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11 PUBLIC LAND I AIdo Leopold on Public Land Charles Wilkinson The federal public lands have been the crucible for American conservation policy ever since the creation of Yellowstone as the world's first national park in 1872. At the beginning of the twentieth century Teddy Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot took natural resources issues to center stage in a way that no one else has ever done before or since. The bright light they cast on the American people's vast land estate caught the eye, mind, and soul of AIdo Leopold, just then entering his teenage years. He headed off to the Yale Forest School, endowed by the Pinchot family just a few years before. During Leopold's time at Yale-1905 through 1909-TR and Pinchot were all the talk. The daring proclamation of the Midnight Reserves in 1907, when the president designated more than sixteen million new acres of national forest land in the teeth of bitter opposition from Western congressmen, was as bold a stroke as American conservation has ever seen. By graduation time Leopold knew that he wanted to work for the Forest Service in the distant Southwest, where Arizona and New Mexico were still in territorial status: 'That is where I want to gO."1 His first assignment as a forest assistant was in the Apache National Forest, in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona Territory, where the headwaters of the Salt River gathered amid a wonderland of pine forests , plateaus, rocky canyons, and cienegas. What he experienced there changed him-and the world. In deep backcountry he encountered a thunderhead and witnessed its fearsome bolt: "It must be poor life that achieves freedom from fear."2 He met an old wolf, and watched her green fire die. He met "far blue" Escudilla, who was a mountain and thought like one-until they killed off the last grizzly.3 In 1911 Leopold was assigned to the Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico Territory. Whereas the Apache had been pristine country , the open range of the Carson had been badly overgrazed by large cattle, and especially sheep, outfits. Leopold quickly saw the connection between soil depletion and wildlife scarcity. "Two elk," the hunter commented sardonically, "were seen here two years ago."4 The deer, turkey, 168 Public Land 169 and bear also had mostly left. Later Leopold would call soil erosion "a leprosy of the land," which required "universal reformation of landuse ."5 In 1912 Leopold became forest supervisor. Under his guidance the Carson forest rangers implemented a permit system to regulate the numbers and ranges of domestic stock. Grazing and its effects were unavoidable issues on the Carson. He also published the Pine Cone, a newsletter that allowed the widely dispersed rangers to communicate. Leopold believed strongly in on-the-ground management and treasured the fieldwork of his Forest Service years. (I have a friend who owns a ranch high on the Vallecitos River and on an autumn, ponderosa hike we agreed that "Leopold must have come through here." Hadn't he and his horse, Polly, visited nearly every ranch in and around the Carson?) But if freedom from fear makes for poor life, the corollary is that wild country can hit us, and hit us hard. In April 1913 Leopold set out to resolve a dispute with recalcitrant sheep ranchers. As was his custom, he slept out at night. One evening a major storm came in. Wet and cold, he tried to make his way home on horseback. Stricken with acute nephritis , he watched helplessly as his lower body swelled up. Recovery from the near-death experience came slowly, and the illness brought an end to his beloved fieldwork. Leopold was then transferred to the Forest Service's regional office in Albuquerque. This may not have been his preferred location, but he was enormously productive there. He began his career as a writer, addressing issues of game protection, national forest management, grazing policy, and soil erosion. And wilderness. Because of his efforts the Gila Wilderness Area was carved out ofnational forest lands in western New Mexico in 1924, the first land area set aside by any government solely to preserve its wildness. After Albuquerque, Leopold followed his star to the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, to the University of Wisconsin, and ultimately to his sand county farm. He continued to work on public land conservation through his writing, teaching, and research, focusing on wildlife management, wilderness, and range policy. In Game...

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