Leopold Heritage Group — Burlington, Iowa

Thomas Dean & Steve Semken "Nature Writing & Publishing"

2008-05-19T21:54:00.002-05:00

When the Leopold Heritage Group invited Thomas Dean of Iowa City to discuss the book "Grace of Grass & Water" on May 4, it was with the idea of introducing another Midwest nature writer, Paul Gruchow. Although I knew that Tom had one of the essays in the book, which contains tributes by several well-known authors to Gruchow, their colleague, I didn't realize that he had been a very valued and personal friend. The essays in "Grace..." are moving and thoughtful reflections on the varied encounters and relationships the writers had with Gruchow, whose death by suicide was tragically anticipated. He was an eloquent writer with a sense of the importance of community and an affinity for the boundary waters of Canada/Minnesota, the prairies of Dakotas and Montana, as expressed in several books including" "Grass Roots: The Universe of Home", "Journal of a Prairie Year", and The Necessity of Empty Spaces". (NOTE: The Burlington Public Library now has a copy of "Grace of Grass & Water"). After Thomas Dean shared his comments, Steve Semken publisher of Ice Cube Press, North Liberty, Ia, addressed the audience at the Arts For Living Center, Burlington. Steve first developed a newsletter entitled "Sycamore Roots" which he shared with such noted writers as Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, Barry Lopez and when they responded favorably he was encouraged to continue in the publishing venue. He is particularly interested in "place-based" writings and his list of successful books continues to grow.

Although this was the last program formally scheduled by the Leopold Heritage Group for 2008, members will continue to support community efforts to raise awareness of Aldo Leopold and his writings. The ecological balance which he investigated and spoke about, is still relevant today.

We are grateful to HUMANITIES IOWA, THE RAND LECTURE TRUST, BURLINGTON FINE ARTS LEAGUE for funding support for speakers and the "Wild Words & Art" contest awards.
Thanks very much to the Burlington Hawk Eye for promotion of the series of programs, the informative articles, the contest, for the "blog"and, also, to other area media. Thanks to Des Moines Co. Conservation Foundation for acting as fiscal agent. The film series at the Burlington Public Library and accessible meeting rooms there were real assets to our programs. Special thanks to all the committee members: Jerry & Lois Rigdon, Randy Miller, Kim Perlstein, Dave Riley, Judy Johnson, Rhonda Frevert, Steve Brower, LaVon Worley, Dan Ring, Ed Whitmore, Elaine Baxter, Robert Sayre.

Excerpts from May & June Essays by Aldo Leopold

2008-05-19T21:24:00.005-05:00

Here are parts of two more of Aldo Leopold's essays from "A Sand County Almanac", taken from the Illustrated Edition produced by Michael & Denise Sewell and Kenneth Brower, 2001, in conjunction with the Oxford University Press 1949 edition.

MAY - "Back from the Argentine"
When dandelions have set the mark of May on Wisconsin pastures, it is time to listen for the final proof of spring. Sit down on a tussock, cock your ears at the sky, dial out the bedlam of meadowlarks and redwings and soon you may hear it: the flight-song of the upland plover, just now back from the Argentine.
If your eyes are strong, you may search the sky and see him, wings aquiver, circling among the woolly clouds. If your eyes are weak, don't try it: just watch the fence posts. Soon a flash of silver will tell you on which post the plover has alighted and folded his long wings. Whoever invented the word "grace" must have seen the wing-folding of the plover...

Leopold reveals his love of fishing by sharing a trick of dangling his fly from the branch of an alder & allowing the breeze to drop it onto the pool of water above his quarry. A bit of philosophizing comes with the meditations on trout fishing.

JUNE "The Alder Fork --A Fishing Idyl"
...I sit in happy meditation on my rock, pondering, while my line dries again, upon the ways of trout and men. How like fish we are: ready, nay eager, to seize upon whatever new thing some wind of circumstance shakes down upon the river of time! And how we rue our haste, finding the gilded morsel to contain a hook. Even so, I think there is some virtue in eagerness, whether its object prove true or false. How utterly dull would be a wholly prudent man, or trout, or world! Did I say a while ago that I waited "for prudence' sake"? That was not so. The only prudence in fishermen is that designed to set the stage for taking yet another, and perhaps a longer, chance"...

Aldo Leopold Middle School

2008-05-13T10:46:00.004-05:00

The Burlington School Board on Monday voted 4-3 to name a new west side middle school for native son Aldo Leopold, taking a mulligan on the earlier decision to name the school Hawkeye Creek, a once pleasant but later fetid stream that flowed through the area where the school is being built and for which the city's Hawkeye Sewer is named today.

