Posts Tagged ‘Aldo Leopold’

Levee Road between Baraboo and Portage Wisconsin is not only a great drive, being one of Wisconsin’s designated rustic roads, but it is also an ideal family cycling destination as well. While Levee Rd. is about 11 miles in total from County Rd T to Highway 33 just west of the Wisconsin River, parking is only available about a mile in on either side, making for slightly less than 20 mile round trip. Along the way you will explore wonderful forests that hang over the road like a cathedral as well as open prairies and marshlands. The Pine Island Reserve alone consists of approximately 1,240 acres of wetland, 1,955 acres of upland (grasslands)/savannah, and 1,970 acres of wooded habitat. This area is also popular with bird watchers as well. Keep an eye out for Bald Eagles flying over the river! There are also a variety of areas open to hikers, a dog training area, and of course access to the Wisconsin river… Not to mention some great views of the river from atop the levee itself.  Do be mindful of private lands interspersed within the public areas.  One home along the way has a distinctly unfriendly “GO AWAY!” sign posted on their porch!

If biking with your kids, I’d recommend bringing a nice lunch and doing a distance within their enjoyment zone. There is some, but little traffic and only one significant hill on the route. The rest is flat and easy to ride. You should be aware of narrow sections and blind corners and stick to the side of the road of course. Our 10 year old is comfortable with the complete round-trip, but is certainly ready to be done nearing the 18 mile mark. I’d also suggest packing a lunch for a picnic on the levee and with treats and of course lots of water. Hydration is paramount to having a good time out there. Levee Rd. travels through a very rural area with no shops or gas stations along the way to purchase snacks.  There is one soda machine at an auto-salvage yard at the corner of Levee Rd. & Hwy 33.

To make a day of this excursion we’d recommend taking time to visit the Aldo Leopold Foundation along the way.  Guided & self guided tours are available.  We recommend taking time to check out the photography through time exhibit and of course the historic Aldo Leopold Shack.  Click here for more information on the Aldo Leopold Foundation.

To get there..

From Baraboo, take county Rd T north out of town about 8.6 miles and watch for the Rustic Road sign to the right.  You can also connect with Levee Rd. just of Highway 33 about 1/2 mile west of the Wisconsin River Bridge into Portage.

Map

• Our Flickr Gallery
• Pine Island Wildlife Area – DNR
• The Aldo Leopold Foundation

“I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters’ paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.”

If there is an issue with environmentalism today, its simply that it sometimes feels cliché, a self-righteous tweet, a way to sell gear, something perceived by the right as a cause-du jour of elitist, left-wing 60′s revivalists and Prius driving, tree huggers.  A cliché’ is easy to ignore after all. What’s worse is that “Green” has now become a marketing slogan.  And while increased awareness has it’s benefits, in the end all slogans go to a special hell reserved for the likes of Ray Jay Johnson and Urkle.  Conservation has become a brand that many simply won’t buy.  Aldo Leopold understood the foundation of this.  In fact, in his forward to the Sand County Almanac he wrote, “These wild things, I admit, had little human value until mechanization assured us of a good breakfast..” THIS, is what turned me on to Aldo Leopold. He also wrote, “Conservation is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our Abrahamic concept of land.  We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity…” That was in 1948. Still, without understanding these concepts, one cannot possibly be prepared to work for the protection of our environment today. While I may have been won over to environmentalism by the “dying green fire”, I realize many of those around me view a wolf as nothing more than a valueless burden on production & threat to recreational hunting.  Again, I’m brought to something else Aldo Leopold had said,“It is hard to make a man, by pressure of law or money, do a thing which does not spring naturally from his own personal sense of right and wrong.” I often wonder if we spend too much time preaching to the converted, when the real challenge is working with those who have not developed the moral grounding that is paramount to preservation of our environment.

Luckily change is happening, if for no other reason than rampant abuse of the environment has become obviously less sustainable than it had seemed in the middle of the last century. Too many years of simply taking from the land has finally made conservation a necessary economic tool for even the most closed minded among us. It’s a sad human truth that sometimes it’s only in seeing the stark results of our abuses, by pushing things to the very limit, do we find ourselves forced  to chance course. Environmentalism today is not brought on by a good breakfast, but by too many years of taking that good breakfast for granted. While it must be said that we’ve come a long way since A Sand County Almanac was first published in 1949, it’s also obvious we still have a long way to go.

Green Fire Premiere

So with that little diatribe, I’m happy to announce Wisconsin’s premiere of Green Fire, the first full-length, high-definition documentary film ever made about legendary environmentalist Aldo Leopold, will be hosted here in Baraboo, WI., at the Al Ringling Theater on March 1st, 2011.  Green Fire highlights Leopold’s extraordinary career and traces  how he shaped and influenced the modern environmental movement.  Maybe most importantly the film helps us to re-acquaint ourselves with why we found ourselves caring about environmentalism in the first place.  The evening program will include an introduction by members of the film team, and a catered reception will follow the film. Doors open at 6:30pm.  To purchase tickets online or find information about presentation dates around Wisconsin and around the country just go here.  Tickets are also available at Community First Bank and at the Al. Ringling Theatre Ticket Office.  Tickets are $8.00 in advance and $10.00 at the door.

OR

You can score a couple free tickets to the Baraboo presentation of Green Fire slated for March 1, at the Al. Ringling Theatre.  Just click here and comment on our Facebook.  The winner will be announced on 2/24/2011 on the same FB post.

*Photo of Aldo Leopold copyright by the Aldo Leopold Foundation. Used by Permission.

Todd Persche has been living in the Baraboo Hills for 12 years painting landscapes, botanicals and rural agricultural scenes. He hikes, skis and kayaks throughout the bluffs photographing outstanding natural areas for his subject matter. Environmental themes are always an undercurrent in his work. He frames his paintings using reclaimed barn boards and hardwoods.

In his spare time, Todd is a percussionist who likes to play with local musicians. He also works with local conservation organizations planting trees for The Nature Conservancy, leading tours of the Aldo Leopold Shack, and taking people on bird hikes for The University of Wisconsin, Baraboo. He has recently been elected to the board of directors for the Friends of Devil’s Lake State Park.

This year, Todd and his wife Beth will be participating in Wisconsin’s Fall Art Tour held this October 15, 16 & 17th. He will exhibit watercolors and she will exhibit her mosaics. Their house will be on display as the tour takes place in their studios, located within their craftsman styled work-in- progress. Come see the house, natural landscaping and organic garden complete with an urban chicken barn.

More Information

• ToddPerche.com
• The Fall Art Tour