LHG & BPL "Film Series" during April

Three films & discussions were offered at the Burlington Public Library as part of April 2008 events to help create awareness of the need for conservation of natural resources.

The films gave us opportunities to exchange ideas about some current environmental issues & we tried to frame discussions with Aldo Leopold in mind. Films (CDs) are available at the BPL & included: "Kilowatt Ours" about producing energy from coal & renewable energy options; "Respect Yo' Mama"- Recycling(special thanks to Hal Morton for landfill information), and "Who Killed the Electric Car?" -a history of electric cars to today's hybrids. Thanks to Dawn Hayslett and other library staff for organizing the series and to discussion leaders Dan Ring, Jerry Parks and Jerry Rigdon.

We would be interested in individual responses to the films and comments on whether we should continue to offer such activities?

And the winners are ...

The Leopold Heritage Group would like to congratulate the winners in the Second Annual Wild Words & Art essay, poetry and drawing contest. The first-, second- and third-place entries can be read and viewed at www.leopoldheritage.org/2008winners.

Once you've viewed them, come back here to share your thoughts about them.

Notes on Susan Flader's Address about Aldo Leopold

Susan Flader- emeritus Professor of Environmental History at the University of Missouri, Columbia - never met Aldo Leopold in person, yet she has dedicated much of the past 40 years in her study of him. When she speaks it is with a passion that conveys why she believes he is a pivotal figure in the American conservation movement. She has written several books about Leopold and is familiar with his roots in Burlington and the Midwest. She has poured over his letters in the archives at the University of Wisconsin and studied published and unpublished documents by Leopold as well as intensively reviewed the essays in A SAND COUNTY ALMANAC. Over the years, she has developed close associations with members of the Leopold family.

In her talk at the Burlington Library this Thursday, Ms. Flader addressed Leopold's ideas of "citizenship" illustrated through passages from many of his writings. Building on his personal and historical background, she traced the evolution of Aldo Leopold's thoughts about how to utilize and care for the land and wildlife. She explained the ups & downs of public & private responses to his ideas about grass-roots community involvement in preservation and restoration of the land. Looking to the future - Susan Flader talked about the example of the new Leopold Legacy Center which is an award winning LEED (green) building near the Leopold Shack outside Baraboo, WI. The Leopold Foundation has offices in the Leopold Legacy Center and Susan Flader is chairperson of the Foundation Board.

"ALDO LEOPOLD'S IOWA"

(I’m sharing some of my notes from Robert Sayre’s talk at BPL on Saturday, April 5, which initiates the month of diverse Burlington programs celebrating Aldo Leopold. … Lois Rigdon)
Bob began by citing three influences in Iowa history in the early 1900’s which had formative effects on Aldo Leopold. These were: (1) Prairie School Architecture; (2) the Conservation Movement; (3) the Depression.
Sayre shared photos of outstanding examples of the Prairie School Architecture movement from Mason City –designs by Frank Lloyd Wright and Walter Burley Griffin, et. al. These were characterized by use of native and regional materials, natural colors. They were considered new ideas of the time and made to reflect the prosperity of owners, and a desire for urban comforts.
As he referenced the book “Places of Quiet Beauty” by Rebecca Conard which is a history of Iowa Parks, the audience learned that Dr. MacBride of UI is to be given much credit for recognizing the importance of the natural environment in Iowa. His name and others like Bohumil Shimek and Ada Hayden, who were important in Iowa’s early conservation efforts, are commemorated by having their names on state preserves. The early state park movement (1920) was envisioned to preserve outstanding or unique landscape features and for scientific interest. Later the purpose changed somewhat & parks were advocated for recreational value.
The emphasis on parks was not adequate protection for the land and wildlife habitat to people like Ding Darling and Aldo Leopold. In 1928 Leopold was commissioned to do the 1st Midwest game survey. A result was his developing philosophy that wildlife management should be encouraged through food and habitat on private property as well as public lands. This was stated eloquently in Leopold’s essay “Farmer as Conservationist”.
The effects of erosion during the depression years of the 30’s had its impact on wildlife habitat in Iowa. 49.6% of Iowa farms were occupied by tenants who often had to focus on production not conservation in their farming practices. Photos of Pete Wettach document that era and are the subject of Leslie Loveless’ book “A Bountiful Harvest”. Artworks such as “Mother Earth Laid Bare” by Alex Hogue (1938) and Grant Wood’s “Fall Plowing” also reflect the midwest landscape of that time.
Leopold’s observations of the importance of ecological balance in a landscape and his interest in preserving important elements such as native plants continued throughout his life. Robert Sayre’s talk provided a historic background of the early 1900 time in Iowa and wove those influences into Leopold’s life, giving us a better understanding of his views.

Leopold's essays from A SAND COUNTY ALMANAC for April prove his keen ability for observing nature and his rare gift of writing about it. "Come High Water", "Sky Dance", "Bur Oak" and "Draba" resonate with events of the Spring season. In the essay "Sky Dance" Leopold reveals the display of the American Woodcock. Here is part of the selection, taken from the Illustrated Edition produced by Michael & Denise Sewell and Kenneth Brower, 2001, in conjunction with the Oxford University Press 1949 edition.

"SKY DANCE"

"I owned my farm for two years before learning that the sky dance is to be seen over my woods every evening in April and May. Since we discovered it, my family and I have been reluctant to miss even a single performance."

..."The stage props,like the opening hour, reflect the temperamental demands of the performer. The stage must be an open amphitheater in woods or brush, and in its center there must be a mossy spot, a streak of sterile sand, a bare outcrop of rock, or a bare roadway. Why the male woodcock should be such a stickler for a bare dance floor puzzled me at first, but I now think it is a matter of legs. The woodcock's legs are short, and his struttings cannot be executed to advantage in dense grass or weeds, nor could his lady see them there. I have more woodcocks than most farmers because I have more mossy sand, too poor to support grass."

"Knowing the place and the hour, you seat yourself under a bush to the east of the dance floor and wait, watching against the sunset for the woodcock's arrival. He flies in low from some neighboring thicket, alights on the bare moss, and at once begins the overture: a series of queer throaty peents spaced about two seconds apart, and sounding much like the summer call of the nighthawk."

"Suddenly the peenting ceases and the bird flutters skyward in a series of wide spirals, emitting a musical twitter. Up and up he goes, the spirals steeper and smaller, the twittering louder and louder, until the performer is only a speck in the sky. Then, without warning, he tumbles like a crippled plane, giving voice in a soft liquid warble that a March bluebird might envy. At a few feet from the ground he levels off and returns to his peenting ground, usually to the exact spot where the performance began, and there resumes his peenting."

Please read more of Aldo Leopold's April essays in A Sand County Almanac. Has anyone ever experienced the woodcock's performance in our SE Iowa area?