308 PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA 



flora and fauna of this great region. It will be necessary to preserve as 

 soon as possible, the few remaining places in the state in which we still 

 have the natural conditions under which this life developed. You can- 

 not have the animals of the prairie without the prairie, or the animals 

 of the woods without the woods and underbrush. Birds do not love the 

 smoke and roar and the interminable wires of our cities. They must 

 have woods or prairies, water, sunshine and pure air to break forth into 

 that melody of song which lifts every responsive human soul to higher 

 planes. 



We have already lost the buffalo, the deer, the antelope, the prairie 

 dog and the beaver, while the badger, the great turtle, the deer mouse, 

 the star-nosed mole, the glass snake and many other of the familiar ani- 

 mals of our childhood are fast disappearing. These were an integral part 

 of the lives and memories of our forefathers. They studied their habits, 

 were familiar with their mysteries and were brought by these in uncon- 

 scious contact with the soil, the air and the living world around them. 

 They were close to the spirit of nature and to the spirit of the infinite. 



Iowa is peculiarly rich and varied in her fauna. We have in the 

 northeast portions of the remnants of the life of the far northern regions. 

 In the northwest, an overlapping of the prairie and plains faunas, in 

 the southwest, an extension of the Texan Fauna, while the southeast is 

 visited by stragglers from our tropical climes. 



We should establish parks and preserves of the native vegetations of 

 these many and varied regions and protect forever the plant and animal 

 life that once abounded. We should select locations of the marsh and 

 stream for the muskrat, the great turtle, the beaver, the fish and other 

 aquatic forms. We should hold fast to the prairie with at least an ante- 

 lope, if not the bison and the deer, with the glass snake, the deer mouse, 

 the bob-o-link and the curlew. We should have the woods, the rocks and 

 the cave for the owl, the bat and the chipmunk, and the innumerable 

 songsters whose daily lives are an open book of joy and gladness. 



Iowa has developed a wonderful livestock industry. Her horses and 

 cattle are famed, her hog is ubiquitous. Immense sums of money have 

 been spent by the individuals and the state in fostering and developing 

 these animals to the highest type of perfection. 



Iowa is also noted for her men and women, her literacy and her pros- 

 perity. She has responded nobly to every call of humanity, she has been 

 enterprising and- productive in the development of her ideals. Let us 

 spend a small fraction of the sum that has been spent in developing 

 her livestock industry, in provision that her peoples come in contact 

 with the highest and best in life. Let us see that they are able to get 

 away from the sordid and commonplace, from the daily grind of a com- 

 mercial world and get the contact and inspiration of nature. See that 

 they may watch that never ending chain of progress that has developed 

 the myriads of interacting forms of a life that works out into a harmon- 

 ious whole. Through such study and such contact comes the breadth and 

 vision that has developed the American nation, has inspired the altruist 

 and the thinker, has fixed and rounded those qualities that are necessary 

 to the highest and best development of our race. 



