By RANDY MILLER — From The Hawk Eye, Feb. 1, 2009
Calling all scribes and scribblers — or authors and artists, if you prefer.
It’s time to kick off the third annual Wild Words & Art writing and drawing contest, so pull your chair up to the window, gaze out at the snowy backyard and bright red cardinals for inspiration and get to writing and drawing.
The theme this year is very simple: “The Outdoors and You.” The deadline for submissions is March 20.
The theme was chosen to emphasize how people observe and interact with the natural environment, not about pickup basketball games.
The contest is designed to foster creative writing and drawing and expose area residents to the philosophy and teachings of Aldo Leopold, a Burlington native who is considered an early leader of the modern environmental movement and author of “A Sand County Almanac.”
Cash prizes will be awarded in three age categories for essays, poetry and art works, $50 for first place, $30 for second place and $20 for third place. Art contest entries must be pen-and-ink, graphite pencil or charcoal on 8 1/2-by-11-inch paper.
Each winner also will receive a copy of “A Sand County Almanac.”
The age divisions are middle school, grades six to eight; high school, nine to 12; and adult and college student. (Hint to area high schoolers: There were no entries in this division last year.)
Written entries will be read at an awards presentation at 2 p.m. April 19, at Starr’s Cave Nature Center as one of several activities scheduled by the Leopold Heritage Group.
“Sand County” is a collection of essays Leopold wrote in the 1940s while observing nature at “the shack,” a small farm he bought and restored along with him family on the Wisconsin River near Baraboo, Wis.
The “shack” was an old chicken coop converted into rough living quarters when the family visited the farm on weekends. It has been preserved and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
Leopold’s core philosophy was that mankind needs to move toward a more harmonious relationship with nature and the natural world. He originated the term “land ethic,” in which people see themselves as a part of the natural world rather than owners of the land.
“The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants and animals, or collectively, the land,” he wrote.
One of the most-quoted passages from the book is: “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.”
Leopold also was a strong advocate of maintaining wild places and was a co-founder of the Wilderness Society, arguing that humans cannot be truly free if they no longer have any wild places in which to roam.
Leopold was born in 1887 and grew up on Clay Street at the top of the bluff just south of downtown Burlington, where daily he could watch the hustle and bustle on the riverfront in the pioneer community.
From an early age, he was a keen observer of nature, keeping a journal of writings and drawings of animals and bird sightings encountered during wanderings around the still primitive town. He retained that innate attachment to nature throughout his life and enjoyed nothing more than taking a walk alone through a timber or along a riverbank.
The contest is sponsored by the Leopold Heritage Group, with support from The Hawk Eye, the Burlington Fine Arts League, the Aldo Leopold chapter of Pheasants Forever, the Burlington Education Association and Des Moines County Conservation Board.
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