42 PU SAS UD UT BONG B te eae tay 
STATE OF ILLINOIS 
RICHARD B. OGILVIE, GOVERNOR 
DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION 
102 STATE OFFICE BUILDING 
400 SOUTH SPRING ST. 
SPRINGFIELD 62706 
CHICAGO OFFICE —160 N. LASALLE ST. 
February 16, 1972 
Mr. D. William Bennett, Editor 
The Audubon Bulletin 
49 Valley Road 
Highland Park, Illinois 60035 
Dear Mr. Bennett: 
This letter is a belated attempt to set the record straight for the benefit 
of your Audubon Bulletin readers, concerning the article, "Environmental Education 
In Illinois: Deficiencies And Partial Solutions" by Mrs. Elizabeth Kelly, which 
appeared in the September, 1971, issue. 
Mrs. Kelly was evidently rather poorly informed, as the article contains 
a number of mis-statements and half-truths. The fact that, as the Editor's Note 
points out, her article was prepared for Lt. Gov. Paul Simon's Environmental 
Task Force makes it imperative that I reply to it, even at this late date. 
I will take it up, paragraph by paragraph. In Paragraph 1, the "'Conservation 
Education Association or Council" described therein is, evidently, the “Conserva- 
tion Education Advisory Board," which is set up by Statute and consists by Statute 
of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Directors of the Departments of 
Agriculture and Conservation, and two appointed members, and not, I submit, “a group 
of educators and subject specialists," as Mrs. Kelly describes. 
In Paragraph 2, the Department of Conservation has no section called the 
"Conservation Education Section of the Parks and Memorials Division," and has never 
had such a Section. The Division in the Department of Conservation that I head 
is the Division of Education, and it services the Division of Parks and Memorials 
with brochures, news releases, etc., as well as each other Division in the Depart- 
ment. It is actively engaged in the exploration of methods, procedures, criteria 
and guidelines by which to instill both within the schools systems, and without, 
the comparatively new subject of “environmental education,*’ and it is actively 
cooperating with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction in the 
current thrust toward this important subject. The Division of Parks and Memorials 
has a Section called the Interpretive-Recreation Section, which confines itself to 
interpretation and explanation of the resources=-natural, historical, cultural and 
archaeological--in the parks, promoting and encouraging outdoor recreation, and the 
staging of special historical events in the parks. This Section has little or 
nothing to do with "environmental education" in the broad context of the article. 
onfcayeo 10 
