Aldo Leopold

Aldo Leopold : A Fierce Green Fire by Marybeth Lorbiecki.  

"In January of 1995 I helped carry the first gray wolf into Yellowstone, where they had been eradicated by federal predator control policy only six decades earlier. Looking through the crates into her eyes, I reflected on how Aldo Leopold once took part in that policy, then eloquently challenged it. By illuminating for us how wolves play a critical role in the whole of creation, he expressed the ethic and the laws which would reintroduce them nearly a half-century after his death. And this insightful biography illuminates for us the critical forces that helped shape Leopold's own remarkable journey." Bruce Babbitt...  

Leopold Education Project

The Leopold Education Project (LEP) is an innovative, critical thinking, conservation and environmental education curriculum based on the classic writings of the renowned conservationist, Aldo Leopold. The Leopold Education Project teaches the public about humanity's ties to the natural environment in the effort to conserve and protect the earth's natural resources.  

Site Includes:

Aldo Leopold Wilderness

Aldo Leopold Wilderness is located astride the crest of the Black Range of southwestern New Mexico and is a portion of the original Gila Wilderness fostered by Aldo Leopold. Rising from hot, dry desert and semi-desert the Black Range stands as a prominent land feature from nearly all directions. Aldo Leopold Wilderness is 202,016 acres in size and contains the most rugged and wild portion of this mountain range. The deep canyons and precipitous timbered ridges typical of this area extend to the east, south, and west and support a natural blending of resources making the area outstanding as a wilderness. The mark of man and evidence of his activities are relatively obscure. Over a wide range in elevation, a network of deep canyons, rincons, timbered benches and many high vista points offer solitude and an opportunity for the visitor to escape the clutches of a mechanistic civilization. The superlative beauty of this wild and broken country is a natural setting for spiritual refreshment through self-evaluation.

Aldo Leopold Institute

The Leopold Institute, established by the Forest Service in 1993, operates under an interagency agreement between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and four agencies of the U.S. Department of the Interior (Bureau of Land Management, Geological Survey, National Park Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service). The institute's research aims at protecting and preserving wilderness and improving wilderness management.

In his youth, Aldo Leopold worked as a Forest Service employee and spent his life working with and for wilderness. "The richest values of wilderness lie not in the days of Daniel Boone, nor even in the present, but rather in the future." - Aldo Leopold

The Transformation of Aldo Leopold

Essay by Amy McCoy

Excerpt:

Aldo Leopold undoubtedly believed in the preservation of wilderness, however his motives may be difficult to understand. It was not until the last two decades of his life that he developed his famed Land Ethic, which led to his christening as the Father of the National Forest Wilderness system. Previous to those writings, his motivation for conservation was less for the preservation of an ecosystem, and more for the defense of good hunting game. However, through a series of eye-opening experiences, Leopold came to realize the importance of viewing the natural world as an entire biota, and then preserving it as such...