In 1898, zoo director William Hornaday arranged with Andrew J. Stone to survey the conditions of wildlife in Alaska as an additional mission on his forthcoming collecting expedition to Alaska on behalf of the American Museum of Natural History. Although Stone was not an employee of the Zoological Society, his expendition can be considered the first field expedition of the Society.For the Society, Stone's expedition began more than a century of conservation activity in Alaska.

Andrew Stone is remembered as the namesake of Stone's sheep and as a photographer. He died in a canoe accident. Some of his papers are preserved at the Bancroft Library, University of California-Berkeley.

Sources and suggested readings:

William Hornaday to Andrew Stone, Outgoing letterpress books, Director's Office, Bronx Zoo.

Andrew J. Stone to William Hornaday, Incoming correspondence, Director's office, Bronx Zoo .

Andrew J. Stone . Field notes on the largermammalia of the Stickine, Dease, and Liard rivers, BritishColumbia . Third annual report of the New York Zoological Society ( 1898 ) , pages 53-62 .
Anonymous. A report on the first field research sponsored by the New York Zoological Society .
Zoological Society Bulletin ( 1901 ) vol. 1 no. 5 , 1 .

Madison Grant. The society's expedition to Alaska . Sixth annual report of the New York Zoological Society (1901) , 137-140 . Illustrated . .

Madison Madison . Condition of wildlife in Alaska . Twelth annual report of the New York Zoological Society, 125-134 .

Before the Bronx Zoo opened... a survey of wildlife decline 

In 1897, two years before the Bronx Zoo opened William Hornaday carried out a nationwide postal survey,
asking "persons qualified to answer" four questions:

1. Are birds decreasing in your locality?
2. About how  many are there now in compariosn with the number
fifteen years ago? (one-half as many? one-third? one-fourth?)
3. What agency (or class of men) has been most destructive to the
birds of your locality?
4. What important species of birds or quadrupeds are becoming
extinct in your state?

Hornaday published a detailed report of the survey in the second annual report of the New York Zoological Society. The zoo's archives include the
survey forms returned by Hornaday's respondents.

Sources and suggested readings:

Hornaday, William T. The destruction of our birds and mammals: a report on the results of an inquiry. Second annual report of the New York Zoological
Society (1898), pages 77-127.

Report on the decrease of bird life, United States inquiry, 1897. Scrapbook, Director's Office, Bronx Zoo archives.