10 



THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



are innocent beneficiaries of every such 

 movement. Some have objected to the 

 original name of Audubon Society as 

 being too limited in what it implies. 

 Very well, let us make it imply conserva- 

 tion leagues, out-door leagues, leagues for 

 the conservation of wild life, etc. The 

 birds will share in all the benefits and 

 find their way into the foremost affections 

 of the lovers of wild life and of forest 

 solitudes. 



In this issue of the Bulletin there are 

 reports from the Conservation Committee 

 of the Federation of Women's Clubs, 

 from the Conservation Council of Cook 

 County, The Cook County Forest Pre- 

 serves, and the Association for the Pres- 

 ervation of the Indiana Dunes. It is pro- 

 posed to publish reports of a similar 

 nature in every issue. In the Conserva- 

 tion Council referred to, there has been 

 frequent expression of a desire to have 

 a publication to represent the interests 

 of the various organizations thus asso- 

 ciated. The Illinois Audubon Society in- 

 vites the Council to use the columns of 

 the Bulletin and it extends this invita- 

 tion to all organizations of Illinois hav- 

 ing similar aims. 



^ ^ ^ 



A survey of our State showing its 

 scenic assets should be under way. If a 

 group of discriminating nature lovers in 

 each county would undertake the local 

 survey, the combined reports would make 

 valuable and very interesting reading. 

 For note the significance of all this when 

 the state law permitting counties to or- 

 ganize forest preserve districts is brought 

 to mind. A bond issue of one-tenth of 

 one per cent of the assessed valuation 

 is authorized and a maintenance tax pro- 

 vided for. Cook County is the first 

 county to avail itself of this privilege and 

 a report elsewhere in this Bulletin shows 

 the beginning of an expenditure of $12,- 

 000,000 for forest preserves in that county 

 alone ! Lake County will vote in April 

 on the question of issuing bonds to the 

 extent of $150,000 to begin the purchase 



of forest lands in the Skokie Valley, a 

 portion of the "Waukegan Flats," the 

 Grass Lake area with its lotus beds, etc. 

 With similar action of this kind McLean 

 County might possibly make a forest 

 preserve of Funk's Woods; Carroll 

 County might possess itself of the tow- 

 ering bluffs north of Savanna and of 

 the forested valley near Mount Carroll; 

 Jo Daviess County might preserve some 

 of its fine scenery including Charles' 

 Mound, the highest spot in this state. 

 Ogle County might purchase the famous 

 white pine forest near Stratford and the 

 beautiful open canyon of Pine Creek, and 

 Joliet and Will County might own Hig- 

 ginbotham's Woods and the valley of 

 Hickory Creek, etc., etc. 



H 5 ^ 5fc 



Mr. Theodore Jessup in a paper read 

 before the Chicago Literary Club, April 

 10, 1916, calls attention to the specific 

 instances just given and then shows how 

 through county action the great highways 

 of the state might in many instances pass 

 through continuous county parks. He 

 says, for instance : "If we begin with the 

 Fox River in Lake County and follow 

 it in its windings in McHenry, Kane 

 and Kendall to its mouth at Ottawa in 

 LaSalle County, we find the roads fol- 

 low the stream. Sometimes they are only 

 a few feet away and at others a quarter 

 of a mile distant. Often the roads are 

 twenty to fifty feet above the stream. 

 The space between the roads and the 

 river was originally forested and some 

 surviving or second-growth trees still 

 mark every mile of the hundred and 

 fifty included. A county park scheme 

 would permit utilizing this river bank. 

 Under a forester's care it would soon 

 come back to true forest conditions. 

 State roads are now under way; and 

 soon we would have without excessive 

 taxation a boulevard at small cost, beau- 

 tiful every mile of the way. The same 

 principle could be applied from Ottawa 

 all down the Illinois Valley to St. Louis. 

 Almost identical conditions exist in the 



