Pees UD BrOmNe BULE EWAN 9 
Conservation News and Notes 
By Dr. R. M. STRONG | 
COOPERATION IN ILLINOIS. The Illinois Audubon Society, though a state or- 
ganization, has the great majority of its members living within 50 miles of 
Chicago. Consequently, it does not have the influence with the State Legis- 
lature that would be possible if members represented all parts of the state. 
During the last session of the State Legislature, the mourning dove bill had 
most of its support from members of the legislature representing the 
northern part of the state, where there was the greatest activity in letter 
writing for the bill. There was fine work for the bill by small groups in the 
region of the larger cities down state. This condition indicated the need for 
extending our influence to all parts of the state. 
A number of years ago, Mr. Orpheus Schantz was engaged as a paid field 
worker to work through the state for the Society, but this was for a short 
time, and the Society has not recently had the funds to support so desirable 
a project. 
The writer received a letter which bears on this subject, dated June 15, 
1954, from Mr. Wallace D. Bowman, research assistant in the Cooperative 
Wildlife Laboratory at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. In his 
letter, Mr. Bowman asked for information concerning the activities of the 
Conservation Council and their “extent in terms of membership, numbers of 
towns or counties affected, etc.”’ I quote the following paragraph from this 
letter : 
“One of the projects currently being carried on by the Cooperative Wild- 
life Laboratory at Southern Illinois University is a study of all agencies and 
organizations that are in any way participating in conservation activities 
in Southern Illinois. This survey is intended as background material for 
planning a coordinated conservation project. The meaning of conservation 
activity here is understood to be a broad one, including enforcement of 
game laws, giving technical advice on soil and water problems, participa- 
tion in any sort of public relations or educational program for conservation, 
sportsmen’s activities, improving resource use, building the economy of the 
region, etc.” 
Though Mr. Bowman’s letter was written to the Conservation Council, it 
could have been directed to the Illinois Audubon Society, appropriately, 
which is nominally a conservation organization. I say nominally because 
the Society has not been as active in conservation work in recent years as it 
could be, though it was founded originally for protection of birds. 
The Chicago Ornithological Society can very well take care of the field 
trips for the bird watchers in the Chicago region, and it is not feasible for 
the Illinois Audubon Society to do much in this line. For people outside of 
the Chicago region, the Society cannot provide an extensive program, ex- 
cept for publication of material of interest to bird watchers in the Audubon 
Bulletin. 
Mr. Bowman’s letter contained a map showing a belt of counties across 
the state which are included in his survey. These are Madison, Bond, 
