THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 
Published Quarterly by the 
ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 
Roosevelt Road and Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Ill., 60605 
Number 142 
June 1967 
Piste meh oD EN 11S) P A.C E 
by RAYMOND MOSTEK 
The effort to preserve some of 
America’s wild rivers has received 
much wider attention the last few 
years. Recently, Cong. John Saylor 
(R., Pa.) introduced HR 90 which 
would “reserve certain public lands 
for a National Scenic Rivers Sys- 
tem, and provide a procedure for 
adding public lands and _ other 
lands to the system.” Among the 
many rivers recommended for pre- 
servation are the Salmon and 
Clearwater in Idaho, the Rogue 
in Oregon, the Rio Grande in New 
Mexico, Hudson River in New 
York, the fabled Suwannee in Flor- 
ida, and the Great Saint Croix in 
Minnesota and Wisconsin. 
Many other rivers also are 
mentioned. The bill is worthy of 
support, for it would be a great 
aid to preservation of wildlife and 
scenic areas. Our wild rivers are 
becoming a last refuge for those 
who would wander off the crowded 
highways and retreat from our 
overflowing national and_ state 
parks—as our human _ population 
soars while our wildlife diminishes. 
re have walked the 46-mile 
wilderness of the Greenstone Ridge 
In Isle Royale National Park; we 
have paddled the famed Canoe 
Country waters of the Quetico- 
Superior Wilderness several times; 
we have climbed the towering 
Grand Tetons; and we have visited 
the serene wilderness of the Bob 
Marshall area in Montana on horse- 
back. But our 1962 trip down the 
Grand Canyon of the Colorado 
River on a Georgie White Expe- 
dition was perhaps the most un- 
usual vacation adventure. 
Our small raft contained only 
twelve persons. Between rapids 
and film-making, I had the op- 
portunity to read “The Explora- 
tion of the Colorado River” by 
Major John Wesley Powell (95c 
from the Natural History Library). 
A ride through Marble Canyon 
and Lava Falls by boat is a most 
unforgettable experience. 
The Bureau of Reclamation and 
the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers 
apparently have a deep dislike for 
free-flowing streams. They will 
seemingly not be content unless 
they put a dam on each one or 
until they eliminate the bows and 
turns on our major rivers. The 
Audubon Magazine recently de- 
scribed the calamity which has 
overtaken the captivating Okla- 
hawa River in Florida which 
the poet Sidney Lanier praised 
so highly. The Florida Audubon 
