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History of the Regional Parks Association |
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Founding Director A. Starker Leopold 1913-1983
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A. Starker Leopold began his long advisory association with the National Park Service in 1962 with his appointment to the Special Advisory Board on Wildlife Management by Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall. His involvement with the national parks terminated only with his death on August 23, 1983. Starker was the oldest son of Estella Bergere and Aldo Leopold, who was commonly known as father of wildlife ecology. His brothers and sisters — Luna, Carl, Estella, and Nina — all made their own professional and personal contributions to the environment and to conservation. Starker wrote more than 100 scientific papers and five books, with a sixth book in progress at the time of his death. He received many honors for his professional contributions and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1970. But he is probably best known for the Leopold Report, written by himself as chairman, together with his colleagues, on several advisory committees to the secretary of the interior. The first of these reports, Wildlife Problems in National Parks (1963), proved to be a landmark for the National Park Service. The public controversy over the shooting reduction of elk in Yellowstone generated the appointment of this first advisory committee. Typically, Starker did not confine his charge to the narrow topic of the elk reductions. He and his fellow committee members broadened their scope to address the broader topic and the more fundamental issue of the goals and mandates of national parks in managing wildlife as distinguished from other land and wildlife management agencies. The phrase "vignettes of primitive America" is often quoted from the 1963 Leopold Report. Leopold once laughed that had he known how institutionalized this phrase would become, and to some extent, the entire report, he would have chosen his words more carefully. He was too fine an ecologist to have meant a scene currently fixed in time, exactly, and yet his words did reflect the then state of knowledge regarding wildlife, management of ecosystems, and the role of human presence. Starker's formal role as an advisor continued as he chaired a 1969 meeting of the Natural Sciences Advisory Committee to discuss differences regarding grizzly bear management at Yellowstone. He later served on the Advisory Board on National Parks (1977-1978). His informal role was less known but equally valued. Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Nathaniel P. Reed convened annual fall gatherings in Yellowstone to fish. Catch-and-release was the usual sport, but Starker would often bring fresh fish to precede the huckleberry pie at dinner. There, the biology conversations continued among those with national park interests who had come for dinner. Starker's influence was often subtle and yet vast. His voice is missed. From National Park Service: The First 75 Years
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 "We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect." Aldo Leopold |
Father of Wildlife Ecology 1887-1948 Aldo Leopold was born on January 11, 1887. He is often credited as the father of wildlife ecology. The roots of Leopold's concept of a "land ethic" can be traced to his birthplace on the bluffs of the Mississippi River near Burlington, Iowa. As a youngster, he developed a zealous appreciation and interest in the natural world, spending countless hours on adventures in the woods, prairies, and river backwaters of a then relatively wild Iowa. This early attachment to the natural world, coupled with an uncommon skill for both observation and writing, lead him to pursue a degree at the Yale forestry school, the first graduate school of forestry in the United States. Graduating with a masters in 1909, he joined the U.S. Forest Service, by 1912 was supervisor of the million-acre Carson National Forest. During his tenure, he began to see the land as a living organism and developed the concept of community. In 1924 he accepted the position of Associate Director of the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, the principal research institution of the Forest Service at that time. This concept became the foundation upon which he became conservation's most influential advocate. He began teaching at the University of Wisconsin in 1928. Leopold was throughout his life at the forefront of the conservation movement--indeed, he is widely acknowledged as the father of wildlife conservation in America. Though perhaps best known for A Sand County Almanac, often acclaimed as the century's literary landmark in conservation, melds exceptional poetic prose with keen observations of the natural world. The Almanac reflects an evolution of a lifetime of love, observation, and thought. It led to a philosophy that has guided many to discovering what it means to live in harmony with the land and with one another. He was also an internationally respected scientist, authored the classic text Game Management (1933), which defined the fundamental skills and techniques for managing and restoring wildlife populations. This landmark work created a new science that intertwined forestry, agriculture, biology, zoology, ecology, education and communication. Soon after its publication, the University of Wisconsin created a new department, the Department of Game Management, and appointed Leopold as its first chair, a position he held until his death. He wrote over 350 articles, mostly on scientific and policy matters, and was an advisor on conservation to the United Nations. Leopold's unique gift for communicating scientific concepts was only equal to his fervor for putting theories into practice. In 1935, the Leopold family purchased a worn-out farm near Baraboo, in an area known as the sand counties. It is here Leopold put into action his beliefs that the same tools people used to disrupt the landscape could also be used to rebuild it. An old chicken coop, fondly known as the Shack, served as a haven and land laboratory for the Leopold family, friends, and graduate students. And it was here Leopold visualized many of the essays of what was to become his most influential work, A Sand County Almanac. He died of a heart attack on April 21, 1948 while helping
his neighbors fight a grass fire. He has subsequently been named to the
National Wildlife Federation's Conservation Hall of Fame, and in 1978, the
John Burroughs Memorial Association awarded him the John Burroughs Medal
for his lifework and, in particular, for A Sand County Almanac. |
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