Today I went to a screening of the independent film “Green Fire”, the first high-definition full length documentary film about Aldo Leopold. The film did not start with an introduction of Leopold, as a lot of documentaries do. It instead started with Leopold’s daughter talking about him and summarizing his life in her eyes.
Then, the film proceeded along the biographical process. It started with his childhood. His father, also a keen man of the outdoors and conservationist, encouraged Leopold to spend his time in the great outdoors. Young Leopold took a great interest in the outdoors, taking extensively detailed notes at a young age. This would later establish a skill set that he would use in his later life.
He then reached my age: the college years. He chose to pursue forestry, as at the time, if one was a conservationist, he or she would study forestry. Leopold studied forestry at the Forestry School at Yale University. After getting his degree, he got a job with the National Forestry Service.
Leopold was shipped from his home in the Midwest down South to New Mexico where his forestry job was. He was initially a low level employee who had to do a lot of work in terms of regulation enforcement. But in just a few years, Leopold rose up to become a supervisor of all the workers in the area.
While he was employed by the National Forestry Service, Leopold recounted having seen the “green fire” in a wolf’s eyes after a fellow wolf had died. He described it as a very interesting sensation that he did not realize the full meaning of until years later.
Eventually, Leopold married Estella Bergere. She lived in northern New Mexico, while he lived in southern New Mexico. He essentially courted her by letters. His letters to her were artful and beautiful.
Soon after the two were married, Leopold was transferred to the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, where he raised his children Aldo Starker Leopold, Luna Leopold, Nina Leopold Bradley, Aldo Carl Leopold, and Estella Leopold Jr. It sure must have been confusing. If their mom wanted to speak to “Aldo”, which one did she want? If Leopold wanted to speak to “Estella”, which one did he want? I can only imagine what it was like. There were two siblings both named Aldo. It would have been more confusing than identical twins. Leopold also gave speeches and wrote essays which advocated restraint in road building and the establishment of preserved wilderness areas. As such, just as Leopold was being transferred to Wisconsin, the Gila Wilderness Area in New Mexico was created.
Leopold went on to a professorship in Game Management (hunting) at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the first position of its kind. Leopold initially, foolishly in his own later words, believed that the ecosystem was best served if all the predators in it were eliminated, thus maximizing the amount of game. He later realized that he was horribly wrong. Game populations spiraled out of control, and it wasn’t until Mexican wolves, all but gone from the area, were reintroduced to combat the game population problems. The problem is still not completely gone, but there is somewhat more of balance in the populations now than there was then.
Eventually Leopold retired from the Forestry Service so that he could focus on his true passion: conservation. He eventually turned toward understanding and preserving wildlife populations. Leopold tried an experiment in land restoration in the Midwest. After applying the strategy Leopold came up with for land restoration, the town in question became so successful that Leopold felt he had to do it himself. As such, he bought a plot of land near Baraboo, Wisconsin, at a bend in the Wisconsin River. It was originally a very trashy, horrible-looking plot, with one decrepit building on it. That one building was an old chicken coop where the entire floor was covered with manure. Leopold and his entire family came to the plot multiple times and replanted grass and plants. They also cleaned out all the manure and fixed the building up. Through all their hard work then, the result is a beautiful grove-like setting today. A picture is below.
Then, the film proceeded along the biographical process. It started with his childhood. His father, also a keen man of the outdoors and conservationist, encouraged Leopold to spend his time in the great outdoors. Young Leopold took a great interest in the outdoors, taking extensively detailed notes at a young age. This would later establish a skill set that he would use in his later life.
He then reached my age: the college years. He chose to pursue forestry, as at the time, if one was a conservationist, he or she would study forestry. Leopold studied forestry at the Forestry School at Yale University. After getting his degree, he got a job with the National Forestry Service.
Leopold was shipped from his home in the Midwest down South to New Mexico where his forestry job was. He was initially a low level employee who had to do a lot of work in terms of regulation enforcement. But in just a few years, Leopold rose up to become a supervisor of all the workers in the area.
While he was employed by the National Forestry Service, Leopold recounted having seen the “green fire” in a wolf’s eyes after a fellow wolf had died. He described it as a very interesting sensation that he did not realize the full meaning of until years later.
Eventually, Leopold married Estella Bergere. She lived in northern New Mexico, while he lived in southern New Mexico. He essentially courted her by letters. His letters to her were artful and beautiful.
Soon after the two were married, Leopold was transferred to the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, where he raised his children Aldo Starker Leopold, Luna Leopold, Nina Leopold Bradley, Aldo Carl Leopold, and Estella Leopold Jr. It sure must have been confusing. If their mom wanted to speak to “Aldo”, which one did she want? If Leopold wanted to speak to “Estella”, which one did he want? I can only imagine what it was like. There were two siblings both named Aldo. It would have been more confusing than identical twins. Leopold also gave speeches and wrote essays which advocated restraint in road building and the establishment of preserved wilderness areas. As such, just as Leopold was being transferred to Wisconsin, the Gila Wilderness Area in New Mexico was created.
