In 1935, in the midst of relentless drought, Aldo Leopold purchased an abandoned farm along the Wisconsin River near Baraboo, Wisconsin. An old chicken coop, later to become famous as the Leopold Shack, was the property's only intact structure. The Leopold family embraced this spent farm as a new kind of laboratorya place to experiment on restoring health to an ailing piece of land. Here, Leopold found inspiration for writingA Sand County Almanac, his influential book of essays on conservation and ethics.
Living a Land Ethicchronicles the formation of the 1,600-acre reserve surrounding the Shack. When the Leopold Memorial Reserve was founded in 1967, five neighboring families signed an innovative agreement to jointly care for their properties in ways that honored Aldo Leopold's legacy. In the ensuing years, the Reserve's Coleman and Leopold families formed the Sand County Foundation and the Aldo Leopold Foundation. These organizations have been the primary stewards of the Reserve, carrying on a tradition of ecological restoration and cooperative conservation. Author Stephen A. Laubach draws from the archives of both foundations, including articles of incorporation, correspondence, photos, managers' notes, and interviews to share with readers the Reserve's untold history and its important place in the American conservation movement.
A significant and important story about how a small group of landowners, inspired by Aldo Leopold, pioneered private conservation and ecological restoration. It offers an insightful reflection on what it means to live the 'land ethic' that is quite relevant to today's growing conservation challenges. Tia Nelson
Two generations after Aldo Leopold's passing, his legacy lives on through his readers, his family, and his students, and through the policies he promoted, the organizations he shaped, and the ideas he fostered. But it lives on most tangibly in the many places he worked to conservelSw
![Living a Land Ethic: A History of Cooperative Conservation on the Leopold Memorial Reserve [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/8/7/4/2_6232472.jpg "Living a Land Ethic: A History of Cooperative Conservation on the Leopold Memorial Reserve [Paperback]")