Guest Speaker Series

November 8, 2020

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Matt Courtman, of Louisiana Wilds presented a program on his search for the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker in The Starker Loft.







 



To kick off IOWA LEOPOLD WEEK, the first week in March, the Leopold Landscape Alliance

and the Friends of the Burlington Public Library presented this free evening with light refreshments:

Aldo Leopold was for the Birds!

presented by Stanley A. Temple, PhD, Professor Emeritus in Conservation, UW Madison, and Senior Fellow of the Aldo Leopold Foundation

Thurs. March 1, 2018 at the Leopold Loft in Star's Cave Nature Center

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Program:

Although widely recognized for his book, A Sand County Almanac, and for his contributions to modern conservation thought, Aldo Leopold was also a life-long birder.  A well-worn pair of birding binoculars often hung around his neck whenever he was in the field.  Leopold not only enjoyed bird watching, he also wrote some of his most poignant essays about birds and their conservation.  He also faithfully recorded many of his bird observations, providing important historical records that allow us to understand how birds are responding to such environmental factors as climate change.  Stan Temple will review Leopold’s love of birds and birding and explain why his contributions are so important for bird conservation efforts today as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the landmark Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 2018.


About Stan Temple:

For 32 years Stan held the academic position once occupied by Aldo Leopold, and during that time he won every teaching award for which he was eligible.  Since retiring from academia, he has been a Senior Fellow of the Aldo Leopold Foundation.  He has a Ph.D. in ecology from Cornell University where he studied at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  He and his students have helped save many of the world’s endangered species and the habitats on which they depend.  He has received major conservation awards from the Society for Conservation Biology, The Wildlife Society and the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, and among other recognitions of his achievements, he is a Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union, the Explorer's Club, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters.  He has been President of the Society for Conservation Biology and Chairman of the Board of The Nature Conservancy in Wisconsin.


To read about Stan's fascinating work over the years and his relationship with Rachel Carson, Click Here.


 


ALDO LEOPOLD - A STANDARD OF CHANGE

 a one man play by Jim Pfitzer.  Set on the WI farm that inspired A Sand County Almanac.  The play explores the interaction of human progress and wildness, and how one man re-thought his attitudes towards both.

Friday, Sept. 22, 2017  7:30 pm

Capitol Theater event, Downtown Burlington

Tickets:  General Admission $10/ Students $5


 International Leopold Program 

Ufuk-publicity-as-photo-new.jpg  Dr. Özdağ is Founding Member and Director of the Turkish Land Ethic Center at Hacettepe University's Beytepe Campus (a green area with rich flora & fauna) just outside Ankara.  The Center was inspired by A Sand County Almanac and the Aldo Leopold Foundation's guidance.  Ufuk's plan is to initiate the Leopold Education Project in this Center, adapting it to the Turkish needs.  She also hopes that the Center will trigger Turkish volunteers and naturalists to restore a tract of worn out land.  Ufuk says they "are very excited to see what is possible for land that has been used recklessly for thousands of years."  Their project follows the example set by Aldo Leopold in the 1930's at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum (Curtis Prairie) and restoration at the Leopold family's old farm retreat near Baraboo, Wisconsin -- The Shack.

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                                    http://www.topraketigi.hacettepe.edu.tr/

  At Hacettepe University in Ankara, Ufuk Özdag, Ph.D. is professor of American Culture and Literature.  She teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate level on American Literature, Culture and the Arts, and also Literature and Environment.  Her other books include:  Introduction to Environmental Criticism: Nature, Culture, Literature, and she is co-editor of The Future of Ecocriticism: New Horizons, and Environmental Crisis and Human Costs. 

Professor Özdağ is coming to Burlington directly from the "Building a Land Ethic" Conference in Baraboo, Wisconsin, held by the Aldo Leopold Foundation. Ufuk will be with us to present her perspective on the growing need for a global land ethic to guide humans in their role as a part of the biotic community.  Responsible use and sustainability of the land is still a new concept in the US and around the world.  Some see it in conflict with economic progress, not realizing that a balance between working landscapes, diversity and habitat restoration protects the land for future generations. 

To read Dr. Özdağ's full report on her visit to Burlington                                         and the newspaper article describing her program  Click here. 

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Iowa Leopold Week--the first week of March! 

