A Sand County Almanac
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Lessons in a Land Ethic Aldo Leopold Foundation P.O. Box 77 Baraboo, WI 53913 www.aldoleopold.org 608-355-0279 Table of Contents About Aldo Leopold .......................................................................................... iv About A Sand County Almanac ................................................................................ v About the Leopold Education Project..................................................................... vi LEP Resources................................................................................................ viii Using this Guide and Acknowledgments .................................................................. ix Lessons Corresponding to Essays in A Sand County Almanac January January Thaw...............................................................................................1 February Good Oak.......................................................................................................6 March The Geese Return ............................................................................................. 12 April Come High Water ............................................................................................. 16 Draba and Bur Oak ............................................................................................ 18 Sky Dance ..................................................................................................... 21 May Back from the Argentine ..................................................................................... 24 June The Alder Fork—A Fishing Idyl ............................................................................. 28 July Great Possessions ............................................................................................ 31 A Prairie Birthday ............................................................................................ 36 ii August The Green Pasture ............................................................................................ 40 September The Choral Copse ............................................................................................ 43 October Smoky Gold ................................................................................................... 47 Too Early ...................................................................................................... 50 Red Lanterns ................................................................................................. 53 November If I Were the Wind ............................................................................................ 57 Axe-in-Hand ................................................................................................. 60 A Mighty Fortress ............................................................................................ 63 December Home Range ................................................................................................. 67 Pines above the Snow ......................................................................................... 70 65290 ......................................................................................................... 74 Glossary .................................................................................................... 78 Aldo Leopold Bibliography ................................................................................. 83 iii Aldo Leopold onsidered by many as the father of wildlife management and of the United States’ wilderness system, CAldo Leopold was a conservationist, forester, philosopher, educator, writer, and outdoor enthusiast. Born in 1887 and raised in Burlington, Iowa, Aldo Leopold developed an interest in the natural world at an early age, spending hours observing, journaling, and sketching his surroundings. Graduating from the Yale Forest School in 1909, he eagerly pursued a career with the newly established U.S. Forest Service in Arizona and New Mexico. By the age of 24, he had been promoted to the post of Supervisor for the Carson National Forest in New Mexico. In 1922, he was instrumental in developing the proposal to manage the Gila National Forest as a wilderness area, which became the first such official designation in 1924. Following a transfer to Madison, Wisconsin in 1924, Leopold continued his investigations into ecology and the philosophy of conservation, and in 1933 published the first textbook in the field of wildlife management. Later that year he accepted a new chair in game management—a first for the University of Wisconsin and the nation. In 1935, he and his family initiated their own ecological restoration experiment on a worn-out farm along the Wisconsin River outside of Baraboo, Wisconsin. Planting thousands of pine trees, restoring prairies, and documenting the ensuing changes in the flora and fauna further informed and inspired Leopold. A prolific writer, authoring articles for professional journals and popular magazines, Leopold conceived of a book geared for general audiences examining humanity’s relationship to the natural world. Unfortunately, just one week after receiving word that his manuscript would be published, Leopold experienced a heart attack and died on April 21, 1948 while fighting a neighbor’s grass fire that escaped and threatened the Leopold farm and surrounding properties. A little more than a year after his death Leopold’s collection of essays A Sand County Almanac was published. With over two million copies sold, it is one of the most respected books about the environment ever published, and Leopold has come to be regarded by many as the most influential conservation thinker of the twentieth century. Leopold’s legacy continues to inform and inspire us to see the natural world “as a community to which we belong.” iv A Sand County Almanac dmired by an ever-growing number of readers and imitated by hundreds of writers, A Sand County Almanac written byA Aldo Leopold serves as one of the cornerstones for modern conservation science, policy, and ethics. First published by Oxford University Press in 1949—one year after Leopold’s death—it has become a classic in the field equaled in its lasting stature only by Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. While Aldo Leopold was writing in the 1940s he could not have imagined the far-reaching impact his book would have. Over two million copies have been printed and it has been translated into twelve languages. Long respected in his own fields of forestry and wildlife management, Aldo Leopold was a prolific writer for scientific journals and conservation magazines. However, in 1937, sometime after his fifty-third birthday, Leopold became increasingly focused on reaching the general public with his conservation message. Working over a twelve-year period, Leopold wrote, re-wrote, and re-wrote again, essays that both informed people of how the natural world worked, and inspired people to take action to ensure the future health of the land and water that sustains all life. Not only was this influential book late to develop in Leopold’s mind, it was very nearly never completed. A week after Oxford University Press agreed to publish his manuscript, titled “Great Possessions,” Aldo Leopold suffered a heart attack and died while fighting an escaped grass fire on a neighbor’s property. Lead by Luna Leopold, Aldo’s son, a group of Leopold’s family and colleagues collaborated on the final editing of the book, reluctantly agreeing to one significant change; renaming the book from Leopold’s working title “Great Possessions” to A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There. Through science, history, humor, and prose, Leopold utilizes A Sand County Almanac and its call for a Land Ethic to communicate the true connection between people and the natural world, with the hope that the readers will begin to treat the land with the love and respect it deserves. v Leopold Education Project About the Leopold Education Project The Leopold Education Project (LEP) is an innovative, interdisciplinary conservation and environmental education curriculum based on the essays in A Sand County Almanac. Originally created by a Wisconsin high school science teacher, LEP uses Leopold's writings as a springboard for engaging students in natural science curriculum. The nonprofit conservation group Pheasants Forever adopted the curriculum in the early '90s, and LEP became the environmental education arm of the organization. Using their ties with chapter groups across the country, Pheasants Forever organized a robust network of state coordinators and facilitators that could bring the curriculum to teachers nationwide. Over the last twenty years, more than 15,000 educators have attended a LEP workshop! More recently, the original curriculum was expanded to include new activities, incorporate new technologies such as GPS, and facilitate teaching in non-formal educational settings, like nature centers and zoos. Beginning in 2013, LEP has found a new home with the Aldo Leopold Foundation. We are thrilled to welcome the more than twenty state coordinators and countless LEP educators into our fold and look forward to this program’s continued growth! You can purchase some of the Leopold Education Project materials in our bookstore. Educating for Environmental Values The LEP was developed mainly for use by teachers, although other educational groups and private citizens can benefit from the materials. One major premise of the LEP is that Leopold’s writings are both sound science and excellent literature, and that they can be used