National Geographic December 1981

Orange, a Most California County
Exploding from farmland into grassy exurbs, the coastal swath south of Los Angeles embodies one manner of American dream. By Judith and Neil Morgan and photographer Vince Streano.
New World of the Ocean
In the past three decades science has revealed startling new knowledge about seven- tenths of earth covered by the seas. Yet man has barely crossed this watery frontier. Samuel W. Matthews tells of an extraordinary age of discovery.
Report to the Members: It’s Been a Banner Year! { It’s Been a Banner Year! }
Gilbert M. Grosvenor reviews the year past and year ahead, the Society’s new Atlas, headquarters building, and TV specials. In 1981, he notes, membership reached a record 10, 850, 000.
The Mountain That Was- -and Will Be { Mount St. Helens Aftermath: The Mountain That Was- -and Will Be}
Plants and animals are taking tentative foothold in the devastation left by last year’s cataclysmic eruption. More remarkably, the blown- out volcano itself nurtures bacteria, reports Rowe Findley. With photographs by Steve Raymer.
Blue- Water Life by Night { A Galaxy of Life Fills the Night; Life by Night in a Desert Sea; In Hawaii’s Crystal Sea, A Galaxy of Life Fills the Night}
A host of rarely seen creatures rises in the dark off Hawaii to feed near the surface. By naturalist Kenneth Brower, with photographer- divers William R. Curtsinger and Chris Newbert.
Pandas in the Wild { For the First Time a Westerner Joins Chinese Scientists to Study Pandas in the Wild}
From a joint World Wildlife Fund- Chinese research program, U. S. zoologist George B. Schaller brings back unprecedented photographs of giant pandas roaming the forests of their native Sichuan.