A Tribute to Estella Leopold

Last night I read the sad news of the passing of Estella Leopold at age 97 on February 25th. She was the last remaining child of Aldo Leopold, the great philosopher and conservationist. I'll never forget going to Deer Grove Forest Preserve at dusk to watch Green Fire, the documentary about Aldo and his family. I was mesmerized by the story of how Aldo, his wife, and their five children worked tirelessly to restore a worn out patch of land along the Wisconsin River. They literally loved the land back to life, planting thousand and thousands of trees, and having amazing adventures along the way. The family converted an old chicken shack into cozy living quarters for their weekend stays, and that shack was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2009. 

We're all so inundated with horror stories about the rampant destruction humans are inflicting on the natural world, but here was a story about a family working to heal the land, and becoming healed in the process. How utterly refreshing. Jerome and I made a pilgrimage to The Shack a few years ago, listening the Aldo Leopold's classic, The Sand County Almanac, on our way there. At the nearby Leopold Center, we watched video interviews with the five children, who all went on to become world class conservationists themselves. And then I learned that the youngest, "little Estella," was still alive. 

In fact, she had just written a book called "Stories from the Leopold Shack." What a life she lived! Training her pet fox squirrel, Poco, and her pet crow, Pedro, skating on the frozen Wisconsin River while a muskrat under the ice raced along with her... I was inspired to write a picture book, presented from 8 year old Estella's point of view, and titled it "The Leopold's Love the Land." I decided to send the book to Estella for her approval since it was, after all, her story. We had a couple of lovely conversations on the phone, and she sent me a couple of letters. I helped her select a picture book to give as a gift for a grand-niece's new baby. Estella liked my manuscript, but she was concerned about too many people visiting The Shack. She wanted to think about it some more. 

And then, life went on. I got busy with a new job, the pandemic happened, we lost touch. Here's a quote from my book: 

"In school, Estella learned the Golden Rule: treat others as you want to be treated. Aldo thought nature should be included in that rule. It wasn't fair to keep taking and taking from the land without ever giving anything back. Aldo wanted to give back to this land, to restore it to health, to love it back to life. Could the Leopolds do it? There was only one way to find out!"