Father Of Wilderness Management
September 15 2010
When I mention the name Leupold the first association that comes to mind for most hunters are scopes manufactured by the legendary Portland Company but there is another Leopold, different spelling, without whom the scope makers wouldn’t have as much success. Welcome to OpenRange, I’m Susan Allen back after the break. One of the first in our nation to realize that wildlife management went well beyond making sure there was a supply of animals to hunt, the forester, philosopher, educator and outdoor enthusiast Aldo Leopold taught conservation that included restoring and maintaining species diversity, something unheard of at the turn of the century in 1887 at the time of his birth. Called the father of wildlife management, Leopold graduated from YaleForestSchool and by his early twenties worked for a new group called the Forest Service stationed in Arizona and New Mexico. His efforts resulted in the GilaNational Forest becoming the first designated wilderness area. Leopold founded the science we call wildlife management and wrote the Forest Service’s first Fish and Game handbook. He also helped initiate the Wilderness Society dedicated to expanding and protecting our nations’ wilderness. Leopold’s wisdom rings true today in this quote “ There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot. Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question of whether a still higher standard of living is worth its cost in thing natural, wild and free. Years latter that question still remains, I’m Susan Allen