No sacred cows

To the Editors:
Thanks for the unusually wise and helpful article on white-tailed deer (Winter 2000). You taught me a good deal and seemed to cover the range of conservation options without wasting my time with crackpots. My only question is, how do we get this message out to the general public? Isn't there some way that Chicago Wilderness could influence the coverage of this issue by the mainstream media — to encourage them to be less hysterical and more constructive? Deer are beautiful wild animals. Let's not turn them into sacred cows.
Barbara Hill, Palatine, Illinois

Photo upsetting

Dear Editor:
We wanted to communicate to you how truly upsetting it was to us to see the picture on page 8 (Winter 2000) showing a road kill deer. We have come to enjoy reading your magazine because of the beautiful pictures and articles about nature in Chicagoland. Why spoil a very informative article with that picture? It adds nothing to the article and just serves to bring a harsh reality to the issues discussed.
We love nature, the great outdoors and wilderness areas everywhere. One does not see road kill deer in any of the wilderness areas. Please focus on the beautiful aspects of our wilderness and leave the urban realities to the newspapers.
Leslye Spaulding and Bruce Menke, Glen Ellyn, Illinois

Touché

To the Editor:

Deer may live on borrowed land, but the whole earth lives on borrowed time...Even if the Touhy Avenue roadkill picture isn't quite a coup de grâce, I'll give credit where it's due — touché. But here's the upshot to that: no amount of "control" is going to solve this problem, without a change in attitude and behavior in the human population. As one panelist said, "No one is blaming the deer…we humans created this problem." Yes, we have indeed. But if our moral fiber allows us to acknowledge our culpability, then we should be ethically bound to learn humane ways to tolerate and coexist with our animal neighbors.
Susan E. Zavoskey, Oak Park, Illinois

Boing, boing, boing

Dear Editor:

In the Winter 2000 issue you have a photo of mouse tracks in the snow accompanying the article on the white footed mouse. Those are NOT the tracks of a Peromyscus. Peromyscus mice jump like squirrels and go "boing boing boing" across the snow. They never tunnel [as in] the photo. Peromyscus tracks also usually show the tail mark so they look like four dots with the long stripe of the tail. The tracks in the photo were made by a shrew.
Pat Armstrong, Naperville, Illinois

Neat exercise

Wilderness People:

Since it's winter and I still have to walk, I inevitably find myself near some large tree (usually an oak) asking, "Why are you here?" "Who left you alone?" "What saved you from the axe?"
I don't know how many forests in the Chicago area have been at one time leveled except for a lone tree. Was it the farmer believing that one would one day propagate the forest again? (It doesn't; maples or poplars fill that role.) Or was it the woodsman who could not bear seeing a landscape without one tree where before hundreds stood?
Here in Countryside the oldest and largest trees are in a small Lutheran cemetery, across Rte. 45 from a forest preserve, bounded by a trailer park and a trucking outfit, less than 200 yards from the interstate ramp.
I thought a neat exercise would be to ask people where the oldest tree in their neighborhood was. Every town has them.
John Cieciel, Countryside, Illinois

Homage to teachers

Dear Subscription Coordinator:

I would like to send gift subscriptions to two friends:
Mr. Ed Bruzan, my 7th grade teacher who ignited an early interest in science in me. I became a biology teacher and will be retiring this year after 36 years of teaching high school biology.
And Mr. Mark Kristoff, an ex-student of mine and biology teacher himself, who has volunteered his services over the years in helping us maintain and develop our Niles West High School prairie restoration.
Chicago WILDERNESS is just the kind of magazine this area needs!
Wayne Rogoski, Skokie, Illinois

Inspiration from shinleaf

To the Editors:

We have the good fortune of owning property that has received permanent dedication as an Illinois Nature Preserve. In restoring our land over the past four years, I have experienced a gamut of emotions ranging from exhilaration and joy to utter frustration and despair. However, it seems that whenever I reach the despair phase, the land provides an antidote.
Three years ago my husband and I cleared this area of invasive shrubs and trees. The following year nondescript green plants carpeted the floor; we could not identify them because they did not flower. One day last summer I was walking along the oak ridge and getting terribly depressed about the new growth of buckthorn. Suddenly my eye caught sight of beautiful, fragrant, white flowers with swarms of bees who were clearly euphoric over this new nectar source. Those leaves turned out to be the rare and elusive large-leaved shinleaf (Pyrola elliptica) — I say elusive because after contacting anyone and everyone I could think of, no one was familiar with their habitat requirements (i.e., shade tolerance, response to prescribed burns, propagation techniques etc.).
Needless to say, the discovery of the shinleaf quickly squelched my feelings of despair. Ultimately the land continues to inspire us to protect it and nurture it, despite the fact that there will always be challenges and obstacles to overcome!
Carol Fiala O'Donnell, Bull Valley, Illinois

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