18 THE. A U*D°U'B OWN ~B°UcL LT Eee 
Conservation News and Notes 
By RAYMOND MOSTEK 
New Illinois State Museum — For many years the museum in Springfield 
has been placed in cramped, inadequate quarters on the top floor of the 
Centennial Building near the State Capitol. A bill to provide for the con- 
struction of a new, modern building is now being debated in the state 
legislature. Your state representative would be interested in knowing your 
opinion. The Museum’s value in outdoor education is obvious throughout 
the state. 
Desplaines Wildlife Refuge — A 2400 acre tract in Joliet known as the 
Desplaines Public Hunting and Wildlife Refuge is the subject of bitter 
debate between sportsmen and the Sante Fe Railroad. Senator Dirksen 
says that the federal government may obtain over a million dollars if the 
land is sold for an industrial site. However, State Conservation Director 
Glenn Palmer, Congressman Barratt O’Hara, and Senator Douglas are try- 
ing to preserve the area as a wildlife refuge through U.S. Senate Bill 747. 
The State of Illinois has already spent $500,000 in the area for lakes and 
pheasant pens. If this wildlife refuge is lost, it will be due to the failure 
of the General Services Administration and Senator Dirksen to appreciate 
other values in life than the over-industrialization of a huge metropoli- 
tan district. 
Illinois Prairie Chicken Committee Formed — A panel discussion on the 
plight of the Prairie Chicken in Illinois at the Natural Resources Council 
of Illinois meeting held at Oregon, Ill. last October has led to the formation 
of an Emergency Committee to Save the Prairie Chicken from extinction 
in our state. The committee was formed at the urging of J. W. Galbreath, 
Executive Director of the Cahokia Nature League. 
The first meeting of the committee was held in Springfield on April 11, 
1959. A visit to local booming grounds was held the next day. The com- 
mittee is composed of members of the Izaak Walton League, the Illinois 
Federation of Sportsmens Clubs and the Illinois Audubon Society. Other 
groups will be invited to serve at a later date. I.A.S. members of the com- 
mittee are Peter Petersen, Jr. of Davenport, Iowa, Joseph Galbreath of 
East St. Louis, and’ Raymond Mostek of Lombard. The committee has the 
active support of the State Department of Conservation and the State 
Natural History Survey. 
N.R.C.I. Outdoor Conference — The Natural Resources Council of Illinois 
will hold its sixth annual Outdoor Conference on Conservation problems at 
Allerton Park in Monticello, Ill., on Sept. 26-27, 1959. The theme of the 
Conference will be “Conservation for the Future.” Among the topics to be 
discussed will be “The County Forest Preserve: Its Uses, Needs and Prob- 
lems; “How Can We Reclaim Our Strip Mines for Recreation?” and 
“Whither Our Water.” 
The Following Conservation Bills are now before the 86th Congress and are 
among the most important being considered by various committees. Your 
support of these bills is urgent, as the vote on the floor of Congress will 
come up soon. Write to Senators Paul Douglas and Everett Dirksen at 
