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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.
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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