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/ NATION: The Great Conservation Debate

Neil M. Maher

in Nature's New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Roots of the American Enviromental Movement

This chapter explores how the debate over Corps conservation work, introduced as a local problem in Chapter Four, spread to the national level during the late 1930s. It begins by illustrating how ... More

This chapter explores how the debate over Corps conservation work, introduced as a local problem in Chapter Four, spread to the national level during the late 1930s. It begins by illustrating how positive media coverage during the early and mid-1930s made the CCC the New Deal's most popular program, and perhaps more importantly, synonymous with conservation. Yet Chapter Five also examines an increasingly vocal group of Americans who during the late-1930s publicly criticized Corps conservation work, and Roosevelt's New Deal, for threatening American nature. While others like Bob Marshall faulted CCC conservation projects such as the building of roads in national parks for destroying wilderness, biological scientists followed Aldo Leopold's lead by claiming that seemingly benign Corps work such as the planting of trees in national forests actually upset ecological balance. Chapter Five examines how this growing opposition to the CCC sparked a public, national debate about the role of wilderness preservation and ecological balance within the conservation movement. The chapter concludes that while the widespread popularity of the CCC helped make the conservation movement a truly grassroots phenomenon, the public debate over Corps work indicated that the very meaning of conservation was in flux during the Great Depression era.Less

Game Management

Michael J Lannoo

in Leopold's Shack and Ricketts's Lab: The Emergence of Environmentalism

Aldo Leopold's Report on a Game Survey of the North Central States received nearly universally positive reviews. He followed it up with Game Management, a larger book detailing the history, theory, ... More

Aldo Leopold's Report on a Game Survey of the North Central States received nearly universally positive reviews. He followed it up with Game Management, a larger book detailing the history, theory, and practice of game management. Later in 1931, the Sporting Arms and Ammunitions Manufacturers' Institute “loaned” Leopold to the State of Iowa, as Iowa sought to pull together a comprehensive, twenty-five-year plan to guide its newly formed Fish and Game Commission. In December 1931, Charles Scribner's Sons agreed to publish Game Management. In one of the book's three sections entitled “Management Technique,” Leopold outlined the tools available to the game manager, from the creation of refuges to the control of habitat, hunting, and predation. With the publication of Game Management, Leopold invented the field of wildlife biology.Less

Intimations of an Environmental Ethic in the Writings of Jonathan Edwards

John Gatta

in Making Nature Sacred: Literature, Religion, and the Environment in America from the Puritans to the Present

Although the renowned Calvinist divine Jonathan Edwards scarcely fits the conventional image of a nature writer, his work embodies a theology of Creation that has important implications for ... More

Although the renowned Calvinist divine Jonathan Edwards scarcely fits the conventional image of a nature writer, his work embodies a theology of Creation that has important implications for environmental ethics. As such, his ethical philosophy anticipates--in several surprising but instructive ways—the twentieth-century “land ethic” set forth by Aldo Leopold in his Sand County Almanac. Edwards’s notion of “benevolence to Being in general,” as articulated in The Nature of True Virtue, is a theocentric ideal that resists the anthropocentric assumption that nature exists solely to fulfill human needs and desires. Edwards’s vision of Creation as an all-encompassing and sacred beauty thus anticipates the modern sense of “ecology” that likewise affirms the interactive unity of all living and nonliving things.Less

From Forester to Professor

Michael J Lannoo

in Leopold's Shack and Ricketts's Lab: The Emergence of Environmentalism

On July 19, 1909, Aldo Leopold was appointed as forest assistant at the Apache National Forest just outside Springerville, in the Arizona Territory. During the two decades he spent with the U.S. ... More

On July 19, 1909, Aldo Leopold was appointed as forest assistant at the Apache National Forest just outside Springerville, in the Arizona Territory. During the two decades he spent with the U.S. Forest Service, Leopold got married to Estella Bergere and suffered from a case of acute nephritis (Bright's disease). Leopold's approach to game management was based on principles of forest management. For his successes in the Southwest, Leopold received a letter of congratulation from Theodore Roosevelt in January 1917 and a gold medal from Hornaday's Permanent Wild Life Protection Fund in July. In January 1918, Leopold left the U.S. Forest Service to take the position of secretary of the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce. In August 1919, he rejoined the Forest Service as an assistant district forester. In April 1924, he became assistant director of the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1928, the Sporting Arms and Ammunitions Manufacturers' Institute approached Leopold with an offer to conduct a nationwide survey of game conditions. Leopold agreed.Less

The Shack

Michael J Lannoo

in Leopold's Shack and Ricketts's Lab: The Emergence of Environmentalism

Aldo Leopold's book, Game Management, was well received, especially among scientists, conservationists, and sportsmen. With this book, he not only created an entirely new academic discipline. On June ... More