To celebrate, Leopold biographer, Dr. Susan Flader, was with us for a March 2, presentation on Leopold's Iowa conservation work.  The event was co-sponsored by the Friends of the Library. 

We had a great turn-out!  Thanks to Susan for her inspiring program on Citizenship and sharing her valuable time with us. 

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Dr. Flader, professor emerita University of Missouri,  is president of the L-A-D Foundation in Missouri, past president of the Aldo Leopold Foundation in Baraboo, WI,  and has written extensively on Leopold and environmental history.  She has recently returned from China where she worked with conservationists  promoting Green Fire and Leopold's Land Ethic there.

Click here to read the newspaper article on Dr. Flader's program.

We were also joined that week by the Rev. Charles Fels and his wife, Rev. Susan Sgarlat.  You may remember that Charles is the president of the Les Cheneaux Club where the Leopolds spent their summers.  He and Susan were here doing library research and enjoyed a few days of staying at the Leopold Boyhood Home.

 

 

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Summers with the Leopold Family                                                                  at the Les Cheneaux Club

Presented by Rev. Charles Fels, President of the Les Cheneaux Club

February 29, 2016, Burlington Public Library

The Governor's Proclamation of Leopold Week is the First Full Week in March.  As a kick-off event we had the Rev. Charles Fels of the Les Cheneaux Club visiting Burlington for our Guest Speaker Series. 

 Aldo Leopold grew up in Burlington, but each summer he and his family spent two months at the Les Cheneaux Club on Marquette Island in Northern Lake Huron.  Aldo's father Carl served as President of the Club and was the club's golf champion, while Aldo spent most of his time hunting in the woods, fishing and sailing.  The Leopold family's life in Michigan in the summers between 1890 and 1914 was described using family pictures taken in Burlington and at the Les Cheneaux Club by members of the Leopold family. 

The program was presented by current President of the Les Cheneaux Club, the Rev. Charles Fels, our guest speaker.  Rev. Fels was Assistant US Attorney and Assistant District Attorney at Knoxville, Tennessee.  His family first visited Les Cheneaux in 1920 and knew Aldo's mother, Clara Leopold, and his sister, Marie Leopold Lord.

 

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    Jim Spring, Rev. Charles Fels, Nelson Smith, Caryl Leopold Smith, Rev. Susan Sgarlat Fels

 

GREENFIRE Showings

 The award winning Greenfire film by USFS and ALF

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 LLA showings:

Mar. 14, 2023  Burlington Public Library for Leopold Week.

Mar. 10, 2022  Burlington Public Library for Leopold Week.

Dec.   5, 2017  Reception, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, Leopold House, Burlington, Iowa.

Sep. 25, 2016  Tour of Homes, Heritage Foundation & LLA, Leopold House, Burlington, Iowa.

Aug. 10, 2016   Muscatine Branching Out, Trees Forever & LLA, Palms Theater, Muscatine, Iowa.

July  16, 2016   Downtown Vintage Fest, , Downtown Partners, Capitol Theater, Burlington, Iowa.

Mar   31, 2016   Henry County Sustainable Farmers & Friends, Iowa Wesleyan College, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.

Aug.  26, 2014   Great River Christian School, LLA, Leopold House, Burlington, Iowa.

Feb.  13, 2014   Learning is Forever Series, Extension Service, Western Illinois Univ., Macomb, Il. 

Jan.   28, 2014   Des Moines County Historical Society and LLA, DM County Heritage Center, Burlington, Iowa.

Nov.  21, 2013   Campus Greens, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL.

Nov.  14, 2013   Prairie Land Conservancy, Prairie Land RC&D, Macomb IL.

Feb.  10, 2013   Iowa Sierra Club, Leopold Group Chapter, Civic Center, Fairfield, IA.

Apr.   24. 2012   Henry County Conservation Commission, Oakland Mills State Park., Mt. Pleasant, IA.

Feb.    3, 2012   Iowa Conservation Educators Conference, Honey Creek State Park, Centerville, IA.

Aug.    5, 2011   Hoover Days, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, West Branch, IA.

Apr.   16, 2011   Students at Aldo Leopold Middle School, Burlington, IA

Apr.     9, 2011   Burlington Premier, Aldo Leopold Middle School, Burlington, IA.