fae AUDUBON BULLETIN 
Published Quarterly by the 
Pei eNO oA LU Ds. BOUIN |S O-C iL ET Y. 
ROOSEVELT ROAD AND LAKE SHORE DRIVE, CHICAGO 5, ILL. 
Number 121 March, 1962 
OPEN SPACES IN ILLINOIS 
By BETTY GROTH 
“THis, Too, SHALL PAss” used to be the philosophy that helped me over 
the rough spots in life. Now the thought alarms me as I drive past a 
beautiful wooded slope, a marsh filled with bird life, a country brook, a 
thicket, or an open meadow beyond suburbia. For these, too, shall pass — 
all threatened with real estate development, industrial expansion, and urban 
sprawl. Ultimately, the bulldozer. 
This is no idle fear. Vast sweeps of country landscape and wildlife habi- 
tat that we enjoyed in our childhood have been transformed into towns. 
Illinois outdoors is fast becoming Illinois indoors, with a blight of shopping 
plazas, amusement sites, outdoor theaters, trailer parks, and industrial 
centers. Every year more of our Illinois prairies are paved with asphalt 
for parking lots. Nature is being forced off the land. 
Just yesterday a large corner estate, dating back to 1863, with sloping 
green lawns, great trees, and tangles of vines and flowering shrubs for 
wildlife cover, was gutted to bare mud by three machines, seemingly in five 
minutes. “Fine job,” the supervisor voiced his approval of the total devas- 
tation of oaks, elms, pine, lilacs, wild cherry, and grape. Migrating birds 
this spring will find their 100-year-old nesting site an appalling mud hole. 
This is the third large bulldozing in one block in one year. 
The pattern is repeated in city after city in Illinois. In metropolitan ex- 
pansion, in the eager chase for the illusive dollar, we are losing our healthy 
oneness with Nature. Little wonder that man is becoming a bundle of 
nerves, with citizens pouring into mental clinics — cut off from nature, 
their greatest source of health, energy, and peace of mind. 
I like to think of the outdoors as a gift from our Creator, for our en- 
joyment, our health, for serenity and personal growth. There is so much 
wisdom to be learned from nature, so much inspiration to enjoy. What land 
have we left in Illinois where people can “take to the woods,” relax and 
camp, and acquire this peace of mind? What land have we left for survival 
of the species, what native Illinois birds and wildlife, wildflowers and 
plants, trees and streams? “You have your State Parks,” the metropolitan 
interests will contend. How adequate are the parks for the population pres- 
sure of Illinois? The total — about 34,500 acres, exclusive of other areas 
for hunting, forestry, and water acreages for fishing. And even these State 
Parks are threatened from time to time with encroachment. 
Illinois Beach State Park nature area is under assault by Waukegan for 
160 acres to build a boat marina, golf course, and swimming pool, violating 
the very use for which this distinctive land was conserved. At Pere Mar- 
quette State Park, in a fabulous setting of redbud, flowering dogwood, and 
magnificent river bluffs, a Nike Missile base wiped out hidden acres of 
wild beauty and the sanctity of a permanent preserve. 
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