Join friends and neighbors at this year’s "Ames Reads Leopold" event on April 24, 2022, from 1:30-3:30 pm starting at the Hickory Shelter in Brookside Park. Take some time from your busy schedule to enjoy a relaxing walk in the park and hear the thought-provoking words of Iowa’s own, Aldo Leopold, renowned conservationist.
For the past 13 years Ames has celebrated Aldo Leopold's contributions to American conservation through reading his essays in a community event. Aldo Leopold is widely acknowledged as the father of wildlife conservation and a strong advocate for a "Land Ethic” in America. Although Leopold's A Sand County Almanac was first published in 1949, his words continue to be as poignant today as then.
Last year the event was combined with a walk in a park because of Covid. We will continue that tradition this year by starting our 1:30 pm walk at Brookside Park from the Hickory Shelter. As we walk the trail, we will pause periodically for a community member to read Leopold's words and reflect on those words' meaning for today.
In addition to the walk and the readings, Deb Marquart, ISU MFA Program in Creative Writing & Environment, is planning to lead an optional generative exercise at the conclusion of the program. We are also cooperating with Story County Conservation to prepare a Story Walk using a children's book entitled "Preservation by Aldo Leopold" by Maureen McQuerry from a children's book series, Big Ideas for Little Environmentalists.
Partners for Ames Reads Leopold include Ames Public Library; Ames Parks & Recreation; Creative Writing & Environment at ISU; ISU Bioethics Program; Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture; Office of Sustainability/Live Green! Initiative; Outdoor Alliance of Story County; Story County Conservation; The Sustainable Agriculture Student Association (SASA) ISU.
Download the flyer to post or share with friends and neighbors.
For more details contact: Bruce Wight, Outdoor Alliance of Story County, at bruce.wight06@gmail.com.