Celebrating Leopold’s Land Ethic at the Upper Mississippi River Conference
A RiverWay Story by James Lasher
River Action’s 2025 Upper Mississippi River Conference will include an exciting new addition! We will feature a dinner panel on the evening of October 15th to celebrate Aldo Leopold’s lasting legacy in conservation.
In the mid-twentieth century, Leopold released a book called A Sand County Almanac, in which he articulated a Land Ethic that revolutionized the way we think about our relationship to the natural world and challenged conservation practices at the time, which were human-centered and unsustainable. In his book, Leopold shares a story from his days working as a forester that shifted his perspective and catalyzed the formation of his Land Ethic: Leopold and his crew were taking a lunch break in the mountains when a pack of wolves came into sight. Wolves were viewed as little more than pests at the time, so the men began firing at them, exterminating as many as they could. When the dust settled, this is what Leopold describes happened next, “We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes, something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.”
In this reflection, Leopold articulates his realization of the intrinsic value of all natural life, as well as the importance of considering the ripple effect our actions can have on the health of the natural world as a whole. Leopold goes on to assert that we humans have a role to play as integral members of the natural world, rather than removed observers or entitled exploiters. Leopold explained that by respecting the interconnected aspects of our ecosystem as members of a common community, we not only preserve the integrity of the natural world for its own sake, but we will simultaneously sustain the resources that humans depend on for our well-being, whether that be rich nutrition from crops grown in healthy soil, or the spiritual enrichment we gain from witnessing a harmonious prairie landscape hum with life.
The conference panel will feature Steve Brower, President of the Leopold Landscape Alliance, who will share stories of Leopold’s early influences growing up along the Mississippi River in Burlington, Iowa. The conversation will include Rev. Robert Grant, St. Ambrose University professor, who will unpack and explore Leopold’s Land Ethic in detail. Also joining us is Jonathan Pauli, who is a professor of Wildlife Ecology in the department that Aldo Leopold founded at the University of Wisconsin. Pauli will provide insight on the state of conservation practices today, and where we’re heading in the future.
If you’d like to join us for this celebration of Leopold and learn more about this year’s Upper Mississippi River Conference, visit riveraction.org/umrc. We hope to see you there!