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Who was Aldo Leopold?
Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) is considered the father of wildlife ecology
and a true Wisconsin hero. He was a renowned scientist and scholar,
exceptional teacher, philosopher, and gifted writer. It is for his
book, A Sand County Almanac, that Leopold is best known by
millions of people around the globe. The Almanac,
often acclaimed as the century's literary landmark in conservation,
melds exceptional poetic prose with keen observations of the natural
world. The Almanac reflects an evolution of a lifetime of love,
observation, and thought. It led to a philosophy that has guided
many to discovering what it means to live in harmony with the land
and with one another.
The roots of Leopold's concept of a "land ethic" can be traced to
his birthplace on the bluffs of the Mississippi River near Burlington,
Iowa. As a youngster, he developed a zealous appreciation and interest
in the natural world, spending countless hours on adventures in
the woods, prairies, and river backwaters of a then relatively wild
Iowa. This early attachment to the natural world, coupled with an
uncommon skill for both observation and writing, lead him to pursue
a degree in forestry at Yale.
After Yale, Leopold joined the U.S. Forest Service and was assigned
to the Arizona Territories. During his tenure, he began to see the
land as a living organism and develop the concept of community.
This concept became the foundation upon which he became conservation's
most influential advocate. In 1924, he accepted a transfer to the
U.S. Forest Products Laboratory in Madison where he served as associate
director, and began teaching at the University of Wisconsin in 1928.
Often credited as the founding father of wildlife ecology, Leopold's
cornerstone book Game Management (1933) defined the fundamental
skills and techniques for managing and restoring wildlife populations.
This landmark work created a new science that intertwined forestry,
agriculture, biology, zoology, ecology, education and communication.
Soon after its publication, the University of Wisconsin created
a new department, the Department of Game Management, and appointed
Leopold as its first chair.
Leopold's unique gift for communicating scientific concepts was
only equal to his fervor for putting theories into practice. In
1935, the Leopold family purchased a worn-out farm near Baraboo,
in an area known as the sand counties. It is here Leopold put into
action his beliefs that the same tools people used to disrupt the
landscape could also be used to rebuild it. An old chicken coop,
fondly known as the Shack, served as a haven and land laboratory
for the Leopold family, friends, and graduate students. And it was
here Leopold visualized many of the essays of what was to become
his most influential work, A Sand County Almanac.
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