Letters

DRAGONFLIES ROCK!

Dear Ms. Shore,

I love all of the covers on Chicago WILDERNESS . I use the photos to draw. I'm biased about the summer issue since greens, purples, and blues are my favorite colors. Needless to say, dragonflies "rock!" But then so do all the other varieties of insects featured inside the article on " Hyde Park Bugs." Wow...I don't think I've ever seen a candystriped leafhopper. It's the little things in life that make all the difference. I'm planning a drive to Hyde Park sometime this summer just to investigate. Much thanks to your staff of writers and photographers who have inspired me these past few years.

Jackie Szubert
Riverside, IL

Dear Editor,

Thanks for the green darner on the cover of the summer issue. Has there ever been a more menacing looking bug with such gentle habits as this one? I think that this beauty has been the subject of several monsters in science fiction movies. Even if they were as big as an airplane as in those movies, I don't think that they would cause me any harm where I see them from my kayak on the Des Plaines River at the Burr Ridge boat landing. Since I was a kid we have always called them "darters" for obvious reasons, and now I know that I was just a little off on their name.

Larry Kramer
Burr Ridge, IL

MAKING THE EFFORT

Dear Editor,

Great story about Don and Espie Nelson! My wife, Marie, and I know them, and have had an opportunity to work with them as volunteers for the Will County Forest Preserve District. You would be very hard pressed to find anyone more dedicated to the preservation and restoration of our environment!

Our natural areas are under tremendous pressure from a wide range of threats. It is very clear that a lot of time and hard work is necessary just to maintain our natural areas in present condition. Restoration takes this effort to a whole new level! Public awareness and education will be a critical component to success as we move forward. It's surprising, although sad, that the vast majority of people I talk to really don't understand what a prairie is! Keep up the good work!

Dave Wendt
Joliet, IL

COYOTE ASSETS

Hello,

Here is a picture of a coyote at about 10:30 a.m. in March 2006 near Lake-Cook Road and Hicks. I photograph them regularly. This one still has its winter coat. I am beginning to be able to distinguish their bark from the dogs in our apartment community. [It is great to see] these magnificent creatures in the northwest suburban ecosystem.

Mark Feifarek
Palatine, IL

ALL IN THIS TOGETHER

Dear Editor,
I applaud the Quallers' energetic efforts on behalf of native plants (Letters, CW Summer '06). But it's silly to say deer are "redesigning the landscape and creating an ecological disaster." The deer that lived here for centuries left European settlers an intact, flourishing ecosystem. Greedy, overpopulous humans are the ones who are redesigning the landscape disastrously. Those deer (whose lives are not easy, in spite of no hunting in town) are just doing what comes naturally, in unnatural circumstances.

The humans, the deer and the wildflowers are all in this complicated predicament together. I question the values that say killing the deer is the solution.

Suzanne Campbell
Woodstock, IL

Editors' Note: Thanks for your letter, Suzanne. You're right that deer aren't to be faulted for their actions. They're beautiful creatures, just doing what comes naturally. But it's those "unnatural circumstances" you mention that we think lie at the heart of humanity's ethical obligations. As much as the sprawl and pollution we humans have created, one of the most unnatural circumstances for a deer is to have no natural predators. Credit for that goes to us, too, in no small part because we ourselves stopped hunting deer (at least in our urban-suburban setting). In that flourishing ecosystem of the past, Indians, wolves, and panthers fulfilled their roles as predators. Having tinkered with the system, responsible stewardship means helping nature keep things in balance. Thoughtful hunting and culling can be a part of that. We are all in this together — we just need to consider, on all levels, what that really means.