Aldo Leopold's book, Game Management, was well received, especially among scientists, conservationists, and sportsmen. With this book, he not only created an entirely new academic discipline. On June 26, 1933, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation approved $8,000 per year for five years to support a game management program, and Leopold also finagled the first-ever academic appointment in wildlife biology, at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Leopold followed up Game Management by putting his ideas into action. He first leased, then bought, eighty acres on the Wisconsin River, just north of Baraboo and east of the Wisconsin Dells. The place had a shack—an old chicken coop—where Leopold and his family began spending weekends. Here, he wrote essays, many of which became his second book, A Sand County Almanac. At the Shack, Leopold and his children kept a journal. Entries to the Shack journals were made in pencil.Less

A Sand County Almanac

Michael J Lannoo

in Leopold's Shack and Ricketts's Lab: The Emergence of Environmentalism

In early July 1941, Aldo Leopold flew to the Delta Waterfowl Station in Manitoba, Canada, where he conferred with his former student and station director, Albert Hochbaum. Leopold and Hochbaum had ... More

In early July 1941, Aldo Leopold flew to the Delta Waterfowl Station in Manitoba, Canada, where he conferred with his former student and station director, Albert Hochbaum. Leopold and Hochbaum had for some time spoken informally about working together on a book of essays. Leopold was to provide the text, Hochbaum the drawings. By August 1941, plans for the book had become more definite, though the two men set no firm schedule. That fall, Leopold began crafting the first essays, drawing from his Shack experiences. In February 1947, Hochbaum withdrew from the project because of his responsibilities at the Delta Waterfowl Station. Philip Vaudrin, a trade editor at Oxford University Press, wrote to Leopold expressing interest in publishing his book. But just after Leopold and Vaudrin reached their publication agreement, Leopold died on April 21, 1948. From its original title Great Possessions, Leopold's book was finally published in the fall of 1949 as A Sand County Almanac.Less

Aldo Leopold and the Flying Horse

Thomas A. Heberlein

in Navigating Environmental Attitudes

This chapter looks at the land ethic, Leopold’s visionary solution to environmental problems. Although the land ethic has been analyzed from ethical, historical, and philosophical perspectives, the ... More

This chapter looks at the land ethic, Leopold’s visionary solution to environmental problems. Although the land ethic has been analyzed from ethical, historical, and philosophical perspectives, the concepts of social psychology provide fresh insight into its utility and potential. The problem with the land ethic is that it is a combination of a value and a norm. It is too general and has no clear behavioral specification so that internal and external sanctions cannot be easily applied to influence action. Moreover, even Leopold thought it would take centuries to realize a land ethic. The land ethic requires a major value shift. Something more immediate is necessary to produce effective environmental solutions.Less

The Difference Ecology Makes

Norman Wirzba

in The Paradise of God: Renewing Religion in an Ecological Age

This chapter charts the development of ecology as a science and then highlights the cultural and educational significance of this way of thinking. The career of Aldo Leopold is considered in order to ... More

This chapter charts the development of ecology as a science and then highlights the cultural and educational significance of this way of thinking. The career of Aldo Leopold is considered in order to show the transformation in thought necessary for a more robust environmentalism. The foundations are also laid for an ecological ethic, a garden aesthetic, and a conversation between religion and ecology around the topic of death.Less

Leopold's Approach

Michael J Lannoo

in Leopold's Shack and Ricketts's Lab: The Emergence of Environmentalism

According to Aldo Leopold, there were two things that interested him: the relation of people to each other, and the relation of people to land. In the 1920s and through much of the early 1930s, when ... More

According to Aldo Leopold, there were two things that interested him: the relation of people to each other, and the relation of people to land. In the 1920s and through much of the early 1930s, when Leopold used the term land he usually meant “soil.” His interest in soil quality and stability came from his early days as a forester in Arizona and New Mexico, where he saw firsthand the effects of grazing on stream courses and the surrounding landscape. This interest continued with, indeed was reaffirmed by, the drought of the middle 1930s and the Dust Bowl that followed. But later, Leopold was using the word “land” as a catch-all term for the environment; it included soils, water systems, and wild and tame plants and animals. In 1936 and again in 1937, Leopold traveled to Chihuahua, Mexico. The term “unspoiled wilderness” took on a new meaning. Appreciating this, Leopold became increasingly interested in defining what he called “land health.” He also invented the term “land ethic.”.Less

Attitudes Are Not Everything

Thomas A. Heberlein

in Navigating Environmental Attitudes

This chapter deals with the second assumption of the cognitive fix, that attitudes have a direct influence on what people actually do (not what they say they might do or would like to do). Research ... More

