Leopold studied in local Burlington schools until 1904, when he attended the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey in preparation for college. His childhood love of the outdoors led to his decision to pursue a degree in forestry at the newly instituted Yale Forest School. He graduated from Yale in 1909 with a Master’s Degree in Forestry, and soon after joined the United States Forest Service, working in both the Arizona and New Mexico national forests. He spent nearly two decades employed by the USFS, and it was during his time in the service that he developed his ideas about the land as a living organism, containing both biotic and abiotic elements interdependently existing in a community.

The later part of Leopold’s career was heavily focused on his passion, wilderness and wildlife. In 1924, Leopold’s proposal to designate Gila National Forest as a wilderness area was approved, making it the first of its kind in the United States of America and the world. In 1928, he left the USFS for the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute. Under the Institute, Leopold conducted extensive game surveys in the Midwest United States, and published a summary report in 1931. This led to his textbook Game Management in 1933. His book was a pioneering landmark; Leopold was the first to publish a textbook in the new field of wildlife management, which merged different areas of study including forestry, communication, and ecology. The University of Wisconsin acknowledged his groundbreaking work by offering Leopold the position of Professor of Game Management; he became the first professor in wildlife management in the United States.

“Game Management” by Aldo Leopold

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In the next few years, Leopold became the co-founder of the Wilderness Society, and later helped founded the Wildlife Society. In 1939, he chaired the new Department of Wildlife Management at the University of Wisconsin. Four years later, he was appointed to the Wisconsin Conservation Commission. In 1980, Leopold’s work on wilderness was recognized by the United States Congress, which designated a wilderness area in New Mexico under his name. The Aldo Leopold Wilderness is located close to the Gila Wilderness, the world’s first wilderness area—the very same one that Leopold helped designate nearly 60 years earlier.

Leopold was a prolific writer throughout his life, writing for journal articles, magazines, and his own pleasure. Nearly 500 works, including reports from his long career in the USFS, textbooks, and articles on wildlife, were published in Leopold’s lifetime. He started compiling his essays in 1941, with plans to publish a volume of his work. He submitted his manuscript, then titled “Great Possessions”, to the Oxford University Press in 1947. The manuscript was accepted for publication; Leopold received the news on April 14, 1948, just one week before his death. A year later, his son, Luna Leopold, edited and published the influential collection of essays that would be known as A Sand County Almanac.

“A Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold

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