THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 
Published Quarterly by the 
ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 
Roosevelt Road and Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Ill. 60605 
Number 136 December 1965 
THE PRESIDENT’'S PAGE 
By Raymond Mostek 
In an exciting, dramatic, illustrated talk before the Natural Resources Council 
of Illinois, Dr. Hugh Iltis of the Botany Department of the University of 
Wisconsin summed up doctrines that we have recognized for many years. 
His lecture: ‘““Man and His Vanishing Environment—A Contemporary Catas- 
trophe,”’ was an indictment against man’s careless use and trusteeship of the 
woods, soil, water, and wildlife of the planet Earth. 
The 12th Annual Natural Resources Council of Illinois Meeting was held 
at Camp Sagawau in the Palos Park Forest Preserve near Lemont. The Fri- 
day night session opened with a panel discussion on conservation problems 
as they affect Illinois and Chicago. Participants were Floyd Zebell of the 
Izaak Walton League, Harvey Tenner of the Illinois Federation of Sports- 
men’s Clubs, Betty Groth of the Illinois Audubon Society, and William 
Edinger of the National Campers and Hikers Association. Mr. Stuart Chase, 
Chairman of the Daniel Burnham Committee of Hyde Park in Chicago, en- 
livened the discussion with a detailed report of the dramatic fight to save 
over 800 trees in Jackson Park, many over 75 years of age. The trees were 
destroyed by order of Mayor Richard Daley to provide a high-speed express- 
way through the park. Infuriated by the expressway plans, members of the 
committee tied signs to scores of trees, defying arrest by police. Others 
carried several destroyed tree branches before the mayor’s home. Their 
dramatic fight on the south side of the city appears lost, but their efforts 
resulted in sufficient protest to city hall to halt similar tree destruction in 
Lincoln Park, also affected by highway plans. 
The Saturday morning session was devoted to talks on air pollution and 
the lowa Conservation District plans. The afternoon included a discussion and 
films on the effects of population pressures on natural resources. ‘Wild 
Rivers of America,” a new sound film by Humble Oil Company, portrayed the 
beauty and wilderness values to be found in a wild river, whether the current 
is fast or slow. The rivers of this nation are under ceaseless attack from the 
U.S. Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation. The dam builders 
not only seek to invade the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, but they plan to 
“drown Alaska” with the mammoth Rampart Dam over the Yukon River, and 
thus “create employment and industrial opportunities’? while they destroy a 
vast natural area, wipe out wildlife habitats, and decimate the Pacific Flyway. 
“House of Man” and “Population Ecology” dramatically portrayed life 
on a crowded planet. Rev. Don Shaw, Education Director of the Chicago 
Planned Parenthood Association, told the audience that parts of Yosemite 
National Park and other scenic wonderlands which he has visited lately are 
being destroyed by the vast numbers of visitors. The population of this nation 
(over 194,797,000 as of August 1965) is due to double within 35 years. 
Wilderness experiences will become more and more difficult to obtain. Over 
