In the Shadow of the Master

"There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot..." So began Aldo Leopold's classic and earth-changing book A Sand County Almanac

Friday afternoon, May 18, I visited the Aldo Leopold Foundation along the Wisconsin River in Sauk County, Wisconsin. This is on the 300 acres of land that during the 30s and 40s, Leopold borrowed for a few years while he was alive (he would, of course, argue that nobody but the earth "owns" the earth). The highlight of Friday afternoon was visiting "The Shack". I can't count how many times I have read A Sand County Almanac and absorbed what Leopold was saying while at his sand county shack. It was pretty ethereal touching the same wood that Leopold touched and walking the same trails that he walked. But, no, I didn't use the same outhouse he used (despite it being there). Its pretty cool to look at pictures of his land in the 30s when they bought it....stark and barren like the Red River Valley of North Dakota ....and compare it to the bounty of plants growing there today. Some of the red pines that he and his family planted in the 30s are pretty large now...in fact....the buildings for the Leopold legacy center are all made out of trees harvested from the property.

I really enjoyed listening to Pine Warblers sing from pine trees that wouldn't be there were it not for Leopold's concern for the earth, and Ovenbirds belting out their "teacher teacher teacher" from hardwood forest that had no chance of surviving the ravages of those who exploit the earth for profit rather than nurture it. The one thing I wanted to do here but it didn't happen was to sit on Leopold's bench and watch, as he wrote, an Indigo Bunting trying "to outblue the Bluebirds." There were Bluebirds here but no Indigo Buntings. Also if you remember him talking about "The Good Oak"...you can walk to the place where it once lived before it was killed by a bolt of lightning.

The thing that struck me the most was the realization of how ephemeral we all are and how little time we have to make a difference. Leopold certainly made a difference and he made a huge impression on me. He did for many people. In less than the blink of an eye in geological terms Leopold was gone. He was felled by a heart attack while fighting a prairie fire in April 1948. Luckiliy for us and for the earth, however, his legacy lives on and his philosophy is enshrined big time at the Leopold Foundation/ Legacy Center.

One of Leopold's objectives in buying his "domain" along the Wisconsin River was to use his land as a living laboratory to perfect techniques for restoring habitats - putting Mother Earth back together after she'd been torn apart for short-term profits. Given what we know now about the science of Restoration Ecology, Leopold was, as usual, years ahead of his time.

If you read A Sand County Almanac closely you will discover that Leopold had a deep appreciation for Sandhill Cranes (as does anyone who has ever worked with Cranes). In Leopold's time the Sandhill Crane had become exceedingly scarce on the Wisconsin landscape. Wetland drainage had done its horrible deed and there was less and less crane habitat. I saw my first Sandhill Crane in 1969 at the Crex Meadows Wildlife Management Area in Burnett County Wisconsin. At the time it was one of the few places in the State where they existed.

Since then, cranes have rebounded because of habitat restoration. Areas of corn that were once wetlands have been converted back to wetlands and cranes have responded. They are now breeding in many areas of Wisconsin, even within spitting distance of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The success of habitat resotration efforts, especially wetland restoration, was evident to me this morning, May 20, while driving on Interstate 90-94 toward the Madison airport. At an area about even with Mile Marker 100, and about 2 miles straight west of Leopold's shack, I saw a small group of Sandhill Cranes foraging in a corn field. With them was the most majestic of all cranes - a Whooping Crane. This bird was part of the effort to re-establish Whooping Cranes as a breeding bird in Wisconsin (the first wild hatched Whooping Crane in more than 100 years in Wisconsin, hatched in Adams County last year). I thought it was extremely ironic to be so close to Leopold's shack where he devoted so much time learning about habitat restoration, and then to see a Whooping Crane - a bird that had not been in the state for more than 100 years at the time Leopold lived - within spitting distance of his 'Great Marsh." Talk about sending goose bumps up and down your spine!

If you have the chance to get to this part of Wisconsin, stop by the Foundation and visit the Legacy Center (click on the post title to be directed to the Foundation's website). They provide guided tours of Leopold's land where you can walk in his tracks and learn where the master learned to be the master. If you're so inclined, drop some money in an envelope and send it to the Foundation to become a member. I did it and it was pretty painless. Who knows, maybe something purchased with money you contributed will make a differnce in the mind of a 4th grader who visits the Shack and turns into another Aldo Leopold because of the experience.