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Curt Meine Publishes Story Honoring Leopold and the Arboretum at the University of Wisconsin

June 10th, 2009

Arboretum burn2Aldo Leopold (second from left) and students conduct early prescribed burns at the UW Arboretum in Madison, WI

This year the University of Wisconsin Arboretum in Madison celebrates its 75th anniversary. Since 1934 the Arboretum has played a central role in developing the science and practice of ecological restoration. In the midst of the Depression and Dust Bowl years, university scientists, students, and Civilian Conservation Corps workers worked to establish at the Arboretum the world’s first restored prairies, setting a precedent for ecosystem restoration efforts around the world. Aldo Leopold, the first research director, noted in his dedication address the goal was to provide “a reconstructed sample of old Wisconsin, to serve as a bench mark, a starting point, in the long and laborious job of building a permanent and mutually beneficial relationship between civilized men and a civilized landscape.”

CHN’s Director for Conservation Biology and History Curt Meine tells the story of the Arboretum in a new article published in the Isthmus, Madison’s widely read alternative weekly. Meine, an alum of the UW-Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, was a guest speaker this spring in a special graduate seminar that reviewed the past, present, and future of restoration ecology and the Arboretum. Meaine’s article, “Back to Nature” can be read at www.isthmus.com/isthmus/article.php?article=26006.


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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 at 1:49 pm and is filed under Press, Wisconsin, ecology, prairies, presentation, soil, sustainability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.