The Land Ethic and the Shack

I am attending the Land Trust Alliance Rally in Madison, Wisconsin (I managed to get here by proposing to give a talk on invasive plant management). Before the sessions began, I took a day off to join a pre-conference tour of the nearby land that Aldo Leopold restored and wrote about in "A Sand County Almanac."

Leopold is a major figure in the environmental movement, known for introducing—and practicing—two concepts: ecological restoration and ethical responsibility toward nature. As a professor at the University of Wisconsin Leopold replanted the university arboretum with the native prairie of this region in the 1930's, beginning the first ecological restoration in the world.

Wanting to try restoration himself, he bought an eroded, exhausted farm on the Wisconsin River and brought his family to it on weekends to replant trees and prairie grasses to hold the soil. They stayed in a small shack which now stands in the middle of a beautiful preserve.

Coming here was inspirational: our ecologist guide not only talked about the history of the site and how it is being managed, but he also read from relevant passages of "A Sand County Almanac" at the very places Leopold was describing. By the way, there is no "Sand County"—there are several counties in Wisconsin that are known as sand counties, and the title was not chosen until after Leopold's death.

The Land Ethic is a philosophy of ecological and ethical consciousness, one that includes concepts of land health, aesthetics, and humans living in harmony with the land; it guides much of modern environmental stewardship. Leopold's children formed The Aldo Leopold Foundation, a nonprofit founded to foster Leopold's vision of the Land Ethic, and it manages the Aldo's restored land.

Touring this land with colleagues from land trusts around the country was an incredible experience. These professionals asked hard questions of our guide, about the future of this land and how to make this vision reality. It's reassuring to know that the land trusts represented are guided by such knowledgeable and committed people. We sat in the shade of trees Aldo Leopold planted and had almost a roundtable discussion on forest dynamics, development pressures, real estate taxation, and our roles in protecting land.

On our field trip we also drove through the Baraboo Hills, one of the most ancient rock outcrops in North America, which supports an ecologically unique habitat, including the largest block of upland forest still standing in southern Wisconsin.

And we also toured lands being restored by a conservation-minded private landowner, where prescribed fire is being used to restore remnant prairies on dramatic bluffs. It is great to know there are people out there who are willing to go to great effort to restore habitat, increase the biodiversity of plants on the land, and share this beautiful location (pictured here) with others.