The Shack Revisited: Aldo Leopold’s Perceptions of Wilderness From a Historic, Legal, and International Perspective Till M. Meyer Abstract—Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) was one of America’s most Germany and abroad. In this paper, I am also summarizing renowned ecologists and nature writers. His family’s weekend home, many of those details and correlations that I found through “the Shack,” provides the narrative backdrop for describing Leopold’s my journalistic investigations. perceptions of wilderness. This paper traces the evolution of Leopold’s wilderness concepts through natural history, contemporary history, and cultural history. It also describes his influence on conservation Introduction ____________________ jurisdiction and the globalization of wilderness concepts. “If there are cracks in time, Aldo Leopold fell through By examining both the natural history of the Shack vicinity and the one,” a book reviewer wrote in the journal American Forests pivotal historic periods Leopold lived in and stemmed from, many of (Kaufman 1991). Indeed, Leopold began his journey through his insights into conservation can be better understood. Two factors time in the historic realm of the “Wild West” (fig. 1). Then, stick out that affected his attitudes the most: Leopold came from a strongly influenced by conservation politics and attitudes culturally rich European-American background (Flader 1994), and of the 1930s and 1940s in America and Europe, he proceeded was tremendously influenced by his journeys. Illuminating the larger to leave his imprint by creating the conceptual foundations contexts of Leopold backgrounds, it becomes evident that the history of wildlife management and restoration ecology. of the conservation movement in America cannot be told without Aldo Leopold’s most challenging visions were the ideas that looking beyond the nation’s geographical and cultural borders. environmental degradation and local loss of species do not As I will show in my paper, quite a few of the motives behind necessarily present a one-way street, and that wilderness and wilderness conservation developed in Europe as a part of the civilization need not antagonize each other. The major tools to Romantic Movement. Along with the mass immigration from Eu- change the course—wilderness conservation, restoration ecol- rope, many of these motives were exported to the United States ogy, and wildlife management—were pioneered by him. where they matured and became “America’s best idea” (Lötsch 2001). Aldo Leopold was one of the leading figures to carry this idea into effect by way of wildlife management, restoration ecology, and wilderness conservation. Method ________________________ I traveled to the Aldo Leopold Memorial Reserve (LMR) many times between 1989 to 1999 and also visited the Shack and the University of Wisconsin Arboretum. My initial reason for visiting involved the publication of the German translation of A Sand County Almanac. As I researched some of the foundations of this book I became interested in the history of conservation. Subsequently, Leopold, his quotes, insights, and teachings funneled into my growing awareness of the interconnectedness of his- tory, culture, and ecology. This became the subject of numerous articles of mine between 1989 and 2001. As a staff editor and freelance writer for the magazines Natur and Natur & Kosmos, I often report on the development and practical consequences of various concepts of wilderness in Till M. Meyer is an Environmental Journalist, 81549 Munich, Balanstr. Figure 1—Leopold poses in full cowboy regalia, 211. 8, 81549 München, Germany. FAX: 0049 89 68072351, E-mail: till@ in Springerville, Arizona, age 22. He arrived here natur.de by stagecoach on July 18, 1909, bringing his In: Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet, comps. 2003. Science and stewardship notion of the West as a wild wonderland, as well to protect and sustain wilderness values: Seventh World Wilderness Con- as a set of acute senses, a restless curiosity, and gress symposium; 2001 November 2–8; Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Proc. RMRS-P-27. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, an ample young ego (Meine 1988) (photo cour- Rocky Mountain Research Station. tesy of the Aldo Leopold Foundation archives). 238 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-27. 2003 The Shack Revisited: Aldo Leopold’s Perceptions... Meyer Whereas wildlife management is a widely practiced art and science in many countries today, restoration ecology is not. Leopold’s perhaps most influential achievements came after his untimely death in 1948. His classic, A Sand County Almanac, was first published in 1949. This book had considerable influence on conservation, environmen- tal awareness, and institutional policies during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Finally, with the turn of the millennium, Leopold evolved into a leadership figure of postmodern resource management, not only in the United States but in many other countries as well. For instance, Germany’s first International Master of Science Program in Sustainable Resource Management