a trial period of ten years. In 1963, after he surveyed Chitwan again, this time for both the Fauna Preservation Society and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Gee recommended extension of the national park to rhinoceros areas to the south of the river. In December 1970, His Majesty King Mahendra approved extension of the national park as recommended, thus creating the first national park in Nepal. After retirement from tea planting in Assam, Gee settled in Shillong, where he assembled one of the finest private orchid collections. After Independence, sensitive to the nationalism of the new Indian leadership, Gee searched for and emphasized indigenous nature conservation practices, ranging from ancient imperial edicts to village traditions of protecting nesting bird colonies. This cooperative and culturally sensitive style won recognition from Jawaharlal Nehru whom Gee accompanied together with Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi and son-in-law Feroze Gandhi on a tour of Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary on 20 October 1956. Nehru's forward to Gee's book in February 1964 was one of the only pieces he ever wrote on wildlife conservation. In it he said, Nehru called for more refuges for vanishing wildlife, but he died in May and Gee died four years later. It was the end of an era. Publications E.P. Gee was an active contributor to the early wildlife protection policy of India. He wrote his own account of his wildlife work in the book Wildlife of India in 1964. This work makes a good comparison with present-day wildlife conservation efforts in India. The Indian Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment and Forests since May 2009, Jairam Ramesh's acquaintance with the natural world began when he was nine (1963) and was gifted The Wildlife of India. The book is a classic with a beautiful foreword by Jawaharlal Nehru that has stayed with him all these years. Wildlife in India was first published in hard cover 224-page, 8 b/w and 12 colour plates illustrated edition, weight 645 grams by William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd in London in July 1964 (Second hardback edition. green cloth. 192pp; 12 colour plates 64 b/w plates.) and E.P. Dutton & Co. 6 1/8" x 9", Green hardback with gold print on black background on spine, 192 pages, 8vo. Illus. with 8 b/w and 12 colour plates) in New York in December 1964. Third impression in March 1965 had 192 pages with 12 colour and over