14 TH BH VA U'DIUSB O!N 2B ULE ene 
of Indiana Dunes State Park and to oppose the Burns Ditch Harbor de- 
velopment. Since the area is close to Chicago and federal funds would be 
needed for the harbor project, the work of this group is important to us. 
The Illinois Audubon Society has made a heavy contribution to the work of 
the Save-the-Dunes Council. Burns Ditch les between the Park and Ogden 
Dunes. The Council has become so effective in Indiana, that Gov. Craig has 
felt its power; its existence is one of the chief reasons why the $50 mil- 
lion project has not yet been built. Richard Pough, President of the Nature 
Conservancy, has declared that unless such areas as the Dunes are saved 
from exploitation, the lake front will become a slum in less than 25 years. 
The Nature Conservancy has been instrumental in saving many natural 
areas in the United States in the last two years. Mettler’s Woods in New 
Jersey, one of the last primeval forests in eastern America, was saved by 
the contribution of $75,000 by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters as a 
memorial to their late president. The area will now be known as the William 
Hutchinson Memorial Forest. Sufficient funds remain to provide for its 
care and maintenance. Other preserves which have become a reality are 
Mianus Gorge in New York, Dome Island in upper New York, Seth Low 
bottomland forest in Maryland, and Fire Island Bog on Long Island. 
The Cook County Forest Preserve District voted to acquire an additional 
4,177 acres of land at a cost of 3% million dollars. Over 2,400 acres will be 
obtained in the Spring Creek Valley near Barrington; 845 acres will be 
added to Busse Woods and 147 acres will be added to Sauk Trail woods 
near Park Forest .... Over 5 million dollars is being spent by the National 
Park Service at Everglades National Park. Among new facilities to be built 
are an exhibit building, a picnic area, rest rooms and public campgrounds. 
You can obtain a free copy of the 1955 Department of Agriculture Year- 
book entitled ““‘Water” simply by writing your Congressman. It is free! ! ! 
Over 736 pages long, it covers such topics as “Animals and Fowl] and 
Water,” “Rainfall and Soil Erosion,” “Water and our Wildlife,” ‘Pure 
Water for Farms and Cities.” When you write your Congressman, be 
sure to ask him to vote for Senate Bill 2831, which would help create 
Hennepin Canal State Park near Princeton, III. 
The “soil bank” plan first recommended by the Izaak Walton League, if 
adopted by Congress, can help provide much needed grass land for the 
Prairie Chicken. “A timber bank” plan could go a long way towards stop- 
ping soil erosion and disastrous floods. The National Key Deer Refuge in 
Florida, first established in 1954 to protect these tiny specimens, has also 
provided a refuge for the Roseate Spoonbill, the White-Crowned Pigeon 
and the Great White Heron. 
The death of Bernard DeVoto, famed columnist for Harper’s magazine, 
removes from the scene one of the greatest conservationists this nation has 
ever known. Sen. Neuberger has told how DeVoto, at considerable personal 
expense, waged a successful fight against the Cordon-Ellsworth bill, which 
would have allowed timber companies to gain control of our National 
Forests. DeVoto rallied the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, and the 
National Wildlife Federation. He conferred with many Congressmen. The 
bill was defeated by a wide margin. DeVoto, born in Utah, was one of the 
early leaders against Echo Park Dam. 
