16 THE AU.D U BYO'NY BU DC Lee 
Book Review 
OUR VANISHING SHORELINE. National Park Service, Department of the 
Interior, Washington 25, D.C. 36 pages, 8% x 11, free. 
This is a brief report of a recent survey of our vanishing seashore. The 
survey was made possible by funds provided by a generous public citizen. 
This booklet may alarm many people but it will also inform every reader 
of the great serious loss of one of the most valuable of all natural resources 
— unspoiled and undeveloped shoreline with public access thereto. Twenty 
years ago, the National Park Service urged that 12 major strips of land 
with 437 miles of beach be set aside as federal areas. A generation later, 
all 12, save one, have been developed by commercial and private interests. 
Mining operations, oil wells, and numerous acquisitions by the National 
Defense Establishment have consumed vast reaches of seashore. Now that 
few shorelines are left, Easterners have become concerned about their pres- 
ervation. Without park and beach land, the entire Eastern United States can 
become one huge urban area. City planners have long warned of this 
problem. The seashore holds great scenic, recreational and _ scientific 
values. The booklet concludes with recommendations to citizen groups and 
public bodies. The brochure contains numerous photographs and maps and 
is well worth the cost of a postcard. It is eloquent testimony for early pass- 
age of the proposal of Senator Douglas for establishment of an Indiana 
Sand Dunes National Monument. 
Raymond Mostek, 615 Rochdale Circle, Lombard, Illinois 
fi iat A 
