ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 



31 



in bird life. There is the economic 

 value to be noted, and even real 

 estate values as result of preserva- 

 tion of natural settings are to be es- 

 timated, but the value to the life of 

 the spirit — that is to be rated as 

 above price. 



One harvest from thy fields 

 Homeward brought the oxen strong. 

 A second crop thine acres yield 

 Which I gather in a song; 



The Spring Bulletin of one year ago 

 outlined in a tentative way the report 

 on areas suitable for state parks which 

 was being prepared by a special com- 

 mittee of the Society known as the 

 Friends Of Our Native Landscape. 

 This committee of which the executive 

 members were Jens Jensen, Prof. S. A. 

 Forbes, and Dr. Henry C. Cowles has 

 made its final report to the Society and 

 the publication of the report is now 

 under way. The report is chiefly con- 

 cerned with certain "major projects" 

 such as the Palisades of the Missis- 

 sippi from Savanna northward with an 

 extension to take in the Apple River 

 Canyon ; the Rock River Valley Park 

 including an extension of the valley of 

 Pine Creek to take in White Pine 

 Forest of Ogle County; the Deer Park 

 and Vermilion River addition to Starv- 

 ed Rock Park; the Middle Illinois 

 River Park below Havana ; a park near 

 the mouth of the Illinois River in 

 Jersey and Calhoun Counties ; a Mis- 

 sissippi Valley Park in Jackson and 

 Union counties to include Fountain 

 Bluff, and the Wolf Lake Country; the 

 Effingham Prairie Park; a Wabash 

 Valley Park in Gallatin County. 

 These are the areas which the commit- 

 tee has been able to include in its of 

 necessity somewhat cursory surveys. 

 Other areas which the committee has 

 had no opportunity to investigate 

 directly, appear to the committee 

 worthy of careful consideration and 

 are referred to with favorable com- 

 ment. 



The work of the State Park Com- 

 mittee of the Friends of Our Native 

 Landscape has aroused much interest 

 in various parts of the state. The 

 outcome has been the preparation of a 

 bill relating to state parks and pre- 

 serves, which was introduced in the 

 legislature by Representative Harlan 

 B. Kauffman. This bill provides for 



the appointment of a state park board 

 composed of five members, one of 

 whom shall be the state forester. This 

 board is to make an investigation of 

 places which are of historic or scien- 

 tific interest or natural scenic beauty 

 and to formulate a comprehensive sys- 

 tem of state parks, preserves and ex- 

 perimental stations. The board is to 

 report to the department of public 

 works and buildings and to recom- 

 mend the acquisition of such tracts of 

 land as may deem suitable. The powers 

 of the board are purely advisory, the 

 bill vesting within the department of 

 public works and buildings, the con- 

 trol, supervision and management of 

 all such parks and the power to pur- 

 chase, lease, receive by donation or 

 devise, or take possession of tracts of 

 land suitable for public parks, forests, 

 game and fish preserves, etc. 



The bill carries with it an annual 

 appropriation of $250,000.00, which, 

 while not at all liberal, might by care- 

 ful management during a term of years 

 be made to cover the purchase of spe- 

 cially significant portions of desired 

 areas and thereby stimulate local in- 

 terest in gifts of additional portions. 

 However, at the time of writing this, 

 the proposition to ask for so modest 

 an annual appropriation seems futile. 

 It appears that there is something al- 

 most sacred about the low tax rate 

 established by the Lowden administra- 

 tion and the present administration is 

 being besought by powerful organiza- 

 tions of various kinds to oppose on 

 general principles any legislative enact- 

 ment carrying an appropriation which 

 may increase the sum total of state 

 levy beyond the confines mentioned. 

 Education, conservation, state pride in 

 its spiritual possessions must not be 

 ministered to for fear the forty cent 

 rate will suffer. 



Dear reader and Audubonite, how 

 much state tax are you paying this 

 year of grace? The writer finds that 

 his state tax out of a total tax of about 

 sixty dollars for all purposes is less 

 than three dollars a year, or less than 

 twenty-five cents a month. Now an 

 appropriation for state parks called for 

 above might possibly increase the 

 writer's tax twelve cents a year or one 

 cent a month. Figure out your own 

 "burden" in proportion and tell it to 

 your legislator. 



