking at wildlife that he was late
for class.

Leopold decided to
study forestry in college.
After graduating in 1909,
Leopold got his first
job, as a forest assistant
in the Apache National
Forest in Arizona. Leopold
was enchanted with the
mountains that sloped
down to meadows dotted
with wildflowers. After
work, he enjoyed hunting
game, such as deer and
ducks, and mapping This stream is part of a
the area. wilderness area inside the
Apache National Forest.
10
 Leopold wanted to protect game animals. To do that,
he believed that the forests they lived in needed to be
preserved. He wrote that people needed to consider
“the effect on the forest” before they developed land.

Leopold also felt that if game animals weren’t

managed, there wouldn’t be enough of them for people
to hunt. People needed to keep track of how many
animals there were and not hunt animals that were too
few in number.

Leopold, like many people at that time, also believed

Raven Regan/Design Pics

that game animals needed to be protected from predators,

such as wolves, coyotes, foxes, and bears. If the predators
were not controlled, there would not be enough game
to hunt.

Leopold was in favor of letting people

shoot animals that killed game animals.

As a ranger, Leopold
shot mountain lions.
Later he fought to
protect them.

11
Later in his life, Leopold
learned that wolves were
an important part of the
forest’s ecosystem.

It wasn’t until 25 years later when Leopold traveled

to Mexico on a hunting trip that he changed his ideas
about predators. He saw that the forest where he was
hunting was an “unspoiled wilderness.” This contrasted
with the forests he had known. Leopold asked himself
what the difference was between the two environments.
He realized that predators are an important part of the
forest ecosystem. If you remove them from the forest,
you upset the balance in the ecosystem.
Nature Picture Library/Alamy

12
 Leopold saw the effects of this in the forests of
Wisconsin when he took a job there in 1924. Deer and
other game animals had been protected, while wolves
and mountain lions had been shot to near extinction.
The deer population exploded. In 1942, Leopold took
people into wilderness areas to show them the effects of
killing off predators. He showed them the damage that
deer had done to forests by eating all the plants within
their reach. The destruction of the plant life indicated
that there were too many deer in the area.

To bring the deer population under control, Leopold

(bl) Ilene MacDonald/Alamy, (br) Don Hammond/Design Pics

asked the state of Wisconsin to encourage people to

hunt deer. He also asked people to stop killing wolves
so that their numbers would increase. For a while, his
ideas were unpopular, but people came to understand
that he was right.

“You cannot love

game and hate
predators …
The land is one
organism.”

Aldo Leopold

If not controlled, deer can do

a lot of damage to a forest.

13
 In addition to protecting wildlife, Leopold
campaigned to protect the landscape. On a trip to
the Grand Canyon in 1915, he was shocked to see
the state of the park. Hotels and stores stretched along
the newly built roads, trash lined the trails, and sewage
ran into the river. He realized that this was not good
for the wildlife.

Leopold wrote a plan that allowed people to enjoy

the canyon while preserving the landscape and wildlife
there. Later, in 1919, the Grand Canyon became a
national park.

David Forman/Image Source

Millions of people visit the Grand Canyon
each year. There are laws that protect the
park from pollution and damage by tourists.

14
 Leopold began to
think about how he could
protect forests. He realized
that people needed to
stop cutting down trees.
Preserving forests would
The Gila National Forest encourage people to “get
has spectacular scenery. back to nature.”

Leopold suggested that the 750,000 acres in Gila Forest

in New Mexico be left as a wilderness area. In 1924, the
Gila Wilderness in New Mexico became the first protected
wilderness area in the world. This means that the area
cannot be touched and roads can’t even be built there.

Leopold died in 1948, 16 years

(tl) Raymond Gehman/Corbis Documentary/Getty Images, (br) Courtesy of the Aldo Leopold Foundation, [Link]

before the Wilderness Act was passed

by the federal government in 1964.
Many of his ideas are included in the
Act. Aldo Leopold is also considered to
be one of the “fathers” of the National
Wilderness Preservation System, which
the Act established, because of his
work in preserving wilderness areas.
Today this system protects more than
700 wilderness areas in 44 states. The Aldo Leopold
United States still has places that are walks with
his dog.
“natural, wild, and free” because of
Aldo Leopold’s work.

