Sand County Soil
| Title | Info |
|---|---|
| Source | Dan L. Perlman |
| Nutrient cycles | Soils |
| Human impacts | Reforestation; Restoration |
| Conservation | Restoration; Conservation Values |
| Lessons | Biodiversity values |
| Date | October 08, 2005 |
| Location | Aldo Leopold's Shack,Wisconsin,USA,North America |
The soils on the farm are indeed very poor and sandy, as can be seen from this photo of a path on the Leopold farm.
Aldo Leopold was one of the most influential ecologists and conservation biologists of the 20th century. Among his many accomplishments, he was instrumental in getting the Gila National Forest in New Mexico designated as wilderness (the first official wilderness area in the United States), as well as in the founding of the Wilderness Society. He had great influence as an author, as well; he wrote the first text on wildlife management and numerous essays on a wide variety of conservation and management issues.
By far his most famous writings are gathered in a slim volume entitled A Sand County Almanac. These essays cover his career from his days as a forest ranger with the US Forest Service in Arizona and New Mexico (1909-1924), through his years in Wisconsin (1924-48), during which he worked for the Forest Service, served as a private consultant, and taught at the University of Wisconsin. In 1935, he and his family purchased a broken down farm northwest of Madison, where the family spent numerous weekends and vacations. The "Shack" in which they lived, was an old chicken coop to which they made a small addition. During their visits to the farm, the Leopolds planted hundreds of pines and restored a small portion of prairie just outside the shack.
A Sand County Almanac was published in 1949, the year after Aldo Leopold died while helping a neighbor fight a grass fire. He was just 61.
Resources to learn more about Aldo Leopold
The Aldo Leopold Foundation: http://www.aldoleopold.org/
The Foundation's brief history of Leopold's Life: http://www.aldoleopold.org/about/AldoLeopold.pdf
The Foundation makes copies of A Sand County Almanac available to teachers at a greatly reduced rate. As of mid-2008, if you order a minimum of 10 copies, the price is $3.50 per copy plus shipping. Here is the link to details: http://www.aldoleopold.org/books/Default.asp.
Numerous books have been written about Aldo Leopold. Here are two fine ones:
Meine, Curt. 1988. Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work. University of Wisconsin Press. Madison, WI.
Meine, Curt and Richard L. Knight. 1999. The Essential Aldo Leopold : Quotations and Commentaries. University of Wisconsin Press. Madison, WI.
