Campus Connection

Students guide public walk, read from famed Wisconsin ecologist’s work and adaptations

UWL students in an Environmental Literature course guided the public on a literature hike through the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge in Brice Prairie on Aldo Leopold Day, Saturday, March 3. [caption id="attachment_51313" align="alignnone" width="816"] Students in the class who participated in the event included: Colleen Athey, Alex Bonilla, Haley Christianson, Brittany Fiete, Livi Hackbarth, Claire Howard, Kyle Kolar, Erynn McNeill, Megan Milbrath, Carly Rundle-Borchert, Jacob Sandy, Nick Schanen, Dylan Sullivan, Mari Sweetman, and Haley Szewczuga. Photo courtesy of Jamie Bertram.[/caption] Students made occasional stops to read from Leopold's “Sand County Almanac,” paired with their own creative adaptations of his work, as well as contemporary writers who are working with Leopold's ideas and themes. Leopold, a Wisconsin ecologist and author, is considered by many to be the father of wildlife management and of the U.S. wilderness system. [caption id="attachment_51316" align="alignleft" width="328"] UWL student Carly Rundle-Borchert pauses from the hike to read. Photo courtesy of Jamie Bertram, Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife & Fish Refuge.[/caption] “Students did an excellent job of introducing people who already loved Leopold to a new, more diverse set of voices that added to Leopold's themes in unique and challenging ways,” says Kelly Sultzbach, UWL associate professor of English who teaches the course. Sultzbach adds the outreach has sparked interest from community members in other ways the class could collaborate. This is the second year UWL students have volunteered to lead an Aldo Leopold Day hike at the refuge. Read about the many other ways UWL students have been involved in land preservation and education in the community.