(3.5) 
 
 
Speaking from a conservation standpoint,"improved3 usually 
means tampered with to the detriment of the natural flora 
and fauna. Grazing and plowing have decimated county prairies, 
 
logging has greatly diminithedtthewodds, and dredging, drain- 
ing, pollution and general abuse have changedvthe nature and 
 
life of the waters. 
 
     Consider the county today; Bordner,(2), gtves the follow- 
ing statistics: 61.6% of the land is cleared crop land, marsh- 
land forms 12.4 %, woodland 12.5 % (oak-hickory 7.5, mixed 
hardwood 2.4,swamp hardwood & tamarack 2.6). The great majority 
of the woodlots are grazed. Recent cut stumpland in 1936 was 
3,398 acres, representing 6.8% of the total wooded area. 
 
     Apparently as incidental to his survey, BordLner records 
 
1 prairie chicken in Summit township, 1 in Pewaukee township, 
and 5 in Menomonee. In connection with the same species, Mr. 
 
I.J. Perkins, of the Milwaukee Public Museum, writes me: (with 
reference to Summit township) *...there is a flock of from 50 
 
to 75 chickens that frequent my farm now. The winter of 1936- 
'37 I fed a flock that varied from 75 *o 1N5 birds. Since then 
"a drainage project has flourished in that locality and spoiled 
 
"a large portion of the Dousman Marsh as far as wildlife is 
concerned.' 
 
      Perkins's remarks are an excellent demonstration of why 
an ecological study of an area can never be completed. There