Sir: Having received a ballot for the American Heritage Society Awards to preservation projects, we wish to commend your organization on the remarkable foresight and concern shown for our vanishing environment and historical heritage.

We certainly hope that the leadership shown by publications such as yours in providing not only space but also money for citizen groups struggling to reverse the current destructive trends will generate a real awakening in this country.

The Thorn Creek Preservation Association is a group involved in an attempt to preserve the last sizable undeveloped forest in a three-hundred-square-mile area south of Chicago in eastern Will County, Illinois. It is directly in the path of urban growth, and part is included in the plans of a new community. A new university is to be built adjacent to the site, Chicago’s third airport can possibly go near here, and an east-west freeway is proposed to run through the forest.

There is a change in the climate of public opinion on environmental problems, due in a large measure to the responsible leadership of the news media. If the elected officials can only catch up to the public demand, perhaps there will be some hope for projects such as ours. …