January

Wisconsin Conservation History

Cruising the streets of Madison, Wisconsin (and surely other Wisconsin communities) it’s easy to find elementary schools donning famous names like Lapham, Thoreau, Van Hise, Muir, Leopold – all founding fathers of nature conservation as we know it today. Their work in the 1800s and early 1900s set the stage for preserving wildlife and wild places in Wisconsin and fairly earned them the right to have schoolchildren sing their names at every school assembly.

As Wisconsin became a territory (in 1836) Increase Lapham could be found wandering the land, denoting and recording all that he saw. He – in Wisconsin – and Thoreau – in New England – both spoke out to legislators about the perils of not caring for the land. Their work paved the way for men like Charles Van Hise (who is known for leading the University of Wisconsin (1903-1918) and embracing The Wisconsin Idea) and Robert LaFollette, both of whom, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society, fought to “protect Wisconsin’s natural resources from complete economic exploitation.” Each of these four men lived through and were impacted by a long era of exploitation of Wisconsin’s natural resources. Because of unrestricted hunting, uncontrolled timber harvests, and pursuant wildfires and habitat loss, they saw the extirpation of buffalo, caribou, elk, wolverine, wild turkey, cougar, whooping crane, trumpeter swan and the extinction of the passenger pigeon – all between the years of 1830 and 1900.

In an effort to protect remaining pristine lands and heed the warnings of Lapham, Lafollette, and their likes, Wisconsin is credited with creating the first ever state park. While the initial effort – a parcel of land in Vilas county – fell back into the hands of the timber barons in 1897, by 1901 a formal state park program was chartered and the first four parks were established in the early 1900s. They were Interstate Park along the St. Croix River, Devil’s Lake State Park in central Wisconsin, Peninsula State Park in Door County, and Wyalusing State Park in Grant County.

In addition to state parks, other institutional frameworks for conservation in Wisconsin were established in this early era, including game management laws, warden appointments, and the creation of the Conservation Commission (later the Nature Resources Board), which gathered input from the Conservation Congress on how to responsibly manage Wisconsin’s natural resources. This unique process allowed for (and still does) citizen input on regulations, including fishing and hunting seasons, ordinances, and harvest limits.

Aldo Leopold served on the Conservation Commission in the 1940s and spoke out strongly for new deer management practices after he himself changed his ethos from supporting predator removal to supporting diminishing the ever-growing and hungry deer population. In A Sand County Almanac Leopold mused, “I now suspect that just as a deer herd lives in mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain live in mortal fear of its deer,” meaning too many deer would lead to plant desiccation and soil erosion on the mountain sides. Leopold would come to be known as the “father of wildlife management.”

Today, numerous citizen organizations help provide a unified voice for wildlife conservation. Many of these groups, like Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, Pheasants Forever, Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, Audubon Society and others, focus on education, advocacy, and legislative policies that ensure our lands and wildlife are protected today and for future generations.

To Do This Month:

Enjoy the fruits of our forefathers and mothers by getting out onto the land that’s been conserved for us to enjoy. Here’s some fun ways to do just that: This Saturday, there’s a Tiki Torch Toboggan run set up at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center’s Black Earth site – enjoy the hills of the Driftless region. Bring your toddlers to nature-based programs at Aldo Leopold Nature Center and Olbrich Botanical Gardens on Tuesdays and Fridays. Stop by the MacKenzie Center to hike the trails and visit the Conservation Museum. Or, if you’re in the central part of the state, explore the trails at the Schmeeckle Reserve and warm up with a visit to the Conservation Hall of Fame.

If you plan to eschew the cold weather and stay inside, keep your conservation knowledge keen with the UW Arboretum’s Winter Enrichment Lecture Series. January topics include conservation efforts at the Aldo Leopold Memorial Reserve, urban wildlife, and pollinator conservation and research.

Our Favorite Conservation Books

January Events

MacKenzie Center

Wolf Craft