On April 15th, the SFFI Midwest Advisory Group gathered at the Aldo Leopold Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin. As with the Northeast Advisory group, the purpose of the meeting was to brainstorm improvements to and future directions for the TELE program. Advisory group members present at the meeting represented multiple Midwestern states and agencies, including Wisconsin DNR, Kansas Forest Service, Ohio Division of Forestry, the Forest Guild, the Aldo Leopold Foundation, and others. The SFFI team received thoughtful and exciting feedback from the group, most of which echoed feedback from the Northeast meeting.
As a treat for the advisory group, folks from the Aldo Leopold Foundation organized a Midwestern beer ‘n brats cookout at The Shack, a re-built chicken coop along the Wisconsin River where the Leopold family stayed during weekend retreats. Steve Swenson, ecologist for the Aldo Leopold Foundation, introduced guests to some Shack and Leopold family history.
Ecologist Steve Swenson introduces the group to the Shack
The Leopold family’s farm site. Leopold purchased the land, a windswept and worn out farm, in the 1930s for $8/acre
“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”
-Aldo Leopold