Calendar |
Oct. 30:
Brown Bag Seminar-Mark Madison |
Nov. 7:
Art Day |
Nov. 14:
Woodland School-Plant Communities |
The Woodland School |
In the coming year, we are offering 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! |
Support the Work of the Foundation |
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! |
Visiting the Leopold Center |
Check out our 2009 tour schedule to decide when you'd like to visit us this fall! After October 31, visits are by appointment only. |
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Wendell Berry was a hit at Bookfest!
On Sunday, October 11, Wendell Berry drew a crowd of 2000 listeners to the Overture Center in Madison. He read the story "Making It Home," from his collection Fidelity: Five Stories. He also answered questions from the audience moderated by Leopold biographer Dr. Curt Meine. The author of more than 40 works of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, Berry is a farmer whose writings express his deep connection to the land, the value of community and the importance of living sustainably. His trip to Madison was cosponsored by the Aldo Leopold Foundation and Wisconsin Humanities Council as part of an ongoing partnership to recognize and appreciate writers who celebrate our connection to the land. Watch it all on PortalWisconsin and see more photos from the event and Mr. Berry's visit to the Leopold Center on our Facebook page.
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Join us for our second annual Art Day!
 Nov. 7, 9:30am-4:00pm The Aldo Leopold Foundation is pleased to feature the work of six new artists and artisans in addition to those who participated last year in Art Discovery Day 2009. Join us at the Leopold Center for a day of browsing artwork and learning about the artists' connection to the land.
Janet Flynn is a local watercolor painter who is best known for her watercolor paintings of cranes. She has had numerous solo exhibits of her work at the International Crane Foundation, and is currently working with ICF on a habitat series of their property.
Kristin Gjerdset is an associate professor of art at Wisconsin Luther College. Her drawings and paintings focus on trees, especially those trees with have unique forms and features. She also has highlighted less-appreciated common creatures that inhabit the landscape. Each life has a role on this planet no matter how small or seemingly insignificant.
Karen Ann Hoffman is a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. Her Iroquois raised beadwork is a rare style of woodland American Indian beadwork, noted for its designs drawn from nature and rooted in Iroquois heritage. The beadwork is unique because of its embossed, three dimensional style that expresses Iroquois' relationship to their environment.
Kevin Moll is an art teacher in Adams-Friendship, Wisconsin. His metal sculptures are created from recycling materials. He feels these previously-used materials have the mantle of history and character that become a component of the new piece.
Katie Schofield is graduate in studio art from North Park University in Chicago and an artist-in-residence at the Wormfarm Institute in Reedsburg. Her work revolves around the reuse of discarded material, mainly plastic, which she uses to build something new. Currently she is making nest-like forms as she explores the idea of refuse as a refuge.
Dwayne Sperber is a furniture maker who designs and builds utilizing wood reclaimed from urban and rural landscapes. The utilization of municipal trees can contribute to the conservation of forestland resources by generating wood products from tress that would be removed anyway.
Please join us on November 7th! Read more about art day.
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Quivira Coalition Annual Conference focuses on Leopold
 The Quivira Coalition, headed by Courtney White, is a New Mexico-based organization working to promote ecologically sensitive ranching practices. Their annual conference this year builds on the year-long Leopold Centennial Celebration in the southwest with their theme "Living Leopold: the land ethic and a new agrarianism." The conference will be held in Albuquerque on November 4-6. Speakers will include conservation thinkers, writers, and practitioners from across the country considering topics ranging from ethics and beauty to energy and sustainable agriculture. Learn more about the conference.
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Track phenology with us!
 The Leopold Center is pilot-testing a phenology-monitoring program for visitors, help us test it out! Phenology is the study of annual natural events--for example, when flowers bloom or when birds migrate. Monitoring phenological events is a long-standing Leopold tradition. Aldo Leopold kept phenology records at the Shack in the 1930s and 40s, and his daughter Nina has continued his records from 1976 to today. We want to give our visitors a chance to participate in the tradition, too. If you visit in the next month, you can check out our new phenology exhibit, test our visitor data collection sheets, and let us know what you think!
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Brown Bag Seminar with Mark Madison
October 30: Never Cry Wolf: The Strange Case of the Red
Wolf Reintroduction
12:00 – 1:30pm.Bring your lunch and join us for a free lunchtime talk
with Mark Madison, national historian for the US Fish and Wildlife
Service. The red wolf once ranged widely over the southeastern
United States. Yet, by the 1970s, it was considered America’s most
endangered mammalian species. Following the 1973 Endangered Species Act, a Red Wolf Recovery Program was implemented. The
program began in controversy—the remaining red wolves were
captured, making them extinct in the wild. The Fish and Wildlife
Service began captive breeding programs, seeking to reintroduce the
red wolf into its former habitat. However, successful reintroduction
was thwarted by a new more rigorous definitions of “species.” The
red wolf commonly bred with coyotes, which were now ubiquitous
in the wolf ’s former range. Interbreeding led to difficulties in
identifying specimens and even called into question the legitimacy of
the entire red wolf species. The hybrids were deemed inferior species
and destroyed. Humans had created the initial disruptions and now
found themselves powerless to preserve the essential species. Without
more effective breeding barriers there is little hope of keeping the two
closely related species from interbreeding.
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Notes From the Field
 Beginning this September, the Aldo Leopold Foundation is partnering with the University of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County to offer work-study positions through the foundation’s stewardship program. Stewardship Coordinator Alanna Koshollek and Land Steward Jen Simoni mentor and supervise four students who wish to gain more experience in natural resource management. Dan, Marty, Becca, and Kyra are all studying different disciplines, but all agree this is an unique opportunity to gain hands-on field training while being inspired by the legacy of Aldo Leopold. The students will be working with the stewardship crew through May 2010. Meet the students.
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Thank you to Bob Lange
 Bob Lange, who has served as ALF's development director for the past 3 1/2 years, is leaving the foundation to pursue other professional opportunities. "It has been a joy working with all who embrace Leopold’s Land Ethic and I will be forever grateful for that opportunity," says Bob. We thank him for his service to the organization and wish him well in his future pursuits. If you have any questions or need to talk to someone regarding ways to support the foundation, please contact Buddy Huffaker, executive director, or Jennifer Anstett, member services coordinator.
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