Aldo Leopold

He tied the nuptial knot with Estella Bergere on October 9, 1912. They had five children - Starke, Luna, Nina, Carl and Estella.

He authored “A Sand County Almanac”, his observation of nature. This book appeared posthumously in 1949. Through it, he openly criticized the harm done to natural systems by humans.

Aldo Leopold was born in Burlington, Iowa, United States, to Carl Leopold and Clara Starker. His younger siblings were May Luize, Carl Starker and Frederic.

Though German was his first language, yet he managed to master English at a very young age. From early childhood, he was a keen observer of nature and learnt woodcraft and hunting from his father.

After attending Prospect Hill Elementary, he studied at Burlington High School. Later, he decided to pursue a career in forestry for which he went to study forestry at Yale University.

In 1904, he attended The Lawrenceville School, a preparatory college in New Jersey so that he could enter Yale University. During his stay at Lawrenceville, he spent most of his time in observing the wildlife.

In 1905, he studied at Sheffield Scientific School at Yale. In the following year, he started coursework at Yale Forest School and in 1909 he finished his Master of Forestry.

In 1909, he served as a forest assistant at the Apache National Forest in the Arizona Territory.

In 1911, he worked at the Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico as deputy supervisor. During his tenure as deputy supervisor, he took the initiative to develop a comprehensive management plan for the Grand Canyon. It was he, who, for the first time, wrote Forest Service’s fish handbook.

In 1914, he served for the U.S. Forest Service district headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the department of grazing. In the following year, he took the charge of developing activities in recreation, game, fishing and publicity.

In 1918, when the U.S. joined World War I, he left his forest service and worked as secretary of the Albuquereque Chamber of Commerce. In the next year, he rejoined the Forest Service as the assistant district forester of the forests in Southwest.

In 1923, he finished writing the “Watershed Handbook”. This book represents a vivid description of his observations of nature during his numerous inspection tours of Southwestern forests.

This celebrated environmentalist had a special aptitude for observation from his early childhood. During childhood, he devoted most of his time counting and cataloging birds near his home.