This article is part of the Aldo Leopold Collection.

As a central figure in the conservation movement, Aldo Leopold has attracted the attention of scholars in the sciences and humanities, as well as professional conservationists whose careers were directly or indirectly shaped by Leopold and his legacy. Leopold presents an especially rich subject, given his professional achievements with the US Forest Service and the University of Wisconsin, and as a pioneer in wilderness preservation, wildlife ecology and management, and conservation ethics. During his lifetime, he published more than 500 reports, articles, and essays, and the book Game Management (1933); upon his death at the age of 61, he left not only the manuscript for A Sand County Almanac but the beginning chapters of an ecology textbook, lecture notes from Wildlife Ecology 118 and other courses, extensive correspondence and photos, and journals from the Forest Service, hunting and fishing trips, and the shack. As a result, scholarly works written about Aldo Leopold include dozens of articles, published conference proceedings, several biographies, and two book-length essay collections.

Thinking Like A Mountain: Aldo Leopold and the Evolution of an Ecological Attitude Toward Deer, Wolves and Forests

Flader, Susan L. 1974. Thinking Like A Mountain: Aldo Leopold and the Evolution of an Ecological Attitude Toward Deer, Wolves and Forests. University of Missouri Press, Columbia. ISBN: 0826201679

Historian Don Worster notes that when author Susan Flader earned her PhD from Stanford in 1971, the field of environmental history did not yet exist. Thinking Like a Mountain, published in 1974, helped establish this discipline and was also among the first efforts to explore the life and work of Aldo Leopold. Thinking Like a Mountain explores Leopold’s intellectual development and his changing attitudes toward deer management, forest ecology, the control of wolves and other predators, and, central to Leopold’s legacy, the relationship of people to land.

Author Susan Flader is Professor Emerita of History at the University of Missouri and chair of the board of directors of the Aldo Leopold Foundation.

Aldo Leopold: the Man and His Legacy

Tanner, Thomas, ed. 1987. Aldo Leopold: the Man and His Legacy. Soil and Water Conservation Society, Ankeny, IA. ISBN: 0935734384

Published in 1987, this volume was inspired by presentations at the Aldo Leopold Centennial Celebration held at Iowa State University in October 1986. Contributors to the three-part volume include Leopold scholars, family, and public servants. Bruce Babbitt, then governor of Arizona, served as secretary of the US Department of the Interior from 1993-2001; Paul Johnson, then an Iowa state legislator and farmer, served as chief of the USDA Soil Conservation Service from 1993-1997. The book was reissued by the Soil and Water Conservation Society in 1995.

Companion to A Sand County Almanac

Callicott, J. Baird, ed., 1987. Companion to A Sand County Almanac. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison. ISBN: 0299112349

This collection combines 12 essays from authors with a wide range of expertise. Part biography, part literary criticism, and part exploration of Leopold’s ideas and legacy, this volume provides thoughtful analysis and historic context for Leopold’s most famous work.

Editor J. Baird Callicott is Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Texas and remains active in Leopold scholarship and environmental ethics.

Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work

Meine, Curt. 1988. Aldo Leopold, His Life and Work. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison. ISBN: 0299114902

In the authoritative biography of Aldo Leopold, Curt Meine traces Leopold’s personal and intellectual influences and life experience, from his German ancestors who settled along the Mississippi River in Burlington, Iowa through the development of A Sand County Almanac. The biography reveals a young forester who began questioning his inherited utilitarian philosophy, a capable scientist and public servant who influenced the direction of wildlife research and public policy, and a professor who grappled with the philosophical as well as technical questions of ecological education and conserving the health of the land.

Author Curt Meine is a senior fellow with the Aldo Leopold Foundation, director for conservation biology and history with the Center for Humans and Nature and a research associate with the International Crane Foundation.

Aldo Leopold and the Ecological Conscience

Knight, Richard L. and Suzanne Riedel. 2002. Aldo Leopold and the Ecological Conscience. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN: 0195149440.

“This collection of essays by ecologists, wildlife biologists, and conservationists documents the legacy of Aldo Leopold and A Sand County Almanac to the environmental movement, ecological sciences, and natural resource management,” note the editors in the introduction to this volume. Its 13 contributors include a former chief of the US Forest Service and a former president of the Society for Conservation Biology.  Each contributor provides both personal testimony and scholarly insight into the breadth of Leopold’s legacy.

Co-editor and contributor Richard L. Knight is Professor of Wildlife Conservation at Colorado State University and was a 1999 Fellow of the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program. Co-editor Suzanne Riedel lives in North Carolina.

Correction Lines: Essays on Land, Leopold, and Conservation

Meine, Curt. 2004. Correction Lines: Essays on Land, Leopold and Conservation. Island Press, Washington, D.C. ISBN: 1559637323

This collection of essays, by the author of the authorative Aldo Leopold biography, explores the philosophy and development of conservation in the past, present and future. Divided into three sections, the book's first section focuses on the origins and history of conservation. The author writes "The name Aldo Leopold appears prominently in any effort to link conservation's past and present," and thus the second section considers "current themes in conservation through the prism of Leopold's experience." The final section looks at the future of conservation -- and the future of the relationships between people to each other and to the environment -- in a post-September 11 world.

Author Curt Meine is a senior fellow with the Aldo Leopold Foundation , director for conservation biology and history with the Center for Humans and Nature, and a research associate with the International Crane Foundation.

Aldo Leopold’s Odyssey: Rediscovering the Author of A Sand County Almanac

Newton, Julianne. 2006. Aldo Leopold's Odyssey. Island Press/Shearwater Books, Washington D.C. ISBN: 1597260452

This biography traces Aldo Leopold’s intellectual development from the beginning of his professional career in 1909 to his death in 1948, when, among other projects, he was working on the beginning chapters of a new ecology textbook. The book is noteworthy for documenting Leopold’s contributions to the science of ecology and the evolution of his concept of land health, as well as clarifying the terms “integrity, stability, and beauty” as used to define proper land use.

Author Julianne (Newton) Warren is currently conducting research for her next project.