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An Audubon Camp for Wisconsin 
By Mrs. IRENE MOSTEK 
IT IS GOOD NEWS to learn that the National Audubon Society plans to open 
a nature and conservation training center in Wisconsin. This will be the 
first of its kind in the Middle West. The site, a 300-acre tract near Spooner, 
Wisconsin, has been described as an ideal spot because of its natural habitat, 
including a mixed hardwood forest, a scattering of pines, and a spruce- 
tamarack bog. Two lakes are within the property. 
The camp site is to be given to the society by Miss Frances Andrews of 
Minneapolis as a memorial to her brother and mother. The National 
Audubon Society plans to conduct five two-week sessions at the camp each 
summer, beginning in 1955. The camp will serve as an outdoor classroom 
for youth leaders and other adults who wish to receive field instruction from 
trained naturalist and conservationists. 
This new camp will follow the pattern of the successful camps now 
operated by the National Society in California, Maine and Connecticut. 
However, friends of the Audubon camp have emphasized that funds of 
almost $69,000 will be required before the camp can be opened. This sum is 
based on an architect’s estimate of building and initial equipment needs. 
Two fund-raising committees, one in Wisconsin and one in Minnesota, are 
now seeking to raise $50,000 by this spring. Over $18,000 has already been 
contributed. Midwesterners who wish to contribute to the fund may do so 
by writing to the Wisconsin Audubon Camp Committee, Mrs. I’. L. Larkin, 
Chairman, 5333. N. Idlewild Avenue, Milwaukee 11, Wisc. Widespread sup- 
port has already been indicated by many garden clubs, bird clubs, conser- 
vation groups and individuals. 
The words of Dr. Paul B. Sears, Professor of Conservation at Yale Uni- 
versity, are worth quoting on the value of these Audubon camps: ‘The 
Audubon Society is naturally associated in the public mind with birds, and 
rightly enough. But here is a group whose concern actually is with the 
whole living landscape. 
“Rocks, soil, water, wind and sun, plants of the land and sea, animals 
vertebrate and invertebrate. . . these are not merely catalogued, but shown 
in their dynamic relation as part of a great natural community. If this 
merely adds to the joy of living for those whose eyes are being opened, it 
will be enough. But this kind of experience goes far deeper. It goes to 
strengthen our whole way of life. In this most powerful country in the 
world, we smugly assume that what we enjoy is entirely due to some kind 
of innate superiority over the rest of mankind. . . forgetting how much we 
owe to a continent whose riches were untapped until three hundred years 
ago. We have used it and abused it, destroying the delicate balance between 
the landscape, soil, water, and life whereby its stores of organic wealth had 
accumulated. The tragedy of America is that we act as though we can 
ignore the great, immutable laws of nature. 
“Happily, we still have a great margin of safety compared with older 
civilizations. If we wish to remain free, we must learn to use our present 
