ae eres Ol) Bb Nee We lele rh lel N 3 
sentatives in voting a reduction in 
funds for the land acquisition 
needed for the Indiana Dunes Na- 
tional Lakeshore. Funds for the 
Pentagon and the military budget 
of the nation which now totals $81 
BILLION dollars a year, are us- 
ually voted affirmatively by the 
Congress without a murmer, and 
in less than an hour of discussion. 
Somewhere in the Bible it is writ- 
ten, “Where your heart is, there is 
your treasure also.” In action 
almost beyond belief, the USS. 
House interior committee voted out 
a measly 28,000-acre Redwood Na- 
tional Park. Congressman Cohelan 
of California was urging a 90,000- 
acre park. In 1872, Congress estab- 
lished a Yellowstone National Park 
of over 2,000,000 acres, and this 
was in the days of the famed “rob- 
ber barons,” the plunderers of old, 
who sought to obtain the vast re- 
source riches of the U.S.A. for 
their personal empires ... A leaflet 
called “Facts for Firearms Owners” 
can be obtained from Firearm Ow- 
ners Identification Div., Dept. of 
Public Safety, State Capitol, Spring- 
field, Ill. 62706. After Sept. 1, 1968, 
all firearm owners must have an 
identification card The Grand 
Rapids Audubon Club, 54 Jefferson 
st., Grand Rapids, Mich. 49502, is 
offering a 12-page leaflet on blue- 
birds, and bluebird house plans for 
ten cents. Local Illinois clubs would 
do well to order several dozen of 
these leaflets. The Grand Rapids 
club has distributed over 10,000 of 
these leaflets during 1968. How is 
that for vigor? ... Meanwhile, back 
in Illinois, several bird clubs have 
started Audubon bluebird trails. 
Mr. Tomlin of Wenona, II1., reports 
that a party of four persons in 1966 
saw over one hundred bluebirds in 
his area. Bluebird houses have been 
placed on a farm near Magnolia, 
Ill., with the houses a gift of Mr. 
and Mrs. Robert Webster. In Knox 
County, Mrs. Palmer and Mrs. Van 
Dyke tell us of efforts to establish 
bluebird trails in that area. Leroy 
Tunstall and the DuPage Audubon 
Society have placed bluebird houses 
along the Illinois Prairie Path .. 
Interior Secretary Udall has pro- 
posed a 195-mile Potomac River 
Memorial. It would help preserve 
67,000 acres along the Maryland, 
Virginia and West Virginia sides of 
the river from D.C. to Cumberland, 
Md. President Johnson stressed the 
area in his plea to Congress last 
March. The C&O Canal National 
Monument would become part of 
the Potomac National River. The 
FPC would be precluded from au- 
thorizing any new dams on the 
river. Land costs would be about 
$65 million Edward Ryerson 
and Mrs. Marion Cole have won the 
1967 Deerfield Community Conser- 
vation Council awards. Mr. Ryerson 
donated some land to the Lake 
County Forest Preserve District 
and Mrs. Cole was given an award 
for her work with the Deerfield 
Park District ... Illinois Conserva- 
tion Department has announced re- 
ceipt of a lease of over 5,000 acres 
of land from the Army Corps of 
Engineers at the Shelbyville Reser- 
voir. Four public access areas will 
be developed with tent camping 
and picnic and boat launch facili- 
ties ... The National Audubon 
Society’s 1970 national convention 
will be held in May in Seattle .. 
The Scenic Hudson Conference has 
had to raise over $500,000 in legal 
funds in the last three years to 
preserve the Hudson Highlands 
natural beauty from a power plant 
planned by Con Edison of N.Y. 
615 Rochdale Circle, Lombard, III. 
