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Check Out an Aldo Leopold Weekend Event
This Weekend!
This year's Aldo Leopold Weekend will include 22 events across Wisconsin, three in Iowa, and one in South Dakota! Thank you to all our dedicated Leopold Weekend planners and their communities! Activities this year will range from banquets with speakers to nature hikes, from Leopold bench building workshops to traditional readings of A Sand County Almanac. Find a Leopold Weekend celebration to attend near you. Check the event listings on our website. Thanks to the Boldt Company for their continued sponsorship of this program. |
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Aldo Leopold Weekend Poster Contest
 As part of this year’s Aldo Leopold Weekend celebration Senator Neal Kedzie sponsored a poster contest for all the fourth grade classes in his District. Each class read from and discussed portions of A Sand County Almanac and then created posters inspired by these readings. The winning submissions will have their artwork displayed in the Wisconsin State Capitol, and Senator Kedzie will personally visit the winning submissions classroom on Friday, March 6th to discuss Aldo Leopold.
The winning submissions are:
1st: Zach Genrich from Rolling Hills Elementary in Mukwonago, WI
2nd: Cal Blachowski from Cushing Elementary in Delafield, WI
3rd: Areli Hernandez from Turtle Creek Elementary in Delavan, WI
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Yale Celebrates Leopold's Graduation
In 1909, Aldo Leopold graduated from what was at the time the newly born “Yale Forest School,” and joined the first generation of professional foresters in the nation. On April 3rd, 2009, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies will host a symposium and gala celebration honoring Leopold’s time at Yale and his acclaimed contributions to environmental conservation. The day-long symposium will appraise Leopold’s legacy and examine how his land ethic might be reformulated for the global environmental and social challenges of the 21st century. Roundtables with audience participation will revolve around short presentations by Leopold scholars, as well as practitioners who have put Leopold’s ethics into practice. Featured themes include Leopold’s place in American environmental history, and his contributions to philosophy, ethics, and natural resource management. Conferees will be challenged to answer the question: What advice would Leopold give to this year’s graduating class? Join us at Yale and take part in the celebration! |
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 Leopold Southwest Conference a Success!
On February 13 and 14, 2009 a diverse group convened at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque to discuss conservation ethics and cultural differences in environmental stewardship historically and in our changing world today. In 1909, Aldo Leopold started his career with the fledgling US Forest Service, working first in Arizona and then New Mexico. Our conference kicked off the year-long celebration of that centennial by bringing together the different cultural traditions of the Southwest to talk about Leopold's idea of a land ethic, and compare environmental ethics across cultural divides. The result was a cultural conversation that was at times challenging, at times uncomfortable, but overall greatly enriching to those involved. It was a chance for everyone present to open their minds and hearts to new ideas and different ways of thinking. Read more about the conference here. |
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 Chinese Delegation Visits Leopold Center
On February 24, Director General Jiao Zhiyan (Madam Jiao), head of environmental education in China, visited us at the Leopold Center. She was joined by a group of about 10 colleagues from Beijing and surrounding provinces, including her husband, Minister Xie Zhenhua, who is in charge of energy efficiency investment and green building construction in China. He also heads China's international climate change delegation. Nina Leopold Bradley greeted the group, and ALF staff had group members read aloud from the essay “Good Oak” in the Chinese translation of A Sand County Almanac to set the tone for the visit. (This translation is out of print, but may have limited availability through inter-library loan.) Professor Mike Utzinger of University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee School of Architecture gave the delegation a tour of the Leopold Center, describing its green features. Madam Jiao and her colleagues showed particular interest in the geothermal heating and cooling system, and the innovative “earth tube” fresh air system. The delegation also visited the International Crane Foundation and the River Crossing Environmental Charter School while in the area. |
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 Become a Part of the Next Outlook
The next issue of our member magazine, The Leopold Outlook, will be coming in June, and we're collecting photos or other artwork to complement the exciting collection of articles we've been gathering. Our theme this time will be agriculture and sustainable food systems, so if you have photos that you'd like to let us use, please send digital copies to Outlook editor Jeannine Richards at jeannine@aldoleopold.org for consideration. Pictures will be printed in full color (unless original is b&w) and be credited to the photographer. Our goal is to have all artwork in the magazine be from members or friends of ALF, rather than from stock photography. Thank you for helping us get there!
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Guided Tours of the Shack and Leopold Center Beginning for 2009
 Guided tours of the Leopold Center and the Aldo Leopold Shack and Farm start this month! On March 7 and 21 the center will be open for tours and drop-in visitors from 12-4:30pm. Although we do not have regular open hours until April 27, check out our special March and April tours, and register for a tour today!
As our visitation grows, so too does our programming. This year, in addition to our classic self-guided and guided tour programs, we will be offering a series of Expert Tour programs to the public. On the first Friday of every month between May and October, sign up to come out for an expert tour on topics ranging from a talk on the engineering of the Leopold Center led by UW-Milwaukee Associate Professor Mike Utzinger, to an intimate talk at the Shack about the Leopold family experience, led by Trish Stevenson (Nina Leopold Bradley’s daughter) and perhaps even Nina herself. Advance registration is strongly encouraged for all tours. We hope you'll join us for one this summer! |
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Notes From the Field
 The ALF stewardship crew is gearing up for burn season! Prescribed burning is an ecological restoration tool that we use frequently in helping to bring back the historic prairie and savanna landscapes of Wisconsin. Every year, ALF land stewardship staff and interns conduct a number of prescribed fires on areas we are working to restore. It’s not quite time to start burning yet, but March is the perfect time to get all our burn plans in order and make sure our equipment is cleaned and repaired from last year. If you are planning on doing a burn this year, it’s time to pull out your backpack sprayers and drip torches, check for leaks and loose nozzles, and figure out where you are going to put your burn breaks. While we probably can’t help you conduct your burn, we do have a bunch of excellent burn planning resources for you on our website.
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Leopold Education Project National Conference
 This year the Aldo Leopold Foundation is partnering with the Leopold Education Project (LEP) to jointly offer a national workshop. The 2009 Leopold Education Project National Conference will be held at the Leopold Center in Baraboo, Wisconsin on June 26th and 27th with optional pre-conference workshops on June 25th. Registration for the conference is now open. This conference will offer new skills to develop and lead conservation and environmental education projects in your home communities. This year, we'll focus on "community," with topics to include: exploring relationship between natural and human communities, using Leopold's thoughts and words to connect people and their communities, practical methods for engaging community members, and a review of successful projects that connect people and nature while getting youth outdoors.
If you are interested in being a presenter at the conference, check out our Call for Proposals. |
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