Calendar

The Woodland School

This year we offer an array of Woodland School classes to advance your land stewardship practice, from the classics— chainsaw safety, prescribed fire—to new opportunities like birding the Leopold Memorial Reserve with experts. We hope you'll let one pique your curiosity and join us in the field! We are also pleased to now offer online registration for all our classes!

Become a Member Today!

Become a key partner in helping us spread the land ethic, advance the science of land health, preserve the Leopold shack and farm, and train new leaders for the future of conservation. Join today!

Fall Tours

Come visit for a tour this fall. Read the schedule for fall or register for a tour.

The Outlook eNewsletter

October 2008

Volunteers do 'Good Work'

"The name of our proper connection to the earth is 'good work,' for good work involves much giving of honor," writes Wendell Berry. On September 13, we held our second annual volunteer work day, and a team of fifty volunteers braved the rain to do a whole lot of Good Work. We planted 1,600 native prairie plugs, weeded and mulched roughly ½ acre of land, and washed 82 windows with 5+ panes each. Thank you for helping to make the Leopold Center a more beautiful place!

Shack Nominated as Historic Landmark

The Leopold Shack has been nominated as a National Historic Landmark! The National Park Service gives this designation to places that are of especial significance in our nation's history. The nominating committee felt that the Shack provides a physical representation of Aldo Leopold's concepts about human responsibility toward the land and is a significant place in communicating those ideas to the nation. You can help us secure this designation! Submit a comment in favor of listing the Shack as a National Historic Landmark before October 26.

The Wisconsin Book Festival

October 15-19. Each year the Wisconsin Book Festival brings great writers to Madison for readings and talks. For the first time, we’re partnering with the Wisconsin Humanities Council to attract and highlight writers who deal with our relationship to the land in a new series called Land & Home. We're delighted to bring you Oberlin professor David Orr (recently featured in our magazine) and science writer Andrew Revkin. Ethics, culture, design, and education are all pieces of the sustainability puzzle in David Orr’s passionate scholarship, teaching and writing about the environment. Revkin's highly acclaimed science writing for the New York Times has helped readers unravel the realities and debates surrounding many pressing environmental concerns, most notably climate change. Join us on October 15, 7:30pm at the Overture Center in Madison.

In Search of Leopold's Voice

While he was a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Aldo Leopold gave a number of lectures that were broadcast over the university’s radio station. Many of those broadcasts were recorded on acetate-coated glass “transcription disks.” As that technology was replaced by more modern recording methods, the university eventually dispersed many of those disks to an unknown number of individuals who agreed to store them. None of the known surviving disks contain recordings of Leopold’s talks. We are anxious to explore all possible leads to recover additional disks with the remote possibility that one might have the only recordings ever made of Aldo Leopold’s voice, a missing piece in our archival collections. If you know anything (even hearsay) about the whereabouts of any glass transcription disks from the University of Wisconsin’s radio station, please contact Stanley Temple.

The Phenology Calendar is Back!

Pre-order your phenology calendar for 2009 today! Aldo Leopold defined phenology as "the rates at which solar energy flows through living things. They are the arteries of the land. By tracing their response to the sun, phenology may eventually shed some light on that ultimate enigma, the land's inner workings." Using phenological data collected by Leopold and his daughter, Nina, over a span of more than 70 years, the Wildlife Phenology calendar will help you remember what seasonal events to watch for. Calendars are $5 (plus tax & shipping) and will be mailed at the beginning of the new year. If you're a member, you can pick one up for free if you visit our office in January. Place your order by November 15 to make sure you get a copy!

Leopold Center Art Discovery Day

On Saturday, November 8, we will offer a day-long event focusing on artists' projects that have been inspired by Leopold’s Land Ethic, many of which have been incorporated into the Leopold Center. The Aldo Leopold Foundation is working with artists Alan Anderson (furniture maker), Homer Daehn (wood carver), Julia Gilmore (land artist), Steve Hackbarth (blacksmith), Renee Knight (glass artist), Jill Metcoff (photographer), David Ogren (furniture maker), Todd Persche (water color artist), and Nolen Wallenfang (wood worker) to feature presentations, demonstrations, interactive art, a panel discussion, and plenty of time for one-on-one interaction between the artisans and the public. Each artist has a unique connection to the Leopold legacy and land ethic, and will offer insight into his or her craft throughout the day.

Become a Contributing Photographer!

The next issue of our magazine, The Leopold Outlook, will be coming out in November. We would like to feature your photos! Our next issue will focus on Leopold’s time in the Southwest as a prelude to the hundred-year anniversary of Leopold starting his career with the Forest Service there in 1909. We are seeking photos to accompany our articles; possible subjects would include: Southwestern scenery (especially from places Leopold worked and visited, including the Gila, Carson, and Apache National Forests; Santa Fe; Tres Piedras; Escudilla; the Kaibab plateau, to name a few), deer and wolves in the Southwest, sustainable ranching, sandhill cranes and wetlands. If you have photos that you think might work and would like to be considered for the Outlook, please email them to jeannine@aldoleopold.org. All photos will be printed in full color (unless original is b&w) and be credited to the photographer.

Notes from the Field

ALF interns Dana Bishop and Mark Witecha have been practicing their chainsaw skills and improving the health of the forest at the same time. Timber stand improvement is a standard forestry practice that can promote high-quality timber, hasten the development of old-growth characteristics, advance the growth of desirable seedlings and saplings, and reduce undesirable species. With the help of a professional forester, we have selected trees to cut at the Potter Preserve in Baraboo to guide portions of the forest that had previously been badly logged toward greater health. The crew has enjoyed putting their chainsaw skills to test and as they learn about felling trees, saw maintenance, and chain sharpening in the process.

Your Turn!

We still want your answers! Please share a story or a photo with us that represents "land health" to you, or let us know what the term means to you. Email your responses to jeannine@aldoleopold.org, and we will publish some of them in the next Outlook. Read Steve Swenson's article on defining land health from the last Outlook.