System Basics

The reserve includes the farm from which Leopold derived his ideas.The reserve itself serves as an experimental laboratory for testing new methods of restoring natural ecological processes on lands that have been intensively farmed or logged, damaged, and abandoned.Included are cultivated lands, oak savannas, sedge meadows, prairie grasslands, and wetlands that provide habitat for wildlife.Apart from the original farm, tracts of land have been incorporated into the reserve’s management system through agreements with neighboring landowners.Each of the owners participating in the reserve has agreed to refrain from certain land use practices detrimental to the restoration of natural habitats.Landowners retain title to their property and agree to manage individual parcels in concert with the objectives of the entire reserve.In addition, the landowners allow the Sand County Foundation’s scientific team of ecologists, biologists, and hydrologists to monitor and manage the reserve as a single unit.In establishing these arrangements, the foundation took to heart Leopold’s words on compensating landowners.Reed Coleman, Sand County’s chairman, describes how this was done.A couple of us decided we ought to do something about curtailing development near the shack.We went to seven or eight landowners of various types and convinced them to enter into a voluntary agreement.As compensation, we would pay that landowner’s property taxes.We developed these agreements in 1965, before conservation easements had been discovered, and they have lasted almost thirty years.According to its 1989 brochure, the foundation isin the practice of healing the biologic community, with its human population on the lands and waters of the northeastern Sauk County, Wisconsin.We do so to provide one model of effective stewardship.This is not to generate precise replicas, but in order to enable other private landowners and committed conservationists to find their own way back to the good earth.At every level, the foundation emphasizes participating in active conservation work on private lands.Adult visitors to the reserve enjoy Leopold’s practical approach to conservation that lets them get their hands dirty.Recent projects include picking and sacking of prairie seeds for prairie restoration, surveying of tracts for weedy plants and removing them, and assisting with the prescribed fires.When compared to the paucity of wildlife in the 1930s, the success of the ongoing restoration program is impressive.By virtue of private, voluntary action, the landowners are finding ways to use good stewardship to enhance the biological diversity of their land.In the maverick spirit of Leopold, the foundation continues to test new ideas in restoration under the direction of Brent Haglund, its president.One of Haglund’s recent creations is the ’Quality Hunting Ecology Program,’ which links wildlife management to ecosystem improvement.Recognizing that too many deer will disrupt ecological balances and that most hunters want to shoot buck deer, the program controls deer population on the reserve and adjacent private land by requiring hunters earn a buck by first harvesting two does.Under Haglund’s leadership, the program is being implemented on thousands of acres of Wisconsin Power & Light Company and Champion International Corporation lands, resulting in reduced land management costs and improved hunting opportunities.Similarly, innovative experiments with prescribed burns and designed tree harvests on the Leopold Memorial Reserve are now being used on other lands in Wisconsin.A key project entails restoration of oak savannas.This type of habitat has dwindled in the Midwest because years of fire suppression have hampered natural regeneration.This includes suggestions on how fire can be used in combination with selective logging to increase habitat for the endangered Karner blue butterfly.As Brent Haglund put it when asked about the efficacy of governmental programs to preserve wildlife habitat, ’You know what I like?A deed in the courthouse.’ Private property rights offer entrepreneurs like Aldo Leopold and Rosalie Edge the security to swim against the tide of popular and scientific opinion to preserve natural resources.His efforts to save peregrine falcons represent one of the most successful bird recovery stories in recent years.The peregrine falcon is one of the most spectacular hawk species in North America and Europe.Standing about eighteen inches high with a wingspan of four feet, it is has been clocked at speeds of nearly 200 miles an hour.Because it is a fierce predator, it is the species most favored by falconers.Unfortunately, like many other birds of prey in the United States, peregrines experienced a long, slow decline due to government extermination programs, habitat loss, and egg collecting.By 1960, not a single breeding pair of peregrines lived east of the Mississippi, and western populations had dwindled to a small fraction