15
Conclusion

Thanks to people such as Verplanck Colvin and Aldo

Leopold, we still have wilderness areas today. Imagine
what your area would be like without them. Many more
birds and animals would have become extinct, and there
would be fewer places to walk, camp, and enjoy nature.

(tl) Siede Preis/Photodisc/Getty Images, (bl, cr) Image courtesy National Gallery of Art, (br) Paul Fearn/Alamy Stock Photo
Verplanck Colvin campaigned to protect forests so
there would be clean drinking water. He also explored the
sources of rivers, mapped lakes and other natural features,
and measured mountains in the Adirondacks.

extinct Birds
Since the 1850s, in North
America, the Carolina parakeet,
the Labrador duck, and the
passenger pigeon have all
become extinct.

Carolina parakeet

passenger pigeon Labrador duck

16
 Aldo Leopold believed in encouraging people to care
for the environment. We can help by:

• cutting back on our use of resources so fewer natural

resources are used and there is less waste;

• planting a wilderness area in our backyard or even

on our balcony;

• growing plants or trees that attract birds;

• keeping a journal of the natural world around us, as

Verplanck Colvin and Aldo Leopold did, so that we
can learn more about it and record any changes.

Whenever we take a walk in a park or forest, let our

footprints be the only things we leave behind. We should
take time to enjoy nature because only then will we see
how much we have to lose.
Ben Meyer/Cultura/Getty Images

17
 Respond to
Reading
Summarize
Use important details from Save Cause Effect
This Space! to summarize how
experiencing nature affected
these two naturalists. Your graphic
organizer may help you.

Text Evidence
1. What text features help you identify this text as
an example of narrative nonfiction? GENRE

2. On page 5, what first made Colvin realize that

wilderness areas had to be protected?
C AUSE AND EFFECT

3. What is the meaning of the word state on page

13? Use context clues to help you. Then give the
meaning of the word as it is used on page 14.
H OMOGRAPHS

4. In Chapter 2, Leopold changes his mind about

hunting predators. Write about what caused him
to change his mind. WRITE ABOUT READING

18
 Genre Expository Text

Compare Texts
Read about how the Lewis and Clark expedition
changed the way people thought about nature.

Paired Read: The Journey of Lewis and Clark

The Journey
of
Lewis
(l) Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division [LC-USZ62-20214], (r) Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division [LC-USZ62-10609], (bkgd) Oleksiy Maksymenko/Alamy

Lewis
and Clark Clark

In 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out

on an expedition to explore the wilderness that would
one day become the northwestern United States. President
Thomas Jefferson had instructed them to try to find a
direct water route from Ohio to the Pacific Ocean.

Lewis and Clark saw many majestic sights on their

journey. They also saw plants and animals that they had
never seen before. The two explorers wrote about their
experiences in their journals and drew maps of their
journey. Some of the animals Lewis and Clark saw are now
extinct, such as two species of wolf that Lewis describes:
“A fine morning ... Captain Clark found a den of
young wolves ... They are very abundant … and are
of two species; the small wolf or burrowing dog of
the prairies are the inhabitants almost invariably of
the open plains ... The large wolf found here is not as
large as those of the Atlantic States ...” May 5, 1805
19
 Wild Adventures
Native American tribes told Lewis and Clark that bears
“were a tremendous looking animal and extremely hard to
kill.” The Native Americans would only attack a bear if
there were at least six people in their hunting party. The
first two bears that Lewis and Clark saw were fairly small,
and they shot them easily. Lewis wrote:

(br) Fototeca Storica Nazionale/Photodisc/Getty Images, (bkgd) Oleksiy Maksymenko/Alamy

“The Indians may well fear this animal equipped
as they generally are with their bows and arrows ...
but in the hands of skillful riflemen they are by no
means as formidable or dangerous as they have been
represented.” April 29, 1805
Lewis soon changed his mind. While walking alone on
June 14, 1805, he suddenly noticed a grizzly bear creeping
toward him. Lewis realized he didn’t have time to reload
his rifle.
“… he pitched at me, open mouthed and full speed. I
ran about 80 yards and found he gained on me fast ...”
Lewis ran into the river and
aimed his spear at the bear.
He must have scared it because
the bear turned around and
went off in the other direction.
After this encounter, Lewis told
everyone not to travel alone. He
also warned them to keep their
Grizzly bears, like the
guns beside them, even at night, one that charged Lewis,
in case of bear attacks. can weigh more than
800 pounds.
20
 Magnificent Landscapes
Throughout the journey, the explorers came across
many spectacular scenes. In this journal entry, Lewis
(l) Florilegius/Alamy Stock Photo, (bkgd) Oleksiy Maksymenko/Alamy

describes the Multnomah Falls in Oregon.

