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2 HE ACU D UB ONS Bris eel 
Text of Joe Galbreath’s Remarks at 
Prairie Chicken Sanctuary Dedication: 
Time was when man was not concerned about extinction of wildlife. 
If you questioned an individual or group why a species should be pre- 
served, the likely answer would be: So what! 
Today, we are slowly beginning to realize that all life — every 
plant and animal — has a purpose in the chain of life. Dominion over 
all in Genesis did not include extinction, but man was assigned the 
responsibility for the stewardship of every living thing. Man cannot 
exist without wild things. The Prairie Chicken is one symbol of man’s 
need for wilderness. It is an indicator of man’s essential needs, (a 
monitor of the total environment). When all wildlife is gone man 
will soon follow down the same road to extinction. 
Robert Ardrey, outstanding naturalist writer, puts the truth 
beautifully: 
“Dreary will be the morning when you and I awake and leopards 
are gone; when starlings in hordes no longer chatter in the trees 
gossiping about the adventures of the day to come .. . ‘when robins 
cease to cry out their belligerent challenges to the bushes beyond 
the lawn . . . when the diversity of species no longer illuminates the 
morning hour and the diversity of men has vanished like the last 
dawn-afflicted star. If this be the morning we must waken to, then 
may I, please God, have died in my sleep.” 
The Illinois Endangered Species Protection Act states that “man 
is less than a diety, and that he is part of a complex biota, many 
parts of which are beyond our understanding. It holds that our fellow 
arrivals deserve respect and sympathy and beyond this, deserve to 
live in their own right.” 
We believe the native Prairie Grouse in Illinois should be in- 
cluded in this protection. The Prairie Chicken should be included on 
the endangered list, especially East of the Mississippi. 
Some history now: In 1959 a small group of dedicated conserva- 
tionists of the N.R.C.I. met in Oregon, Ill. They had a dream: attempt- 
ing to save the Prairie Chicken from becoming extinct in Illinois. They 
set a date for an organizational meeting in Springfield. Out of the 
modest gathering the Prairie Chicken Foundation of Illinois emerged. 
They had no money, no state charter, no tax exempt status — but a 
firm determination to do all they could to buy the needed sanctuary 
land to provide the essential nesting and brood-rearing permanent 
grassland. 
In 1961 the 77-acre Yeatter sanctuary was purchased on a bond- 
for-deed contract. The Nature Conservancy, a strong financial backer 
of our program, loaned us money to make the down payment at no 
interest. After much hard work over 10 years, approximately $100,000 
