And some scientists blame that funding shortage for the lack of progress in ecology and for the urgent need for a National Institute of the Environment. Led by Henry Howe, ecologist at the University of Illinois in Chicago, and Stephen Hubbell, an ecologist at Princeton University, about 50 biologists, social scientists, physical scientists, and federal officials met in December 1989 to plan such an institute. Modeled after the National Institutes of Health, this agency would be composed of institutes on biotic resources, ecosystem protection and management, sustainable resource use, the changing human environment, and climate change. So far, Congress seems to support the idea, although its actions so far fall quite a bit short of actually creating such a body. The House has called for a study by the National Academy of Sciences to examine the need for such an institute, and a similar move is under way in the Senate.
Prairie restoration remains at the heart of the movement.
He is also one of the founders of the society. Among the most endangered of all North American ecosystems is the tall-grass prairie that was converted to the corn belt, says Jordan. Restored prairies count among the movement's greatest successes. In the Chicago metropolitan area alone, he says, native plants are being replanted and maintained by fire in about 120 sites of public and private land. In the West, delicate arid lands that have been overgrazed or overrun by recreational vehicles are receiving intensive care.