opened as recently as October 2001, at the Technical University of Munich. The course work includes wildlife management and restoration ecology. The program owes its existence partly to the initiative of United States-educated wildlife biologist and Leopold scholar, Wolfgang Schröder (2001, personal communication). This new program presents but one example of the long-lasting Figure 2—Aldo and Estella Leopold in front of transatlantic traffic of conservation ideas. the Shack, 1942, showing the added bunk wing (photo by A. Carl Leopold). Natural History _________________ “Wilderness is a resource which can shrink but never grow,” projects, the farm restoration and the University Arbore- wrote Leopold (1949: 199) in A Sand County Almanac. Al- tum (fig. 3), marked the beginning and signal moment of though this remark is widely cited by many wilderness the conservation movement and the first systematic at- enthusiasts, it should be noted that later in life, Leopold did tempt to reassemble disturbed ecosystems (Jordan 1990; everything in his power to invalidate this axiom. By spear- Jordan and others 1987). With the purchase by Leopold heading the art and science of environmental restoration, he began a new attitude toward the land, whereby landowners attempted no less than to prove that environmental destruc- started to reverse the process of land deterioration and to tion could be reversed and, consequently, lost wilderness build it back to something like presettlement condition. could be rehabilitated. Leopold would hardly recognize his farm today. It is a The Shack and the land on which it stood had belonged to diverse landscape with woodland, oak savanna, prairie, and a bootlegger, who, according to Leopold (1949: viii), “hated wetland, managed as the 1,400-acre (566.5-ha) Aldo Leopold the farm, skinned it of residual fertility.... We try to rebuild Memorial Reserve (LMR). Following is a partial list of plants with shovel and axe what we are losing elsewhere.” This and that can currently be seen on the LMR. They were not the following sentence summarize what later would become recorded by Leopold, who kept meticulous notes, so they the central thesis of ecological restoration: “The time has were probably not there during his occupancy: Indian paint come for science to busy itself with the earth itself. The first brush (Castilleja coccinea), wild iris (Iris Virginica), wild step is to reconstruct a sample of what we had to start with” quinine (Parthenium inegrifolium), purple coneflower (in Flader and Callicott 1991: 211). To initiate these pro- (Echinacea purpurea), gayfeather (Liatris pycnostachya), cesses of healing the land, Leopold suggested that it would be necessary to retain representative samples of intact ecosystems as a sample of normality. Leopold acknowledged the ecological-scientific value of wilderness as places of reverence for ecological restoration and that one could not study the physiology of Montana in the Amazon, as each biotic province needs its own wilderness for comparison of used land to unused land. Today, the concept of “place of reference” is a backbone to modern restoration ecology, as it presents a genetic resource base for restocking, a place to gain understanding of ecological processes, and a measuring rod for restoration success. In 1935, Leopold purchased 80 acres (32 ha) of derelict farmland on the Wisconsin River. This land included the burned remnants of a farm building and an old chicken coop, which later would become “the Shack” (fig. 2). The same year he began to work as director of the University of Wisconsin Arboretum. In this position, he strove for a Figure 3—Charles Bradley, Nina’s husband, reconstruction of the original Wisconsin rather than a examines prairie plants raised to supply seeds for collection of imported trees (Meine and Knight 1999). Both restoration (photo by Till Meyer). USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-27. 2003 239 Meyer The Shack Revisited: Aldo Leopold’s Perceptions... gerardia (Gerardia tenuifolia), turtle head (Chelone glabra), and fringed gentian (Gentiana crinita). Birds and mammals that can be seen more frequently within the boundaries of the LMR are: the great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus), sandhill crane (Grus canadensis), beaver (Castor canadensis), and river otter (Lutra canadensis) (Ross and Ross 1998). Such successes in conservation and restoration ecology can be easily attributed to Aldo Leopold and his ecological insights and foresights. They also represent the results of the continuing efforts of his children, especially his daughter Nina (fig. 4) and her family and friends, as well as many members and affiliates of the Aldo Leopold Foundation. I want to reflect throughout most parts of this paper on some of the historical and cultural (nonecological) roots of these conservation successes. Sometimes I find myself musing about the possibility that the wild irises, indian paint- brushes, and cranes found at the LMR might represent more than what we had thought up to now. Acts of divine cre- ation—yes, very likely. Examples of the great American natural and national heritage—yes, for sure.