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“That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics.” – Aldo Leopold
Guests are invited to kick off the arrival of spring by celebrating Aldo Leopold Day on Saturday, March 19 at the Adirondack Interpretive Center (AIC) in Newcomb. Leopold was considered by many as the father of wildlife conservation. Participants have the opportunity to attend an individual program or spend the entire day at the AIC to take part in the whole slate of events which includes a seminar, a bench building workshop, and a film. Pre-registration is required, as space is limited. Interested parties should register by emailing aic@esf.edu or Click here to register. Location: Adirondack Interpretive Center, 5922 State Route 28N, Newcomb, NY 12852.
Schedule of events:
9 am to 10:30 am
Seminar on Leopold’s essay –
“The Ecological Conscience”
Dr. Marianne Patinelli-Dubay will guide a discussion on Leopold’s essay which encourages us not to get hung up on particulars but rather to take heart in the positive societal direction that ecological awareness and ethics is taking. It can be a challenge to focus on the hopeful arc of an ongoing process, rather than on the daily losses. How can we embrace Leopold’s principles in order to turn toward an optimistic future?
11 am to 3 pm
Leopold Bench Building Workshop (Pre-registration and payment was required by March 10.)
Participants will build their own iconic Leopold bench. This simple garden bench is a timeless classic and easy to construct. Registration fee of $65 includes materials and refreshments. We’ll take a break at noon so bring your lunch to enjoy as you watch the birds in our Northern Forest Room or stretch your legs on our trail system. Tools will be provided.
3 pm
Film – Greenfire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time
This film explores Aldo Leopold’s extraordinary career and his enduring influence on the modern conservation movement. Sponsored by the Adirondack Park Institute. (73 minutes)
For more information call (518) 582-2000 or visit: https://www.esf.edu/aic/
Photos courtesy of the Adirondack Interpretive Center.
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Have you ever thought about what things helped shape your life?
Three things that shaped my life are Paul Schaefer, my time at Paul Smith’s College, and my first reading of A Sand County Almanac.
“There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.”
Aldo Leopold
Thanks for that quote!
A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”
Aldo Leopold
This passage from the Sand County Almanac will never leave me.
“We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes – something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters’ paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.”
For those that missed it, the Aldo Leopold Foundation put on a series of webinars last week for “Leopold Week 2022”.
Here is a link: https://www.aldoleopold.org/news-events/leopold-week/lw-2022/
Hopefully, soon they will upload recordings of more webinars. Edgar Cardenas’ presentation “Beyond the Picturesque” was magnificent! We could learn a lot from Leopold and the folks at The Aldo Leopold Foundation here in the Adirondacks and in the broader surrounding region. I hope that that time will come.
“A few parcels of outstanding scenery are immured as parks, but under the onslaughts of mass transportation their possible function as “outdoor universities” is being impaired by the very human need which impelled their creation. Parks are over-crowded hospitals trying to cope with an epidemic of esthetic rickets; the remedy lies not in hospitals, but in daily dietaries.”
–Aldo Leopold, “Land Pathology,” in The River of the Mother of God and
Other Essays (eds. S. Flader and J.
Callicott, 1991)
“That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics.” – Aldo Leopold
Aldo Leopold grasped the importance of “community” in terms both pragmatic and poetic. He also reminded us that our love for places like the Adirondacks and our desire to treat it well is tied to our ethical values. If this be so, I asked my young self, then how can I NOT work to try and protect all that I love? My response to that question greatly influenced me in both my career and in my environmental activism.
Today, all that we love, and even democracy itself, are under growing threat from unsavory elected leaders whose lies, unproven allegations and cowardly silence continue to stoke hatred and division among us. In times such as these, Leopold’s words of wisdom shine brightly and can still awaken our ethical values and inspire us to join together to protect all that we love.
Just as the “greatest generation” passed on a better world to those who followed, let “community” be our legacy to pass along to our young people in the search for a more sustainable world.