Leopold went on to a professorship in Game Management (hunting) at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the first position of its kind. Leopold initially, foolishly in his own later words, believed that the ecosystem was best served if all the predators in it were eliminated, thus maximizing the amount of game. He later realized that he was horribly wrong. Game populations spiraled out of control, and it wasn’t until Mexican wolves, all but gone from the area, were reintroduced to combat the game population problems. The problem is still not completely gone, but there is somewhat more of balance in the populations now than there was then.
Eventually Leopold retired from the Forestry Service so that he could focus on his true passion: conservation. He eventually turned toward understanding and preserving wildlife populations. Leopold tried an experiment in land restoration in the Midwest. After applying the strategy Leopold came up with for land restoration, the town in question became so successful that Leopold felt he had to do it himself. As such, he bought a plot of land near Baraboo, Wisconsin, at a bend in the Wisconsin River. It was originally a very trashy, horrible-looking plot, with one decrepit building on it. That one building was an old chicken coop where the entire floor was covered with manure. Leopold and his entire family came to the plot multiple times and replanted grass and plants. They also cleaned out all the manure and fixed the building up. Through all their hard work then, the result is a beautiful grove-like setting today. A picture is below.
Through all this time Leopold continued to make observations and notes on the world around him. Towards the end of his life, he compiled all of his observations into one book, “The Sand County Almanac” that is still a timeless classic naturalist book today.
Aldo Leopold was a timeless figure who made many contributions to conservation. So his death in 1948 was a great loss for the world. He died working in conservation. A neighbor was systematically setting fires in his lands to allow the old grass to die and the new grass to grow. This is actually a good thing for prairie lands. The fire grew too large, and so Leopold and his family started to fight. Suddenly, a heart attack struck Leopold, and so he died after the fire was put out.
I will now take this chance to reflect on my movie experience. Before watching this movie, I had never even heard of Aldo Leopold, but after watching this movie, I understand how I had never heard of him, and how he is not getting credit from all the people he has helped. Some people that he has helped have never even heard of him, like me. This is because his conservation principles led to the establishment of more conservation-minded guidelines for us to interact with nature, based on the “Land Ethic” that Leopold mentions in “The Sand County Almanac.” The impact of Leopold’s contributions was to me very profound. I knew about the Dust Bowl phase of the Midwest when all the prairies were overgrazed, leading to rampant erosion. What I did not know was how that land was restored to the way it is today. This movie explained Leopold’s restoration methods. After that, I understood what had happened. His methods had been applied throughout the Midwest. Then the magnitude of it fully hit me, and I began to have more of an appreciation for Leopold’s work.
The question now is, are we still conservation minded, as Leopold advised us to be? In some ways, we are better than before, but in others, we are worse than before. We waste water, yet we try to preserve forests and natural wonders in national parks. But without water, nothing on the planet can survive. The oceans are useless in this sense because converting saltwater to freshwater takes more energy than we get from it. If we are truly to respect Leopold’s words, we must also not waste water and food as we have been, for water is part of the land Leopold refers to in the “Land Ethic,” and food is made from the land. If we waste it, it is akin to wasting the land itself. Leopold said that "we treat land like a commodity. If we treat the land as part of a community that we are also a part of, then we will have more respect for the land." Hopefully in the future we can try to conserve both the land and energy of the environment, recycling so that we may use it for many millennia. We should at least try to use it as long as we survive. That’s either until the Sun explodes, or until Armageddon, whichever comes first.
Aldo Leopold was a timeless figure who made many contributions to conservation. So his death in 1948 was a great loss for the world. He died working in conservation. A neighbor was systematically setting fires in his lands to allow the old grass to die and the new grass to grow. This is actually a good thing for prairie lands. The fire grew too large, and so Leopold and his family started to fight. Suddenly, a heart attack struck Leopold, and so he died after the fire was put out.
I will now take this chance to reflect on my movie experience. Before watching this movie, I had never even heard of Aldo Leopold, but after watching this movie, I understand how I had never heard of him, and how he is not getting credit from all the people he has helped. Some people that he has helped have never even heard of him, like me. This is because his conservation principles led to the establishment of more conservation-minded guidelines for us to interact with nature, based on the “Land Ethic” that Leopold mentions in “The Sand County Almanac.” The impact of Leopold’s contributions was to me very profound. I knew about the Dust Bowl phase of the Midwest when all the prairies were overgrazed, leading to rampant erosion. What I did not know was how that land was restored to the way it is today. This movie explained Leopold’s restoration methods. After that, I understood what had happened. His methods had been applied throughout the Midwest. Then the magnitude of it fully hit me, and I began to have more of an appreciation for Leopold’s work.
The question now is, are we still conservation minded, as Leopold advised us to be? In some ways, we are better than before, but in others, we are worse than before. We waste water, yet we try to preserve forests and natural wonders in national parks. But without water, nothing on the planet can survive. The oceans are useless in this sense because converting saltwater to freshwater takes more energy than we get from it. If we are truly to respect Leopold’s words, we must also not waste water and food as we have been, for water is part of the land Leopold refers to in the “Land Ethic,” and food is made from the land. If we waste it, it is akin to wasting the land itself. Leopold said that "we treat land like a commodity. If we treat the land as part of a community that we are also a part of, then we will have more respect for the land." Hopefully in the future we can try to conserve both the land and energy of the environment, recycling so that we may use it for many millennia. We should at least try to use it as long as we survive. That’s either until the Sun explodes, or until Armageddon, whichever comes first.