The River of the Mother of God: and other Essays by Aldo Leopold

ALDO LEOPOLD: A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY

AIdo Leopold: A Brief Chronology 1887 Aldo Leopold born in Burlington, Iowa, on January 11, eldest of four children of Carl and Clara Leopold. Educated in public schools of Burlington until 1903. 1904 Attends Lawrenceville School in New Jersey from January 1904 to May 1905 to prepare for college. 1905 Attends Sheffield Scientific School at Yale (class of 1908). 1906 Begins coursework at Yale Forest School (Master of Forestry, 1909). 1909 Joins U.S. Forest Service (established 1905). Reports to District 3, Arizona and New Mexico territories. First field assignment as assistant on Apache National Forest in southeastern Arizona. 1911 Transferred to Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico as deputy supervisor, then supervisor. Founds and edits Carson Pine Cone, a forest newsletter. 1912 Marries Estella Bergere of Santa Fe on October 9. Five children: Starker, 1913; Luna, 1915; Nina, 1917; Carl, 1919; Estella, 1927. 1913 Stricken with acute nephritis in April. Recuperates until September 1914, mostly in Burlington. 1914 Assigned to district headquarters in Albuquerque in office of grazing , then in 1915 placed in charge of new work on recreation, game and fish, and publicity. 1915 Helps found game protective associations throughout the Southwest and begins editing the Pine Cone, bulletin of the Albuquerque (later New Mexico) Game Protective Association. 1918 After U.S. entry into World War I alters Forest Service priorities, leaves the service in January to accept a full-time position as secretary of the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce. 1919 Rejoins Forest Service in August as assistant district forester in charge of operations, with responsibility for business organization, personnel, finance, roads and trails, and fire control for the twenty million acres of national forests in the Southwest. In December, Xlll XIV Aldo Leopold: A Brief Chronology meets in Denver with Arthur Carhart to discuss prospects for a policy for wild and scenic areas (wilderness) in the Forest Service. 1922 Submits formal proposal for administration of Gila National Forest as a wilderness area (administratively designated by Forest Service on June 3,1924). 1923 Completes Watershed Handbook (mimeographed) for district, reflecting observations on numerous inspection tours of southwestern forests. 1924 Accepts transfer to U.S. Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, as assistant (later associate) director. Becomes increasingly uncomfortable with the industrial emphasis of the institution. 1927 Circulates initial chapters for book "Southwestern Game Fields," later titled "Deer Management in the Southwest" (unpublished). 1928 Leaves Forest Products Laboratory and Forest Service to conduct game surveys ofmidwestern states, funded by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute. Prepares survey reports for nine states and publishes book-length summary (1931). Delivers course of lectures on game management at the University of Wisconsin . 1930 As chairman of the Game Policy Committee of the American Game Conference, leads in formulating an American Game Policy, adopted in December. 1931 As a consulting forester, after the depression terminates his Arms Institute funding, conducts additional surveys for Iowa and Wisconsin conservation agencies and works on Game Management (published in May 1933). 1933 In the early months of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, May-June 1933, returns to the Southwest to supervise erosion control work in Civilian Conservation Corps camps for the Forest Service. In July, accepts appointment to a new chair of game management in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Wisconsin . 1935 In January, assists in founding the Wilderness Society. In April, acquires the Wisconsin River farm ("the shack") that would be the setting for the almanac sketches. In autumn, studies forestry and wildlife management in Germany on a Carl Schurz fellowship. These experiences combined with insights from his 1936 trip to Mexico result in a profound reorientation of his thinking about the purposes of land management. 1936 Assists in establishing a society of wildlife specialists, by 1937 renamed the Wildlife Society. In September, makes first of two pack trips along the Rio Gavilan in Chihuahua, Mexico. Aldo Leopold: A Brief Chronology xv 1938 Begins multi-year series of brief natural history articles for Wisconsin Agriculturist and Farmer. 1939 Becomes chairman of a new Department ofWildlife Management at the University of Wisconsin. Begins teaching Wildlife Ecology 118, an introductory course for liberal arts as well as wildlife students. 1941 Develops initial plans for a volume of ecological essays. U.S. entry into World War II draws off most students. 1942 Begins studies of excess deer problems in Wisconsin and nationwide . 1943 Appointed by governor to a six-year term...