This chapter deals with the second assumption of the cognitive fix, that attitudes have a direct influence on what people actually do (not what they say they might do or would like to do). Research shows that attitudes are often not related to behavior. For example, after Leopold changed his attitude toward wolves, he voted to restore bounties on them. Circumstance, like powerful currents, can keep us from going in the direction we would like. Positive attitudes are a necessary but not a sufficient condition for pro-environmental behaviors. More specific attitudes exert greater influence than general pro-environmental attitudes, and attitudes based on direct experience also are more likely to influence our behavior.Less

/ COMMUNITY: Locals and Next‐Door Natures

Neil M. Maher

in Nature's New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Roots of the American Enviromental Movement

This part of the book investigates how the Corps and its conservation work transformed local communities situated near the more than five thousand CCC camps scattered across the country. To do this, ... More

This part of the book investigates how the Corps and its conservation work transformed local communities situated near the more than five thousand CCC camps scattered across the country. To do this, Chapter Four focuses on two local communities in particular and their relationship with nearby Corps camps. In Coon Valley, Wisconsin, residents embraced both conservation and the New Deal as agricultural production rose on local farms cooperating with the Corps' soil conservation camps. Residents from a second community, located near CCC camps developing Great Smoky Mountains National Park for outdoor recreation, also welcomed Corps conservation and the New Deal but for very different reasons. In the Smokies locals supported the CCC not because it increased natural resource production, as in Coon Valley, but rather because CCC projects such as the building of hiking trails, visitor centers, and motor roads promised increased tourism to the nearby national park. While the CCC helped popularize this alternative form of conservation based outdoor recreation throughout the country, during the mid-1930s a vocal minority in each of these communities began criticizing the Corps in particular, and the New Deal by association, for being environmentally unsound. Chapter Four concludes by introducing the leaders of this critique, Aldo Leopold in Coon Valley and Robert Marshall in the Great Smokies, and suggests that this local opposition by two of the most important figures in modern environmentalism would greatly shape both the conservation movement and the New Deal during the later Great Depression period.Less

Leopold’s Last Talk

Eric T. Freyfogle

in A Good That Transcends: How US Culture Undermines Environmental Reform

Late in his life Aldo Leopold delivered over 100 conservation talks to varied audiences, only a few of which were published. A study of the extensive records of those talks, supplemented by his late ... More

Late in his life Aldo Leopold delivered over 100 conservation talks to varied audiences, only a few of which were published. A study of the extensive records of those talks, supplemented by his late writings, gives a clear sense of the main messages Leopold thought audiences most needed to hear if true conservation was to take root. Leopold urged people to see nature more holistically, as an integrated land community that included humans. This land community could be more or less healthy, he stated, and the health of it should provide the guiding beacon for all conservation efforts. Leopold also pushed audiences to realize that conservation success required significant if not radical changes in modern culture. After distilling and probing Leopold’s key messages, this chapter situates Leopold’s stances in modern philosophy. Leopold challenged presumptions about human exceptionalism and liberal autonomy; he questioned the reach of human knowledge; he presented nature in holistic terms; he embraced a theory of truth similar to that of American pragmatism; and he centered his normative vision on community welfare, on a good that transcended individual preferences. To succeed, Leopold concluded, conservation efforts needed above all to promote new ways of seeing, thinking, and valuing.Less

Out of the Midwest

Michael J Lannoo

in Leopold's Shack and Ricketts's Lab: The Emergence of Environmentalism

Aldo Leopold and Edward F. Ricketts shared a midwestern upbringing. Rand Aldo Leopold was born on January 11, 1887, in Burlington, Iowa, to first cousins Carl and Clara Leopold. Aldo was the eldest ... More

Aldo Leopold and Edward F. Ricketts shared a midwestern upbringing. Rand Aldo Leopold was born on January 11, 1887, in Burlington, Iowa, to first cousins Carl and Clara Leopold. Aldo was the eldest of four Leopold children. Edward Flanders Robb Ricketts was born on May 14, 1897, in Chicago, Illinois, to Abbott and Alice Ricketts. Ed was the eldest of the three Ricketts children. Both Leopold and Ricketts showed early the promise of the men they would become. Leopold showed interest in the natural world at an early age, while Ricketts, at the age of six, was given some natural history curios and an old zoology textbook by his uncle. In September 1905, Leopold began his studies at Yale University, while Ricketts enrolled at Illinois State Normal University in 1915. In March 1919, Ricketts enrolled at the University of Chicago, where he concentrated on biology courses. When Leopold graduated from Yale, he went to work for Gifford Pinchot in the U.S. Forest Service.Less

Daily Lives and Professional Expectations

Michael J Lannoo

in Leopold's Shack and Ricketts's Lab: The Emergence of Environmentalism

If Aldo Leopold and Edward F. Ricketts had ever shared the same shack (in fact, they never met and were probably unaware of each other's existence), there would have been every chance that at any ... More

