Preserve natural resources

Earth Day provides an annual invitation to reflect on our precious
habitat. The pond and marsh near where I live help to filter the
water and control flooding in the spring. But they also are where my
son first heard chorus frogs, where his buddies saw a yellow-headed
blackbird, and where I go to revel in God's creation. This is a
special place not only for us, but also for the hundreds of plant and
animal species that live there.

For the earth to be healthy in our broad metropolitan region, for
rare nature to survive in our midst, we will be asked to help out.
How well we make a healthy home for ourselves and the creatures
around us -- this month, this year, and in the years ahead -- will
determine the legacy we leave for generations.

Which is why Gov. Blagojevich's proposal to gut funding for open
space acquisition and for the frontline biologists who work to
protect and restore Illinois' natural heritage is so puzzling and, in
my view, ill-considered.

The funds at issue, a dedicated portion of the real estate transfer
tax, had been used by park districts and conservation districts all
over the state to buy land -- for ballfields and butterflies, for
trails and nature preserves. We must not take a holiday from our
responsibility to the rest of creation, not only to protect habitat
for all creatures big and small, but also to protect our natural
heritage for future generations. That means providing funds now to
purchase open space before it's gone, so our children and
grandchildren will have opportunities to play in parks and rejoice in
nature discoveries as we have had.

I believe we have a responsibility to ensure that our legacy is at
least as great as our inheritance.

Debra Shore, editor,

Chicago Wilderness Magazine