20 THE AUDUBON BIULL DO Ea 
The Illinois Chapter has saved the Volo and Wauconda bogs in Northern 
Illinois (perhaps YOU helped) and Rocky Branch in East Central Illinois, 
near Charleston. Present projects include preservation of Hart Memorial 
Woods, a 36-acre tract in Champaign County near Mahomet, bordering on 
the Sangamon River. 
The money you contribute, including membership dues, goes to buy 
land. If you join, you will actually contribute to buying or preserving 
some natural area in Illinois that you may wish to enjoy yourself someday, 
or that someone else may use because of your generosity. 
The Nature Conservancy is not a holding company for any lands. The 
society merely serves to option, lease, buy, or receive donations of valuable 
areas in order to save them from destruction. After this step, the Con- 
servancy usually makes a drive to raise money locally or throughout the 
U.S.A. to complete the purchase. It then arranges for some responsible 
organization, institution, or state or federal agency to take ownership in 
order to maintain the area in its natural condition. One large area near 
Illinois that is of extreme interest is the glacial relict area of about six 
hundred acres known as Pine Hills or the Devil’s Backbone adjoining The 
Shades, an Indiana State Park. This area was saved by the Nature Con- 
servancy; arrangements were made for the State of Indiana to add Pine 
Hills to The Shades State Park with the agreement not to develop the 
addition but to keep it a wilderness for those who prefer rugged hiking. 
Stewart L. Udall, Secretary of the Interior, says: “Our capacity to alter 
the world of nature is truly awesome. Population pressures and the re- 
quirements of commercial expansion and urban growth are constantly 
at work, enlarging the man-made portion of our environment and diminish- 
ing the natural ... We must move ahead with the development of our 
land resources. Likewise, our technology must be refined. But in the long 
run, life will succeed only in a life-giving environment, and we can no 
longer afford unnecessary sacrifice of living space and natural landscapes 
to progress. The sad truth is that development tends to outrun planning 
in our society. More often than not, the bulldozer’s work is done before 
the preservationist and the planner arrive on the scene.” 
The Illinois Chapter and its members have also helped substantially 
in the purchase of land to help save the prairie chickens of Tllinois through 
the Prairie Chicken Foundation. There is no better way to share your 
love of the out-of-doors than to help preserve it for others yet to come. 
We have a duty to set aside as many natural areas as we can find and 
afford to buy before they are destroyed. The time is short. Why don’t you 
join the Illinois Chapter of The Nature Conservancy? 
139 N. Vermilion Street, Danville, Illinois 
_ 
VOLUNTEER EDITOR WANTED! 
We are seeking a guest editor to prepare the September issue of 
THE AUDUBON BULLETIN for publication early in August. A guest 
editor will be needed because your regular Editor plans to be 
working all of his spare time on our forthcoming book, BIRD FIND- 
ING IN ILLINOIS. If you have training or talent as an editor, please 
write at once to Paul H. Lobik, 22W681 Tamarack Drive, Glen Ellyn, 
IWinois. Your help is urgently needed. 
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