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This spring, 23 CONTINENTAL MUTE SWANS, obtained from the Michigan Department of Conservation, were also 
released in the Canton area. Michigan and New Jersey are the only two states in the nation with free-flying flocks of this 
species; and the Department is trying to make Illinois the third state. 
This breed of swan was first brought to the U.S. from Europe in the 1700’s; and they are still abundant in the Traverse 
City area. The Department hopes to get some more birds from Michigan to add to the flock of 13 cobs (males) and 10 pens 
(females) which have already been released. These birds are now ‘two. years old and already weigh 20 pounds, however, they 
will not mate until they are four. 
If more swans are obtained, they may be released on the Mississippi River, however, the biologists are worried that they 
may be mistaken by hunters for Snow Geese. The swans are much larger, and lack the black wing tips of the geese. The 
Department biologists are hoping that the swans will help control some of the algae on the strip mine lakes. 
This April, 52 male WILD TURKEYS were shot in the second annual season in Jackson, Union, and Alexander 
Counties. This was an increase of 29 birds over last year’s season; and the Department believes that a good turkey population 
has now been established in the Shawnee National Forest of southern Illinois. 
More than 80,000 CANVASBACK DUCKS were counted on Pool 19, near Keokuk, on the Mississippi River this spring. 
Frank Bellrose of the Natural History Survey, announced that this is approximately 1/4 of the entire U.S. Canvasback 
population; and this species has been making increased use of Pool 19 in the past four years. (Note: The Corps of Engineers is 
planning to dredge Pool 19, and this will destroy much of the habitat of the Canvasbacks and other waterfowl.) The 
Department game biologists believe that the Canvasbacks have moved to Illinois from the Detroit area because of a lack of 
food on their resting pools. One theory is that pollution has forced ducks to change their ancestral migration pattern. 
Speaking of ducks, the Department has also announced a major breakthrough in waterfowl banding with a new method 
of trapping diving ducks. Preparations are now being made to build permanent traps so that a full scale banding program can 
be put into operation. 
Negotiations are underway between the Department and the Ayrshire Coal Co. of Indianapolis to protect BEAL 
WOODS NATURE PRESERVE from ecological damage through nearby mining activities. Ayrshire plans to open a new 
underground mine ten miles northeast of the Wabash River forest to supply power for the electric power plant across the 
river; and the Department has been concerned about the possibility of subsidence and aesthetic degradation. Beall Woods is 
one of the few virgin stands of hardwood forest left in the midwest and includes many species of record-size trees. 
The Department is seeking to acquire 850 acres to act as a buffer zone around VOLO—WILSON BOG in Lake County. 
The Department now owns 47.5 acres which contains a tamarack forest as well as many rare plants peculiar to a quaking bog. 
Director of Conservation, Henry Barkhausen, has also defended the propal to add 1,400 additional acres to ILLINOIS 
BEACH STATE PARK north of the Zion Nuclear Power Plant. This would extend the state park system all the way along the 
lake front to the Wisconsin border. The proposed addition involves three tracts and would include the Zion North Shore 
subdivision, the army’s Camp Logan, the Winthrop Harbor shoreline, and the acreage of the Lake County Forest Preserve 
District. 




