"The Shack" -- Paying Tribute

The Leopold Family 'Shack' built from a collapsing chicken coop in the 1930s

One of our first stops in our travels last spring was the Gila Wilderness.  2014 was the 50^th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act and the Gila was the country’s first wilderness.  During our 3-plus years of travel we have greatly enjoyed visiting wildernesses all over our beautiful country.  Since we started our journey, we have hiked in over 35 wilderness areas, 25 of them during last year alone!

 

 

Conservationist, ecologist and wildlife management pioneer, Aldo Leopold was instrumental in the protection of wilderness.  It was Leopold’s influence on the forest service that caused the first 500,000 acres of the Gila to be set aside for wilderness protection.  Leopold lived and taught for most of his life in Wisconsin and as we were traveling right through Madison on our way back to Texas, we wanted to stop and visit his farm and the Leopold Education Center.

 

The Leopold Education Center near Baraboo, WI 
Built with native materials and a LEED certified building

 

Marker where Aldo Leopold died on his farm fighting a grass fire

 



In 1933 Aldo Leopold accepted a new professorship in game management at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.  Shortly after the depression he initially bought 80 acres of worn-out farmland bordering the Wisconsin River as a retreat from the city for his family. He paid roughly $8 an acre for this land that had been ‘farmed-out’ – reduced to sand and the only structure left standing was the chicken coop. 

 

Some of the mature pines on the Leopold Family farm

Prairie Flowers

Leopold, his wife and five children spent weekends and holidays first building a small shack from the collapsing remains of the chicken coop and then the family painstakingly went about the task of restoring the land.  “The Shack,” as it came to be known, became a metaphor for living lightly on the land.  From 1935 to 1946 the family planted over 3,000 pine trees a year by hand.  Pine trees were chosen because they stabilized the rapidly eroding soil and were inexpensive.  Leopold also planted one of the very first prairie restoration projects in North America.  During the years that the family stayed in the Shack and restored and enjoyed their land, Leopold observed nature at work. These observations were kept in journals that became the basis for many of his papers and books, A Sand County Almanac, being the most well-known.

 

The sandy soils on the Leopold farm 
The Wisconsin River is just a few hundred feet away

We spent parts of two days visiting the farm and shack and exploring the trails around the Leopold Education Center.  The Leopold Family has a foundation that preserves the family farm and does some outstanding outdoor educational training for teachers.  David and I both took one of these workshops several years ago in Texas as part of our Master Naturalist Training.

 

Estella Leopold
photo credit Leopold Foundation

There was a workshop being held at the Center one day and David and I were so very fortunate to get to see and speak with Leopold’s youngest daughter and only surviving child, Estella.  All of Leopold’s five children were scientists or environmentalists and Estella is a University of Washington professor emeritus of botany and forest resources, having conducted research for more than 60 years. Estella pioneered the use of fossilized pollen and spores to understand how plants and ecosystems respond over eons to climate change.  Getting to meet Estella was such an unexpected pleasure and made our time at the Leopold Education Center extra special.

 

 



 

 

David’s Stats:

Days Hiked:  1  
Total Miles Hiked:  3.20     
Total Elevation Gain:  281