210 ILLINOIS NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY MANUAL 4 



The red squirrel, so far as we know, is the species most re- 

 cently eliminated from the state. Nearer the center of its range, 

 in cooler climates, this squirrel can tolerate a wide variety of 

 habitats, some of them marginal. As far south as Illinois, only 

 the better habitats are tolerable and, to be tolerable, they must 

 be extensive. 



Species other than the red squirrel have felt the pressure of 

 Illinois agriculture. They have yielded ground as their habitats 

 have been narrowed or eliminated. Most Illinois counties at one 

 time had many species, widely distributed. Some counties now 

 lack one or more species found in other parts of the state, and 

 the species still present generally are restricted to a few small 

 habitats. Gray squirrels, once widely distributed in all counties, 

 now occcur only in a few choice habitats in most of those counties 

 in which they are still present. 



The loss of any one or several species may not, in itself, be 

 of great consequence, but, when a species becomes rare or dis- 

 appears, it serves as a signal that there has disappeared with it 

 a vast and real, though often intangible, set of natural conditions 

 which supported it. When bison disappeared from Illinois, they 

 signaled the disappearance of extensive prairie, which was com- 

 posed of native grasses, forbs, vines, and bushes. 



We can now hardly afford in Illinois the extensive space re- 

 quired to maintain bison on natural habitats; elimination of bison 

 from this state was a calculated procedure. Probably most 

 people do not need the occasional solitude that a sojourn on the 

 primitive prairie would afford; they experience sufficient contact 

 with nature when they fish on a nearby lake, hunt on a farm, 

 play a round of golf on a well-kept course, or attend a picnic 

 in a public park. We are, however, in danger of letting too 

 much of the natural habitat disappear, of crowding our satis- 

 factions into too little out-of-door space. 



In spite of decades of progressive soil conservation, too many 

 Illinois pastures are still so heavily grazed that they not only do 

 not support wildlife but they do not support the number of cattle 

 they could if efficiently managed. Too many woodlands have 

 cattle turned into them and thus lose many of their wild mam- 

 mals and birds, and also their value as woods without attaining 

 value as pastures, fig. 116. In 1949, two-thirds of the privately 

 owned Illinois woodland was still being pastured: the equiva- 

 lent of six counties going to waste! In such woodland, cattle 



