2 | Aldo Leopold (1887-1948)
Aldo Leopold grew up in a handsome home overlooking the Mississippi River and was always in touch with his natural surroundings. Whether playing on the bluffs, hunting with his father or inventorying a wooded domain as a young forester from Yale, Leopold took serious note of landscapes and their natural features. As a professor of game management at the University of Wisconsin, he pioneered many basic principles of ecosystem management, specializing in predator-prey relationships. It was a volatile field, requiring careful balance among the politics of hunting, goals of wilderness protection and wise use of natural resources. Leopold relaxed at a rural acreage about an hour's drive north of Madison. Here the activities of family life included efforts to restore vegetative health to the former farm. "The Shack," once a chicken coop, provided shelter, but the entire property was a contemplative retreat for Leopold. His famous book, A Sand County Almanac, crystalized here.
Graphic: Aldo Leopold's "Shack."
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