The 17-acre construction site includes land that had been timber, a tree-lined-but-rundown mobile home park and a couple of houses. One of the houses and two garages were sold and relocated, the trailers moved or scrapped, and trees cleared to make way for the school. The site is within the city and abuts a residential area on the east, railroad tracks on the south, church property on the west and Sunnyside Avenue on the north.

While the decision makes this school the first building or street in Leopold's hometown named for him, viewed through the lens of Leopold's writings, is the naming appropriate?

LHG & BPL "Film Series" during April

2008-04-22T11:45:00.002-05:00

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 ...

2008-04-20T08:36:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-18T07:56:00.002-05:00

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"

2008-04-06T21:25:00.002-05:00

(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.

2008-04-01T19:20:00.003-05:00

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?

Grant supports April programs

2008-03-03T12:03:00.001-06:00

The Leopold Heritage Group was notified in late February of a grant award from Humanities Iowa of $2,780 in support of the April events honoring Aldo Leopold in Burlington.

In addition, the Rand Lecture Trust has donated $1,000 to cover the cost of an April speakers series and the Burlington Fine Arts League has contributed $450 toward the "Wild Words & Art" contest prizes.

Thanks to all.

Leopold on March

2008-02-29T14:35:00.005-06:00

MARCH Aldo Leopold's Essay from A SAND COUNTY ALMANAC, Oxford Press, 1949

"The Geese Return"

"One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of a March thaw, is the spring.

A cardinal, whistling spring to a thaw but later finding himself mistaken, can retrieve his error by resuming his winter silence. A chipmunk, emerging for a sunbath but finding a blizzard, has only to go back to bed. But a migrating goose, staking two hundred miles of black night on the chance of finding a hole in the lake, has no easy chance for retreat. His arrival carries the conviction of a prophet who has burned his bridges."

..."Once the first geese are in, they honk a clamorous invitation to each migrating flock, and in a few days the marsh is full of them. On our farm we measure the amplitude of our spring by two yardsticks: the number of pines planted, and the number of geese that stop. Our record is 642 geese counted in on 11 April 1946..."

* * *

Aldo Leopold on February

2008-02-08T15:10:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite essays from A SAND COUNTY ALMANAC by Aldo Leopold is " Good Oak" which is the February entry. First he presents his opinion about the understanding that comes from living on the land and living in town.
"There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace. To avoid the first danger, one should plant a garden, preferably where there is no grocer to confuse the issue.
To avoid the second, he should lay a split of good oak on the andirons, preferably where there is no furnace, and let it warm his shins while a February blizzard tosses the trees outside. If one has cut, split, hauled, and piled his own good oak, and let his mind work the while, he will remember much about where the heat comes from, and with a wealth of detail denied to those who spend the week end in town astride a radiator."*
*This is a quotation from an edition of A SAND COUNTY ALMANAC published by Tamarack Press, distributed through Oxford University Press, c1977, p. 12.

Later the essay chronicles history as he saws across the rings of an old oak tree which was felled by lightning and became their winter heat at the Wisconsin shack. Leopold recounts the most recent events of the last year backward to pioneer days as the saw cuts to the heart of the trunk.
You can trace Leopold's astute observations of the progress of the season in his writings in the classic A SAND COUNTY ALMANAC. I highly recommend it!

Aldo Leopold Visitors Center

2008-01-31T14:05:00.000-06:00

The Aldo Leopold Heritage Group has four of its members on a planning committee for a proposed Aldo Leopold visitors center here in Burlington. This idea originated in the Crapo Park Foundation with urging from the Great River Road Commission. This Commission works within the states laying adjacent to the Mississippi River to enhance and create sites of interest in the Mississppi River corridor.

The concept quickly moved from the Crapo Park Foundation into a broader perspective with the enlistment of various other interest groups of which the Aldo Leopold Heritgae group is one.

Information regarding this concept and the progress for it will be forth coming in local media.

Birthday reflections

2008-01-12T11:36:00.001-06:00

There is a post about Aldo Leopold's 12oth birthday, which would have been Friday, at PraireWorksInc.com.

Here's the link: http://www.prairieworksinc.com/2008/01/11/aldo-leopold/

Leopold Heritage Group

2008-01-09T11:41:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the blog site of the Leopold Heritage Group. We're just getting started with the Web as a tool to communicate the legacy of Burlington, Iowa native Aldo Leopold. For more information, visit our brand new Web site at www.leopoldheritage.org.