A nationally-known conservationist and writer will be honored and remembered in southeast Iowa next week.
Aldo Leopold was born in Burlington in 1887. He worked in the U-S Forest Service and taught at the University of Wisconsin. More than two million copies of his book, A Sand County Almanac, have been sold worldwide.
We didn't want it to just be a documentary about his life but really explore his idea, his vision...
The Fort Madison Public Library will mark Earth Day by showing Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for our Time at 7pm Monday.
Buddy Huffaker with the Aldo Leopold Foundation said the film is not just a documentary about Leopold.
"We didn't want it to just be a documentary about his life but really explore his idea, his vision of a land ethic where people recognize that we're a part of the biological community," Huffaker said.
He said that the "land ethic" is the most well known of Leopold's ideas.
Huffaker said that by embracing the land ethic people treat the world with what Leopold termed, "the love and respect they deserve."
Green Fire will air on Iowa Public Television several times this month is in addition to the screening at the Fort Madison Public Library Monday evening.
Also, later this month the Des Moines County Conservation Department and the Burlington based Leopold Heritage group are sponsoring a day of remembrance and celebration of Aldo Leopold.
Kent Rector with the Conservation department said the date, April 27th, was selected to connect Leopold with Earth Day.
Some of the events at the celebration include a bird walk through Starr's Cave Park and Preserve.
After the walk the Leopold Heritage group will hold readings of Leopold's work.
LaVon Worley with the Leopold Heritage Group say they are asking to the public to bring in their copies of Leopold's "A Sand County Almanac" and to read their favorite passages.
Worley said this has been a tradition for some time in Wisconsin.
"We would like to copy that down here in Iowa as well and celebrate his legacy by reading his words out loud,"Worley said.
The day of remembrance and celebration begins on Saturday April 27th at 7am with the Bird and Obersation walk. The readings of "A Sand County Almanc" begin at 10am in the Starr's Cave Nature Center Auditorium.
