Leopold, [Rand] Aldo 1887 - 1948 | Wisconsin Historical Society

Historical Essay

Leopold, [Rand] Aldo 1887 - 1948

Leopold, [Rand] Aldo 1887 - 1948 | Wisconsin Historical Society

Aldo Leopold (WHI-34893)

conservationist, professor, author, b. Burlington, Iowa. He graduated from Yale Univ. (B.S., 1908; M.S., 1909). He worked in the U.S. Forest Service in the Southwest (1909-1924), and rose to the rank of chief of operations in the regional office at Albuquerque; his work there for rational and non- political game management attracted nation-wide attention. In 1924 he became associate director of the Forest Products Laboratory at Madison. After settling in Wisconsin, Leopold worked out a national game-management policy for the American Game Protective Association, and did field research (1928-1930) that resulted in his Report on a Game Survey of the North Central States (1931). His Game Management (1933) became a classic in its field. In 1933 he was appointed to a chair of game management at the Univ. of Wisconsin (the first to be established in this country), where he was professor of wildlife management until his death. In the forefront of national and state conservation movements, Leopold was instrumental in establishing the first soil conservation demonstration area in the U.S. (Coon Valley, 1934), and was a strong proponent of deer-herd management. As a member of the state Conservation Commission (1943-1948), he was influential in the acquisition of natural areas by the state and in the development of a conservation program based on research. The growth of his thinking is evident in his Round River journals (1953), and his more mature reflections on nature and conservation appear in A Sand County Almanac (1949). N.Y. Times, Apr. 22, 1948; Madison Wis. State journal, Apr. 21, 22, 1948; Who's Who in Amer., 24 (1946); Wildlife Research News Letter, Dept. Wildl. Mgmt., Univ. of Wis., 35, May 3, 1948.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Aldo Leopold Papers for details.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]