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scene. Ours is a vocal organization, and our voice is heard on conservation 
matters throughout the state. The Audubon Wildlife Films, presented each 
fall at the Chicago Museum of Natural History, help influence over five 
thousand persons annually. One can be proud to be a member of I. A. S. 
If one is to informed about national conservation matters, there is no 
better group to join than the National Audubon Society. With annual dues 
at $8.50 and offices at 1130 Fifth Ave,. New York, New York, it has become 
one of the most dynamic civic groups in the nation. Under the vigorous 
leadership of President ‘Carl Buchheister and his aide, Charles Callison, 
the opinions and work of this national group are respected and heeded in 
the Congress and in the Interior Department, as never before. We are 
proud to say that our Society enjoys excellent relations with the staff 
at Audubon House and that we are in regular correspondence with them. 
Audubon Magazine, issued six times a year, is without question the finest 
conservation magazine, and it improves with each issue. There is no “rivalry” 
between our state group and the National Audubon Society, for we fully 
realize that without a national organization to coordinate, originate and 
sponsor many activities, the Audubon movement would be weak indeed. 
As President Carl Buchheister declares so aptly, “Audubon means con- 
servation.” 
Although the National Audubon Society has enjoyed tremendous 
growth in the last few years and has doubled its membership to over 
45,000, it is obvious that with over two million “bird-watchers” in a country 
of 191.000,000, the group does not fulfill its membership potential. Think 
of how effective a national Audubon group could be if its membership 
were ten times as great — 450,000! This is not an unreasonable figure, 
when you consider that the National Rifle Association numbers over 500,000 
persons. Many groups in this country exceed the half-million mark. It is 
estimated that over 100,000,000 persons will visit our national parks in 
1964 — a fantastic figure. If only a few thousand of these people were 
inspired enough by what they saw to join a local, state, and/or national 
conservation group upon their return home, we could do much more to 
help preserve wildlife and wilderness values. 
Notes from the Nest 
Biologists have counted at least 107 species of animals and nearly as many 
species of birds which have been exterminated from the face of the earth 
in the last 2.000 years, most of them in the past century ... It has been 
said that “Conservation begins in the mind of man when he realizes that 
there is a tomorrow” .. . President Lyndon Johnson is considering a 
proposal to recommend that Congress establish a Redwoods National Park 
in Northern California ... At this writing (late in July), it appears that 
‘Congress will approve several important conservation bills before it ad- 
journs: the Wilderness Bill has been passed by the Senate and House, 
and the two versions will be considered by a coordinating committee; the 
important Land and Water Conservation Fund Bill, H.R. 3846, has been 
approved after a stubborn fight, but must be voted upon again in its 
final form. There is a slim possibility of approval for the Indiana Dunes 
National Lakeshore, under a “compromise” proposal which would allow 
construction of a huge harbor at Burns Ditch for the sole benefit of two 
steel firms ... Fire Island, with its exciting Sunken Forest, near the coast 
of Long Island, New York, may be protected by Congress this session. 
This will add another ocean-front area to the public domain ... In the 
