14 ILLINOIS AUDUBON?) BULLE is 
ACRES FOR WILDLIFE 
by FLOYD KRINGER 
Division of Wildlife Resources 
Department of Conservation 
The “Acres for Wildlife” program 
is a new program being initiated 
by the Department of Conserva- 
tion’s Division of Wildlife Re- 
sources. [he main purpose of this 
program is to involve Illinois’ pri- 
vate citizens in the preservation 
of existing wildlife habitat on 
non-public lands; such lands are 
rapidly disappearing because of 
increased agricultural intensity. 
The Division intends to work 
with all types of organized groups 
such as Sportsmen’s Clubs, Wo- 
men’s Clubs, Audubon Societies, 
The Izaak Walton League, 4-H 
Clubs, The FFA, Scouts, etc. in 
an effort to accomplish this pro- 
gram. [he public must be made 
aware of the value and need of 
native wildlife resources and what 
must be done to maintain them. 
In order to present this pro- 
gram to the public, the Division’s 
wildlife biologists will attend var- 
ious meetings to explain the need 
of suitable habitat for survival of 
wildlife. The public must become 
knowledgeable of the fact that 
wildlife needs such habitat in or- 
der to survive and that this pro- 
gram can and must be compatible 
with sound agricultural practices. 
The Division hopes that enough 
citizens owning land, which still 
has some good wildlife habitat left 
on it, will be willing to set such 
land aside as “Acres for Wildlife.” 
These isolated tracts will be 
marked by attractive signs pro- 
vided to the landowner by the 
Department of Conservation stat- 
ing what that tract of land has 
been set aside for and who 1s re- 
sponsible for preserving it. 
One of the main thrusts 1n this 
effort will be the working with — 
youth groups. It is felt that only 
by instilling the values of wildlife 
and the means to maintain that 
wildlife in younger people, can 
our state’s wildlife resources be 
safe in the future. Only when 
something has a high value in 
today’s Society will it be cared for 
properly. 
It is hoped and planned that 
this program will reach younger 
people who have some direct con- 
tact with landowners, such as 
their fathers, uncles or other rela- 
tives. The land must have some 
good, native, wildlife habitat 
which could and should be saved. 
The youth also need to be en- 
couraged to help sell the idea of 
setting such land aside for wildlife 
in Illinois. 
In summary, then, we must 
make the public aware of the val- 
ues of wildlife, provide guidelines 
for preserving that wildlife on 
non-public lands and ask private 
citizens of Illinois to set aside 
“Acres for Wildlife” to assure sur- 
vival of our native species. 
