ee eee US ON isa ely PN 33 
bird-watcher during his early years 
at Hyde Park. 
When Laycock described the 
battle to save the Wichita Wildlife 
Refuge in Oklahoma from insensi- 
tive U.S. Army brass, I recalled 
ornithologist Margaret Morse Nice, 
a former IAS board member, who 
joined that campaign by writing 
several letters to public officials 
back in the fifties. Hundred of an- 
gry conservationists who deluged 
Washington with mail agreed that 
the 10,700-acre refuge would be- 
come a private hunting club for the 
army officers. 
I recall visiting the Brigantine 
National Wildlife Refuge off the 
coast of New Jersey during a re- 
cent convention of the National 
Audubon Society. Famous for 
Brants, Bitterns and Black Ducks, 
this area has become popular for 
bird-watchers from Philadelphia, 
Washington, and New York City. 
Established only in 1939, these 
13,400 acres of sea marsh provide 
valuable ice-free resting and feed- 
ing places for eastern waterfowl. 
When Laycock describes Horicon 
Marsh, he also adds a few observa- 
tions about state refuges for geese 
in Southern Illinois. Horicon owes 
its existence to a glacier, and when 
early white settlers tried to drain 
the area, they were unsuccessful. 
The Fish and Wildlife Service ob- 
tained over 21,000 acres for a ref- 
uge in 1941. Wisconsin owns an 
added 10,000 acres at the southern 
end of the marsh. 
Though I have never seen it, I 
have an emotional attachment to 
Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife 
Refuge in Montana. It serves as a 
sanctuary for the once endangered 
Trumpeter Swan. Weighing more 
than 30 pounds and with a wing to 
wing tip of more than six feet, it 
is a huge bird at more than five 
feet. Only 69 of these birds could 
be found in 1932, but they have 
increased to over 1,200 since Presi- 
dent Roosevelt signed the refuge 
bill in 1935. In 1940 the Army de- 
manded the lake refuge be surren- 
dered for an artillery range, but 
Franklin Roosevelt, calling upon 
his boyhood memories, declared 
against the military fatheads, and 
ruled, “The verdict is for the 
Trumpeter Swan and against the 
army.” (I wish we had more con- 
servationists in more public offices 
today; they are profoundly needed 
at all levels.) 
Laycock pays deserving tribute 
to a man not many of us remember 
and honor well enough, a man who 
deserves to be called the architect 
of today’s national wildlife refuge 
system — J. Clark Salyer II. He 
had obtained his degree in biology 
from a small school in Missouri 
and later was persuaded to come 
to Washington to work for the old 
Bureau of Biological Survey during 
the early and exciting days of the 
New Deal, Within six weeks he had 
aGriven his battered car over 18,000 
miles and had drawn up plans for 
over 600,000 acres of refuge land. 
He was encouraged in his efforts 
by Secretary of Agriculture Henry 
Wallace. 
With a sharp mind, tireless ener- 
gy and great dedication, Salyer 
fought against Army plans to take 
over the Wichita Wildlife Refuge. 
Getting older and in danger of los- 
ing his sight, he refused to surren- 
der the wildlife refuges to those 
who would exploit them for oil and 
gas. Though he eventually lost his 
vision, the Interior Department 
retained him as a consultant and 
technical adviser, and in 1962 Sec- 
retary Udall awarded Salyer its 
Distinguished Service Award. Des- 
cribed as tough and exacting, he 
was also known for his honesty 
and fairness. In these melancholy 
Watergate days, how desperately 
America needs servants of the cali- 
ber of J. Clark Salyer II. 
—Raymond Mostek 
