PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA 237 



jurisdiction of such Conservation Commission, since these things belong 

 to all the people and are cared for by none, for "everybody's business is 

 nobody's business." All state parks and reservations, which may be 

 created in the future, should also be under the commission's jurisdiction. 



The law creating the commission should give it authority to issue, 

 for the conservation of our natural resources, regulations having the 

 force of law, varying in different localities to suit different conditions. 

 Our national parks and forests are governed in this manner, so it should 

 be practical in Iowa. 



Unless such measures are taken, 10 years more will see the rare 

 flowers of my locality extinct; and 25 years, most of the remainder gone. 

 The need is great and it is time for prompt action, especially in regard 

 to marsh 1 plants. Iowa Forestry and Conservation Association, Report 

 1914-15, pp 100-104. 



PRESERVATION OF NATIVE PLANTS. 

 By Harriett S. Kellog, Botanist. 



A natural woodland carpeted with a mosaic of wild flowers appeals 

 to each individual according to his inherent traits of character. One esti- 

 mates it in terms of cord-wood and acres; another banishes all utilitarian 

 ideas, seeing it only as a most glorious heritage to be preserved that 

 future generations may also enjoy its beauty, while the third imagines 

 a golden mean wherein both the utilitarian and the man of sentiment 

 may be satisfied. 



With the prevailing high prices of land in Iowa, it is not practical that 

 ground valuable for agricultural purposes should lie untilled, but there 

 are many places in the state that have been denuded of their forests, 

 when the forest was their most profitable asset. The writer has in 

 mind a locality that thirty years ago contained a wonderful growth of 

 black walnut; back of this were hills covered with native timber. Fifteen 

 years ago, a ride over this locality disclosed the fact that the walnut land 

 had been cleared. This was then good farm land, the change having been 

 made for the better, but the hills were bare also, the streams that had 

 carried moisture to neighboring farms had disappeared, violent storms 

 had eroded the slopes, which never could make good farm land, and in 

 place of the beauty of stately oaks, elms, maples and hickories with the 

 undergrowth of herbs and shrubs, was the sun-dried soil, where a few 

 cattle secured scanty sustenance. 



On one of these hills had been a grove of wild crabapple that was visi- 

 ble for several miles and in the spring offered a vision of beauty not to 

 be forgotten. 



There had been an abundant native flora that has all but disappeared 

 from its natural home. A few lovers of wild flowers had, with infinite 

 pains, now and then transplanted these woodland species to their town 

 gardens and thus many varieties have been preserved in the near vicinity 

 that would otherwise have been lost to the flora of the state. 



When the tide of immigration set into Iowa during the middle of the 

 last century, the pioneers found a flora paradise here. The hills were 



