

_ ies aot 
- 6 - I.A.S. Newsletter, August 1966 



































TALES FROM A BIRD-FEEDER 
By Raymond Mostek 
Wisconsin has been acquiring 40,000 acres a year for recreation for the 
last four years, Here in Illinois, state officials seem to have "industry 
on the brain."' They have been passing along the rumor that Illinois land 
is only good for business and farming. This kind of nonsense has given us 
less land for recreation per citizen than any state in the Union. Wisconsin 
has a one cent a pack cigarette tax for land acquisition. Illinois 
politicians vetoed a similar tax, Our northern neighbor has acquired 93,000 
acres for land management for game, 30,000 for fishing grounds and over 27,000 
| acres for parks and recreation, including 458 miles of public access land to 
lakes and stream. Illinois has no public land on the Mississippi River, but 
| conservation forces are told we must be happy with perhaps 40 to 80 acres of 
public land for the expanded Lewis and Clark State Park near Wood River, Ill, 
Guess who would get the rest? You are so right!$!3%! 
The National Park Service celebrates its 50th anniversary during August, 
1966, There are over 26 million acres in the N.P.S.'s 226 units..... 
North Shore citizens have established a Green Bay Trail committee(PO Box 37, 
Hubbard Woods, Ill.) seeking land for a bicycle and hiking path along the old 
and abandoned Chicago and North Shore RR.....Kentucky people who have long 
1, been incensed over absentee ownership, strip mine operators and eastern bankers, 
i have finally obtained passage of a new "strip-mine" law, The Cumberlands of 
eastern Kentucky have been ruined beyond belief by strip mining. Woods, water, 
and human resources have counted for nothing. "NightComes to the Cumberlands" 
by Harry Caudill (Brown and Co.) is the mst revealing book ever written on 
this subject..... 
nes Sen, Douglas says that the federal government owns 582,000 acres of western 
land containing oil shale deposits worth three trillion dollars, Conservationists 
are interested in preventing another Teapot Dome scandal, The deposits are 
considered capable of producing over 1.1 trillion barrels of oil.....Protests 
by South Barrington, Ill. residents over use of their land as a Site for an 
“atom-smasher" project, saved 1900 acres for an expanded Cook County Forest 
Preserve, The Atomic Energy Comm. apparently has eliminated the site from 
future plans.....A five-mile long dam across the Rio Grame River in New 
Mexico will create a lake 20 miles long. Cochiti Indians will supervise 
recreation facilities for an expected one million annual visitors..... 
President Johnson has signed a bill creating the 20,000 acre Cape Lookout 
National Seashore in North Carolina.....California Park and Recreation Dept. 
is seeking approval for a $500 million, 20-year program calling for 23,000 new 
camping units, 30,000 picnic units and other public facilities.....The Natural 
Land Institute (819 N, Main St., Rockford, Ill.) now has 374 acres under its 
control. The Dept. of Conservation is interested in its Castle Rock unit as 
a future state park..... The U.S. Bureau of Land Management estimates there 
are 50 million acres in the far West in danger of wind and water erosion; 
6 million are in extremely "hazardous" condition. 

