, as an employee of the U. S. Forest Service in New Mexico he firmly believed that removal of predators would benefit wildlife populations and ultimately hunters...he advocated the extermination of wolves and mountain lions. What changed his mind? He was immersed in one of the most liberal universities and liberal cities in the world. To survive economically and socially in that environment he became a wolf hugger.
I have the excerpt that others have mentioned here, if anyone's interested. Lets let Aldo tell about the why of his mind change with this excerpt from his writing:
"We were eating lunch on a high rimrock, at the foot of which a turbulent river elbowed its way. We saw what we thought was a doe fording the torrent, her breast awash in white water. When she climbed the bank toward us and shook out her tail, we realized our error: it was a wolf. A half-dozen others, evidently grown pups, sprang from the willows and all joined in a welcoming melee of wagging tails and playful maulings. What was literally a pile of wolves writhed and tumbled in the center of an open flat at the foot of our rimrock.
In those days we had never heard of passing up a chance to kill a wolf. In a second we were pumping lead into the pack, but with more excitement than accuracy; how to aim a steep downhill shot is always confusing. When our rifles were empty, the old wolf was down, and a pup was dragging a leg into impassable side-rocks.
We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes�something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; 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.
* * *
Since then I have lived to see state after state extirpate its wolves. I have watched the face of many a newly wolfless mountain, and seen the south-facing slopes wrinkle with a maze of new deer trails. I have seen every edible bush and seedling browsed, first to anaemic desuetude, and then to death. I have seen every edible tree defoliated to the height of a saddlehorn. Such a mountain looks as if someone had given God a new pruning shears, and forbidden Him all other exercise. In the end the starved bones of the hoped-for deer herd, dead of its own too-much, bleach with the bones of the dead sage, or molder under the high-lined junipers." Dpole, I stated in an earlier post that Leopold was in favor of removing wolves from the landscape and I will give another quote here that he penned in 1921. "It is going to take patience and money to catch the last wolf and mountain lion in New Mexico." Now I will fast forward to 1944 when Leopold was the Commissioner of Wisconsin Conservation Commission, he stated publically that he believed there were too many wolves in Wisconsin and was in favor of a bounty and he lent his support to a bounty bill that became effective in 1945.
So just exactly when Leopold when and why he changed his mind is not clear because of his flip flopping. First he was for exterminating wolves, then he was against it, then he was for it. This action does not lend itself to a credible vision, rather it appears he was waxing poetically over the death of a wolf.
However, in defense of Leopold his game management positions in the state of Wisconsin placed him the political arena. I am sure he felt the stinging effect of that when his deer population calculations resulted in a very liberal deer season in 1943 that was considered by the public to be a slaughter. Leopold admitted IN WRITING that his figures he used in estimating the deer herd numbers was GUESS WORK. So much for a scientific approach to game management. I do have to cut him a little slack in the political area because he was in the hot bed of the Lafollete progessive (liberal)movement in Madison. The liberals thought they knew more about game management then the professionals in the field. Leopold tried to appease this group or was forced to and he felt the wrath of the public.
My point in all this was Leopold was not without warts and because people choose not to look under the hood he is held high...saint like. I do respect the man for the changes he helped bring about in conservation and preservation of our natural resources. I looked under the hood...but, I subscribe to Ronald Reagan's philosophy. Trust but verify.
