ie nee AS ODA) BVOENR BE Ub EL TiN ll 
access to water facilities. Twelve state parks with an aggregate of over 
18,000 acres have been established; an added 2,000 small areas were 
designated as roadside parks, with public access points where people may 
reach the lakes. This is in strong contrast to the Great Fox Lake region 
of Northern Illinois where no large state park serves the need of the Metro- 
politan Chicago population. 
The Reader’s Digest for July contained a most disturbing article entitled, 
“Do the Armed Forces Need a 35-Million Acre Empire?” The story told of 
the alarming rate at which our public land is being gobbled by the Pentagon. 
Today the Armed Forces possess land equivalent to a 14 mile strip running 
from ocean to ocean. Over $21,000,000 a year is being spent to maintain 200 
idle bases containing over one million acres. Worse yet is that the Armed 
Forces are so jealous of each other that they refuse to cooperate on the 
use of these installations. Anyone who says we cannot afford more funds to 
end water pollution and protect our wildlife has only to look at the huge 
waste of millions of dollars every week by our Pentagon. 
fi a fi 
CONSERVATION FORCES AMONG others are celebrating the Theodore Roosevelt 
Centennial Year of 1958. A bird watcher and naturalist himself, the 26th 
President dramatized the need for vigorous conservation measures by his 
call for a Governor’s Conference at the White House in 1908. While Presi- 
dent for seven eventful years, Theodore Roosevelt established 85 national 
monuments, over 50 game and wildlife preserves and set aside more than 
100 million acres of forest land (including the magnificent canoe country 
area of the Superior National Forest, now almost 98% in federal owner- 
ship). Crater Lake, Wind Cave, Mesa Verde and Glacier National Parks 
were set aside during his administration. Theodore Roosevelt fought the 
abusers of our land and wildlife at a time when conservation forces were 
weak and poorly mobilized. We can be grateful for his monumental achieve- 
ments and his foresight. 
ff Ah pal 
SENATOR PAUL H. DouGLaAs recently presented to the Senate six books of 
petitions containing over 100,000 signatures seeking preservation of the 
final four mile stretch of Northern Indiana sand dunes as a National 
Monument. Senator Douglas’s bill to create the park, introduced at a late 
date, failed of passage and will be brought up again in the next session of 
Congress. Meanwhile, the search for signatures, the circulation of petitions, 
and untiring work by the Save the Dunes Council members still goes on... 
The U.'S. Fish and Wildlife Service has produced a new film, 14 minutes 
in length, on the Whooping Crane. It may be obtained on a loan basis from 
the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior, Wash- 
merton 25, D.C. 
The Department of the Interior has made known the creation of the 
Simeonof National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska for the preservation of the 
Sea Otter. The island contains over 10,440 acres, lies about 250 miles SW 
