Wisconsin Citizens, Communities Keep Inspiring Leopold’s Conservation Ethic

   In his 1948 foreword to “A Sand County Almanac,” Aldo Leopold observed that some people can live without wild things and some cannot.

   And then he defined the contents of his book: “These essays are the delights and dilemmas of one who cannot.”

   Roughly 15 years earlier, those credentials qualified Leopold to create and lead the nation’s first wildlife-management program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. No one else could match Leopold’s ability to wield the pen just as expertly as the ax, shovel, bow, shotgun, flyrod and crosscut saw.

   Tragically, just six weeks after writing that foreword, Leopold died in April 1948 at age 61 while fighting a neighbor’s grassfire. “A Sand County Almanac” was published 18 months later in October 1949, but without its author to promote it, Leopold’s masterpiece languished over 20 years, averaging only 1,000 sales annually.

   But much like aspen roots lying dormant beneath the duff until surface conditions unleash fresh shoots across the landscape, Leopold’s book found its audience on April 22, 1970. That's when Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson created Earth Day. “A Sand County Almanac” has since been published in 15 languages and sold over 2 million copies, faithfully sharing Leopold’s “delights and dilemmas” long after his death.

     Tom Heberlein, right, organized the first “Lodi Reads Leopold” event in Wisconsin in March 2000. By 2004, with help from the Aldo Leopold Foundation (represented by Sarah Lloyd, left) and then-Rep. Mark Miller, center, Wisconsin proclaimed the first weekend of March as “Leopold Weekend.” — Patrick Durkin photos

   It helps, of course, that countless Leopold readers revere the man, and faithfully quote his words to friends, family and colleagues. Some even launch groups and programs in their communities to share his conservation legacy, especially his “land ethic,” which holds: “We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

   One of Leopold’s devoted disciples was Tom Heberlein (1946-2024), a rural-sociology professor at UW-Madison. Much like Leopold, Heberlein and his academic buddies were hunters who loved chasing ruffed grouse and white-tailed deer. In fact, Leopold remains one of hunting’s leading, most effective advocates nearly a century after launching UW-Madison’s wildlife-management department.

   As Leopold wrote: “Some can live without opportunity for the exercise and control of the hunting instinct, just as I suppose some can live without work, play, love, business or other vital adventure.”

   Heberlein’s respect for Leopold inspired him to print placards, banners and buttons that invited everyone to gather in the Lodi, Wisconsin, public library the first weekend of March 2000. The timing aligned with the date Leopold finished the final draft of his book’s foreword: March 4, 1948. Besides, Heberlein asked, “What else is going on in early March in Wisconsin?”

   And get this: Heberlein decided the best way to honor Leopold was to read aloud “A Sand County Almanac” in its entirety. Yep. Cover to cover; a feat requiring a team of about four dozen readers, 14 hours of fortitude, and all the comfort metal folding chairs can offer.

   Then in 2002, as Lodi held its third annual Leopold reading, former Department of Natural Resources secretary George Meyer ended his assigned reading by suggesting every Wisconsin community read “A Sand County Almanac.” Another reader, state Rep. Mark Miller of Monona, rose from his folding chair in the audience and said he’d make it happen.

   In 2003, Miller persuaded Wisconsin’s partisan Legislature to designate March’s first weekend as “Aldo Leopold Weekend.” And at Lodi’s 2004 reading, Miller showed everyone the proclamation, signed days earlier by Gov. Jim Doyle.

     Tom Heberlein, left in suit and tie, listens to a reading of “A Sand County Almanac” alongside Buddy Huffaker and his son Jake during the 2004 “Lodi Reads Leopold” event.

   Sometime later, Iowa one-upped Wisconsin, designating March’s first full week as “Leopold Week.”

   By March 2007, the Aldo Leopold Foundation in nearby Baraboo listed 26 Wisconsin towns and cities, and five communities in other states, honoring Leopold with plays, readings, workshops, speeches and seminars. That list kept growing until the COVID-19 pandemic struck in spring 2020. Many public readings and other Leopold tributes turned to virtual events, and never resumed their in-person events after the pandemic passed.

   Again, though, Professor Heberlein took notice. Before dying in January 2024, he set aside money from his estate to help the Leopold Foundation rebuild community-based public readings of “A Sand County Almanac.” And the events don’t even have to read the entire book. Yes, Heberlein won’t posthumously revoke anyone’s Aldo Leopold card if their group simply reads favorite essays and limits the event to one day or a half-day.

   Heberlein’s donation will support 21 Leopold events in early March, including six in Arkansas, four in Ohio, two in Michigan, and six in Wisconsin at Rio, Madison, Janesville, Hammond, Green Bay and Williams Bay. The donation will also fund another round or two of readings in March 2027 and 2028.

   The Leopold Foundation hopes the in-person events also steer participants to its Leopold Week online program, “Discover Your Land Ethic, Discover it Here,” (https://bit.ly/46uXf1J) the evenings of March 10-12. The speakers are Jennifer Grenz, Alexis Nikole Nelson and Dacher Keltner, and they’ll discuss how the natural world helps people heal and deal with personal and ecological relationships with the land.

   Buffy Huffaker, the Leopold Foundation’s executive director, said last year’s “Land Ethic Live” programs attracted over 20,000 online participants from 50 states and 49 countries.

   “The advantage of online events is that we can’t possibly seat thousands of people from every state and around the world in local libraries,” Huffaker said. “But online events can’t provide the togetherness and connection you get when local teachers, schoolkids, parents, town halls and elected representatives read aloud to each other.”

   Huffaker also hopes local events will boost awareness of the Leopold Foundation’s habitat-based efforts with the DNR and U.S. Forest Service; and nonprofit groups like the Ruffed Grouse Society, My Wisconsin Woods and Sharing the Land.

   “We have over 70,000 followers on the Facebook page for My Wisconsin Woods,” Huffaker said. “Leopold always urged private landowners to enjoy and improve their lands, but also act in interest of the entire ecosystem and public good.”

   As Leopold wrote in his most famous book, “Conservation will ultimately boil down to rewarding the private landowner who conserves the public interest.”

   When reviewing the myriad hands-on conservation efforts during Leopold Week each March, we can also smile in appreciation of Betty Thomson’s assessment of her late husband’s efforts, which started it all: “Typical Heberlein, generating an idea and getting everyone else to get it right.”

   To learn more about Leopold week, starting with community readings March 7, visit the foundation’s website,  https://www.aldoleopold.org.