ee eee a De BeOrNG OB Th la ESL IN 2 
~l 
paying members of conservation clubs in Illinois developed a single “con- 
? 
cern,” what dramatic and bold changes would take place! 
We need persons in every Audubon society, every sportsmens’ club, every 
garden club, who can become concerned over the lack of nature areas for 
our public schools; we need persons who can develop a concern over the 
plight of our upland birds; we need a concern over the decline of the Bald 
Eagle and the Prairie Chicken, and we need people who will help raise 
funds to insure their survival; we need a concern over the lack of forest 
preserve districts in Illinois; we need a concern over the billboard blight 
which has turned our roadsides into ugly signboard alleys; we need nature 
centers in all of our forest preserve districts; we need vigilante committees 
to prevent our state and local parks from being turned into amusement 
centers by inept park administrators; we need more “clean streams” com- 
mittees to help patrol our rivers and control pollution; we need more Junior 
Audubon Clubs in Illinois; we need a concern over hawks and owls to in- 
sure that a good law is not ignored or forgotten; we need more state and 
local parks, for these are natural refuges for wildlife and serve as spiritual 
sanctuaries for human beings. Such a list can easily be doubled. 
Ten years ago our Society had a “conservation committee” which con- 
sisted of one person who handled the book and literature department. Today 
this committee consists of nine persons. We have a chairman and a vice- 
chairman; a sub-committee on pesticides and a sub-committee on open 
spaces. In ten years this committee has sought to end the senseless ani- 
mosity between bird-watchers and sportsmen; it has succeeded in changing 
the image of the I.A.S. from a “waiting and watching” society back to its 
original role as one of the more dynamic conservation groups in Illinois. It 
has returned to the role its founders had envisioned: a militant protector 
of wildlife and wildlands. Dr. Hugh Iltis recently said: “To take bird walks 
and nature hikes and talk about conservation without active involvement in 
the problems of nature conservation, is to hide in an ivory tower.’’ Con- 
servation organizations are created for the same reason that we form gov- 
ernments — to enable people to accomplish together what they would find 
impossible to do singly. Let us take up our task. 
615 Rochdale Circle, Lombard, Ill. 
fi tal ft 
UNINVITED GUEST 
The spruce beside my door 
Holds a shredded nest 
And nothing more 
Where only yesterday 
Scarlet wings and crest 
Held kingly sway: 
Death passed this way 
Last night 
With catnip breath. 
Emeline Ennis Kotula 
ai ff fl 
