Prairie Works

 “As a society, we are just now beginning to realize the depth of Leopold’s work and thinking.”- Mike Dombeck, Chief Emeritus U.S. Forest Service

Today, January 11, marks the birth of Aldo Leopold (1887). Aldo Leopold was a highly influential environmentalist and is often credited for begining the environmental movement as early as the 1940s. He is a respected scholar, scientist, philiosopher and writer. Leopold influenced the begining of conservation education in schools, developed the first game management plans and his perspective on environemntal thought known as ’Land Ethic’ carved the way for land conservation, restoration ecology, sustainable farming, and proper land management practices in general. During his 61 years he published nearly 500 works including technical reports, speeches, textbooks, newsletters, reviews, and poems. But he is best-known for A Sand County Almanac, essays published 18 months after his death.

Aldo Leopold was born in Burlington, IA and his parents planted a Red Oak to commemorate his birth. His love affair with the outdoors was evident as a child and led him to Yale University School of Forestry, where he graduated with a masters in forestry in 1909.  Following Yale he worked for the U.S. Forest Service for 19 years. He left the Forest Service in 1928 and began doing independent contract work for land owners throughout the Midwest. In 1933 he was appointed Professor of Game Management in the Agricultural Economics Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (a first for the nation) and also published the first textbook in Wildlife Game Management. He was involved in the world’s first prairie restoration, now known as Curtis Prairie, at the UW-Madison Arboretum and bought a farm on the Wisconsin River near Baraboo, WI in 1935. At what he referred to as ”The Shack,” Leopold carried out several ecological experiments and it served as the setting for his many essays to come.

In 1941, Aldo began planning for a series of essays to be published to be enjoyed by all americans. Writtten from his “Shack” on his Baraboo farm, this series of essays was accepted for publishing by Oxford Press on April, 14 1948. One week later, on April 21st, Aldo Leopold died while fighting a wildfire on his Baraboo farm. Oxford Press released Leopold’s “Great Possessions” under the name “A Sand County Almanac” in 1949. 

Land Ethic - With over 2 million copies sold and translated into 9 languages A Sand County Almanac it is the most respected book about the environment ever published. Every proffesional conservationist points to this book as a catalyst for thier career, no matter in what capacity they work. The term ‘Land Ethic’ was coined in the final chapter of this groundbreaking book.  Leopold’s idea is that land is not a commodity to be possessed; rather, humans must have mutual respect for Earth in order to not destroy it. He also puts forth the idea that humans will never be free if they have no wild spaces in which to roam. Leopold also states the basic principle of his land ethic as, “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” and “The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land. The land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such.”

Like many pioneers and visionaries, their influence is not entirely appreciated or known until many decades later. It was not until the 1970s that his great book became well known with the begining of environmentalism. Today, the Leopold legacy is still gaining strength. In 2004 the state of Wisconsin declared the first weekend in March as Aldo Leopold days. The Baraboo, WI, “Shack” is a tourist site drawing thousands of visitors a year and recent biographies have elevated his status even further. From a scientific point of view, his approach of looking at all parts of the land as one whole system, and not catagorized into seperate parts, has recently been accepted by academia and is the train of thought now being instilled into conservation scholars today.

Historically, the overall appreciation for Leopold has mirrored society’s overall appreciation for nature. So we can only wish for his popularity to continue…

http://www.aldoleopold.org/  The Aldo Leopold Foundation

http://www.amazon.com/ Buy A Sand County Almanac

http://gargravarr.cc.utexas.edu/chrisj/leopold-quotes.html Excerpts from A Sand County Almanac

http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/about/aldo.htm Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture