<p>
	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}CB_2.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 188px; float: right;" />In the late 1970s a new discipline formally emerged from the ranks of older, more established fields like ecology, wildlife management and fisheries biology. The newcomer came to be called <em>Conservation Biology</em>, a study of &ldquo;the biology of endangerment,&rdquo; a <em>science</em> that was <em>mission driven</em> and value laden, intended to be employed practically and, if necessary, quickly to learn what steps were required to save endangered and threatened species, to restore small and declining populations, conserve genetic diversity, preserve and restore rare and critical habitats, and manage entire ecosystems to enhance biodiversity.</p>
<p>
	Few courses so fully and naturally capture Au Sable&rsquo;s ethic of stewardship and creation care as Conservation Biology, where ethical questions like &ldquo;Why save an endangered species?&rdquo; are not inquiries about philosophical abstractions but biological and management realities. Few courses can address so directly the practical value of learning skills like population viability analysis, captive population management, measurement of genetic diversity, or estimations of community species richness. Few courses can so quickly and meaningfully connect the scientific facts and theories of a textbook or classroom to a problem that can be observed directly in the field.&nbsp;</p>
