Events
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Educational Programs
Prescott, Arizona
A Fierce Green Fire at 100:
Aldo Leopold and the Roots of Environmental Ethics
Summer Institute for College Faculty
Sponsored by the ASU Institute for Humanities Research
Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities
Aldo Leopold never saw his book A Sand County Almanac in print. He might be surprised to learn that it helped create the discipline of environmental ethics, is central to issues such as sense of place and sustainability, and is taught across many disciplines, including literature, history, and philosophy. This institute for 25 college faculty builds on his book’s multidisciplinary structure. It will bring together the nation’s most respected Leopold scholars who, with other guest faculty and filed trips to sites that hold thematic significance, will help participants explore the historical and philosophical sources of Leopold’s ideas, generate new research that places Leopold’s work in intellectual history, and develop projects that enhance research and teaching. A Sand County Almanac will be considered from a variety of perspectives by the faculty in the readings and activities.
Opening Event, February 13-14 2009
National Hispanic Cultural Center
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Aldo Leopold, the Southwest, and the Evolution of
a Land Ethic for the Future:
A Cultural Conversation
"Nothing so important as an ethic is ever 'written'…
it evolves in the minds of a thinking community."
—Aldo Leopold
This colloquium, conceived as the opening event in the 2009 centennial celebration of Aldo Leopold's arrival in the Southwest, is intended to foster creative discussion in a multicultural context about the history and prospects for vibrant and healthy communities in the Southwest and globally, grounded in environmental sustainability and a land ethic. It will include discussion of the Southwestern roots of Aldo Leopold's land ethic, the roots of an environmental ethic in Hispanic and Native American traditions in the Southwest, and the connections among them historically and prospectively, locally and globally. The colloquium is open to the public, with invited scholars, community leaders, and participants from a wide range of cultural backgrounds.
More information: The Aldo Leopold Foundation
Download event brochure here.
UNM School of Architecture and Planning
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Making Conservation Profitable
Aldo Leopold: Albuquerque’s First Environmental Planner
“Planless cities tear themselves down at least once
for each doubling of population, and when they
have doubled, they have to tear themselves down again
in order to grow some more.”
—Aldo Leopold
Aldo Leopold’s suggestion that a city develop a “comprehensive” plan is one that has been adopted and now guides development in most urban centers in the nation. He recommended that the “architecture, position, and function of all these buildings will be correlated.” This symposium, hosted by the School of Architecture and Planning, will bring architects and planners from across the country to discuss “Why Conservation Makes Environmental and Economic Sense.”
More information: UNM School of Architecture and Planning
The Arizona Association for Environmental Education
Biannual Statewide Professional Conference
Northern Arizona University Campus
Flagstaff, Arizona
Arizona’s Fierce Green Fire: Leopold’s 100 Year Legacy
“Conservation is a state of harmony between man and the land.”
-Aldo Leopold
In celebration of Aldo Leopold’s entry into Arizona, this event offers tremendous professional development opportunities for all those involved in the field of environmental education, including formal classroom teachers, parks department and nature center staff, curriculum developers, and others incorporating sustainability and nature studies into their work with your and adults. Sessions, workshops, and field trips will provide academic and practical methods that help Arizona educators respond to today’s challenges, keeping in mind the simple philosophy that was true for Leopold 100 years ago. A preview of an upcoming documentary about Aldo Leopold, “Green Fire” will be a conference highlight. Prominent keynote speakers will be featured throughout.
More information: Arizona Association for Environmental Education
Albuquerque, New Mexico
“Living Leopold: the land ethic and new agrarianism”
The Quivira Coalition’s 8th Annual Conference
In this practitioners’ conference, we will feature farmers, ranchers, scientists and conservationists who are “living Leopold” today – people who are implementing his vision of a land ethic on the back forth. The conference will incorporate six themes: (1) Land Health; (2) Conservation; (3) Sustainable Agriculture; (4) Wildlife and Restoration; (5) Beauty; and (6) the Land Ethic. Each theme will be motivated by a Leopold quote and each speaker will discuss the land ethic in his life and how anew agrarianism works. There will be an opportunity for conference attendees to share their experiences as well.
More information: Quivira Coalition
Throughout the Centennial Celebration
Selected Points in Albuquerque, New Mexico
The Arts
“The show begins on the first warm evening . . .
[t]he stage must be an open amphitheater in woods or brush . . .”
—Aldo Leopold
The Contemporary Art Society of New Mexico (CAS) and the Land Art Committee (LARC) will sponsor guided and narrated tours to environmental art sites within and adjacent to Rio Grande Valley State Park in collaboration with the Land/Art Collaborative Project and the Leopold Centennial Celebration during 2009
Sites being considered include art works existing or to be created at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, Tingley Park, Tingley Beach, Biopark, Rio Grande Nature Center, Bosque School campus, Anderson Field/Los Poblanos Open Space, pueblo Montano Trailhead, and Open Space Visitor Center.
Tours for adults and children will be scheduled as sitework is completed during the summer and fall of 2009.
More information: Please email casatnm@aol.com
Albuquerque Wildlife Federation
Tres Piedras Ranger District, Carson National Forest
Tres Piedras, New Mexico
Aldo Leopold Habitat Restoration Project
The Albuquerque Wildlife Federation was founded by Aldo Leopold in 1914. The restoration of Steward Meadows will take place where Leopold was stationed form 1911 to 1914. This 300-acre wetland along San Antonio Creek features a waterfowl pond. Working with the New Mexico Environment Department wetlands program to restore favorable flow patterns, volunteers will be recruited to repair wooden fencing, install rock structures to ameliorate arroyos which are cutting into the wetlands and remove old wire fencing, let my stream restoration expert Bill Zeedyk. We will camp at the work site, and a tour of the ranger residence and barn built by Leopold will be arranged.
Pusch Ridge Wilderness Area
Mt. Lemmon
Tucson, Aizona
Arizona Wilderness Rendezvous
Join us, fellow advocates, and friends for this exciting wilderness-celebration weekend up on Mt. Lemmon (45-minutes northeast of Tucson) near Pusch Ridge Wilderness Area. We’ll camp under the stars at the beautiful Whitetail group campground, where you’ll enjoy inspiring workshops and speakers, learn about Leave No Trace ethics, the history of the wilderness movement, and current campaigns across Arizona. You’ll still having plenty of time for relaxation and exploring the wilds. We’ll also have storytelling and rockin’ music around the campfire. Throughout the weekend, we’ll be celebrating the centennial of Aldo Leopold’s arrival in the Southwest and the relevance of his visionary land ethic to wilderness issues today. We hope this weekend extravaganza will fire up the wilderness movement in Arizona, and we want you there!
More information: Arizona Wilderness Coalition
Aldo Leopold’s Wilderness
Silver City, New Mexico
Fifth Annual Gila River Festival
a source of inspiration
The Gila River flows through the heart of Aldo Leopold Country, through the Aldo Leopold Wilderness, the first wilderness in the United States. The theme for the festival brings together experts and laypersons, artists, and scientists from many disciplines, to converge on the topic of Aldo Leopold and his influences on the creation of the National Wilderness Preservation System, his relationship to the wild places he loved, and the legacy of wildness he represents. Guided and educational hikes, and kayak trips, and lectures and exhibitors take place in Silver City, the Gila Forest, on the Gila River, all centered in the Cliff-Gila Valley in sight of the Gila Forest and Aldo Leopold Wilderness.
More information: Gila River Conservation Coalition