“We passed several beautiful cascades which fell
from a great height over the stupendous rocks, and
the most remarkable of these cascades falls about 300
feet … several small streams fall from a much greater
height, and in their descent become a perfect mist …”
April 9, 1806
Lewis and Clark brought back many
specimens that they had collected on their
journey, including a live prairie dog. The
two explorers also collected unusual plants.
Some species have been named after
them. Scientists studied their journals
and specimens for many years afterward.

This is a dried specimen of a plant collected

by Lewis and later named Clarkia pulchella.

Make Connections
How did the Lewis and Clark expedition change
the way people thought about nature?
ESSENTIAL QUESTION

How do the records kept by explorers and naturalists

help you to understand why it’s important to value and
conserve the wilderness? TEXT TO TEXT
21
 Glossary
ecosystem (EEK-oh-sis-tuhm) all the living and nonliving
things that exist in one place or environment and how
these things interact (page 12)

expeditions (ek-spuh-DISH-uhnz) journeys or trips

undertaken for a specific purpose (page 5)

extinct (ik-STINGKT ) no longer in existence; describes a

species of plant or animal that has died out (page 2)

game (gaym) wild animals or birds that are hunted for

sport or for food (page 10)

lobbying (LAHB-ee-ing) trying to influence public officials



logging (LAWG-ing) cutting down trees to use their

wood for building or other products (page 3)

natural resources (NACH-uhr-uhl REE-sohrs-ez) materials

such as coal, trees, and water that are found in the
environment and can be used by people (page 17)

predators (PRED-uh-tuhrz) animals that hunt and eat

other animals (page 11)

source (sawrs) where a river begins (page 3)

specimens (SPES-uh-muhnz) plants or animals collected as

an example of that species (page 21)

survey (suhr-VAY) find out the size, shape, and position

of an area of land (page 7)

triangulation (trigh-ang-yuh-LAY-shuhn) a method used to

find heights or distances by using known lengths and
the angles of triangles (page 8)

22
Index
Adirondack Mountains, 2–9, 16
Apache National Forest, 10
Clark, William, 19–21
Colvin, Verplanck, 2–9, 16, 17
Gila National Forest, 15
Grand Canyon, 2, 14
Hudson River, 3, 5, 6, 8
Jefferson, Thomas, 19
Lake Tear of the Clouds, 8
Leopold, Aldo, 2, 3, 10–17
Lewis, Meriwether, 19–21
Mount Seward, 4, 5
National Wilderness Preservation System, 15
Wilderness Act of 1964, 15

23
 Focus on
Social Studies
Purpose To understand the importance of the wilderness

What to Do
Step 1 With a partner or in a group, find out what kind of
wilderness existed in your area 150 years ago, using
information from local sources such as the library,
museum, or historical society.

Step 2 Create a map, drawing, or time line that shows how

the area has changed over the last 150 years. What
has been lost? What has been gained?

Step 3 Imagine you were an early visitor to the area. What

would you think about the area now?

Step 4 Write and perform or publish a short scene in which

you and an early visitor discuss the changes that
have occurred in your area.

24
 Literature Circles
Nonfiction

Thinkmark
Literature Circles Nonfiction Thinkmark

The Topic
What is Save This Space! mostly about?

Text Structure
How does the author organize information in
this text?

Conclusions
What is the most important thing you learned
in this text?

Author’s Purpose
What is the author’s purpose for writing
this text?

Make Connections
Think of a special natural place you have been
to. How are the places in Save This Space!
similar to or different from that place?
Seeing for Yourself Social Studies

GR S • Benchmark 50 • Lexile 960

[Link]