If Aldo Leopold and Edward F. Ricketts had ever shared the same shack (in fact, they never met and were probably unaware of each other's existence), there would have been every chance that at any particular point in the day, someone would have been awake. Neither slept much. Ricketts was so unusual in part because of the fact that the humanities—art, music, literature, and philosophy—were as much a part of his life as the natural sciences. There were differences between Leopold and Ricketts in their daily lives and professional expectations. During the final two decades of his life Leopold was a university professor, salaried and tenured, with graduate students and an undergraduate teaching load that included courses in his field of wildlife ecology. Ricketts was a serious, haggard small businessman. He gathered, processed, packaged, and sold biological specimens to high schools, colleges, and universities.Less

Attitude Change: Aldo Leopold Meets the Bennington Women

Thomas A. Heberlein

in Navigating Environmental Attitudes

This chapter examines how attitudes change. The first assumption of the cognitive fix is that attitudes must change in order to change behavior. Leopold’s attitude changed from wolf-hater to ... More

This chapter examines how attitudes change. The first assumption of the cognitive fix is that attitudes must change in order to change behavior. Leopold’s attitude changed from wolf-hater to wolf-lover. Bennington students’ attitudes became more liberal and these changes persisted for five decades. Public attitudes toward wolves and the environment have become more positive as older generations are replaced by new. But these changes all took time. Less well-developed attitudes can sometimes change quickly when linked to stronger, more central attitudes. This is where the media can play a role through framing. That attitudes can and do change does not necessarily mean we can change them whenever we choose.Less

The Four Faces of Resistance

Eric Freyfogle

in Why Conservation Is Failing and How It Can Regain Ground

This chapter presents the views of Aldo Leopold on land conservation. As a lover of the entire land community, Leopold belonged to a minority strand of American culture, and is remembered chiefly for ... More

This chapter presents the views of Aldo Leopold on land conservation. As a lover of the entire land community, Leopold belonged to a minority strand of American culture, and is remembered chiefly for his land ethic, summed up in his essay by that name. One of Leopold's chief complaints was the fragmentation that characterized the conservation movement of his day. Leopold's worries about conflicts within conservation soon merged with his ideas about land as a community. To coordinate efforts, conservation needed an overall goal, a common target at which all conservationists could aim. Given that land worked as an integrated system, the logical aim was one linked to the ability of the system as such to function over time.Less

Enter Ecology Preserving Nature's Living Laboratory

in Nature's Ghosts: Confronting Extinction from the Age of Jefferson to the Age of Ecology

In a March 1920 essay published in the Scientific Monthly, the American naturalist Francis B. Sumner noted that warnings issued by several authors about impending extinction were overly narrow. ... More

In a March 1920 essay published in the Scientific Monthly, the American naturalist Francis B. Sumner noted that warnings issued by several authors about impending extinction were overly narrow. Trained as an ecologist, Sumner sought to combine the rigor of laboratory methods with extensive work in the field. The science of ecology emerged during a period of reform fervor in American biology. By the 1880s and 1890s, a new laboratory-based embryology, cytology, and physiology eclipsed the descriptive, field- and museum-oriented, and taxonomically focused natural history. The Ecological Society of America (ESA), founded in 1915 with Victor Shelford as its first president, played a major role in helping ecology gain a firm foothold within American biology. ESA not only pushed for the establishment of new national parks, but also sought to have areas within existing national parks and national forests set aside as more-or-less inviolate nature sanctuaries. Another naturalist, Aldo Leopold, pushed to forge the science of ecology into a new conservation ethic.Less

Shared and Complementary Perspectives

Michael J Lannoo

in Leopold's Shack and Ricketts's Lab: The Emergence of Environmentalism

It is curious that although Aldo Leopold and Edward F. Ricketts were superb field biologists and took similar, highly detailed notes, their views of science could not have been more different. ... More

It is curious that although Aldo Leopold and Edward F. Ricketts were superb field biologists and took similar, highly detailed notes, their views of science could not have been more different. Ricketts viewed science as a process, whereas Leopold chose to personify science. Neither Leopold nor Ricketts trusted the growing scientific trend toward specialization. When viewing Leopold's and Ricketts's contributions to the early science of ecology and an approach to living based on a fundamental knowledge of natural history, it is clear that there were shared emphases. As Eric Engles has pointed out, both men understood that we must rely on science, done right, to show the way. They also had grave suspicions about an emphasis on reductionism at the expense of holistic understanding. Leopold, anchored by his science of wildlife ecology, sought to achieve a method for balancing human needs with those of other organisms. Ricketts, with his talented friends and broad interests spanning science, art, and literature, emphasized the whole picture.Less