THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 
Published Quarterly by the 
ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 
Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Ill., 60605 
mber 151 
September 1969 
THE 
PRESIDENTS 
PAGE 
by RAYMOND MOSTEK 
Oswegoland, USA, in Kane County, stands a bit of Eden. It is called 
a-Kee-Sha Park. Along with many other Audubon members, we visited 
S area on our field trip at our annual meeting. Because of the rain, most 
mbers limited their visitation to the shelter house, but when the “captains 
1 the kings departed,” a few of us took a soggy walk thru the woods. What 
saw and heard delighted our eyes and ears. Bobolinks sung from a 
arby farm. 
What we saw could likely be 
seein) most any county forest 
sserve. What excited our eyes 
s the deliberate layout of the 
ils, the crude, simple, useful 
ntification labels near the trees 
d plants, and the extensive use 
wood, rather than metal, for a 
re of purposes. 
We received the impression that 
S park was cared for lovingly 
a park superintendent who was 
ger to share his joy with others, 
d who realized that man must 
wre the earth with nature rather 
in try to dominate it. In one 
se, we vividly recall, a hiker was 
juired to walk around a fallen 
e, learning the reason why as 
did so. The folder one can pick 
at the start of the trail tells it 
very well: 
“Waa-Kee-Sha Park is 21 acres 
in size and was once a part of an 
Indian reservation. ...The park is 
rich in native plant and animal life. 
Since the park was opened in 1962, 
well over a hundred species of 
birds have been seen in the area. 
There are at least 35 different kinds 
of trees, and well over a hundred 
varieties of wildflowers. Field mice, 
racoons, deer, and foxes have been 
seen frequently. In order to pre- 
serve this rich heritage of native 
materials, the development plan 
for the park calls for the setting 
aside of at least two-thirds of the 
21 acres as a permanent refuge for 
wildlife and native plants for the 
enjoyment of and edification of 
present and future generations. 
This area will be left in its natural 
state. Trees that fall will be left 
