Aldo Leopold and the Wild Prairie Orchids
The story of Professor Leopold at Faville Grove:
the beginning of prairie preservation as a public endeavor.
45 min. 2004
The video also touches upon the beginnings of prairie restoration: the public prairie plantings at the UW arboretum, and the Leopold family project at "the shack".
The story:
Professor Aldo Leopold attempted for years to protect a piece of virgin prairie along the Crawfish River, near Lake Mills, Wisconsin, aided by a pioneering farmer and his family, along with university botanists and professor Leopold's graduate students.
He wrote a beautiful little essay entitled "Exit Orchis" about the prairie at Faville Grove, centering the essay on the rare Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid.
After setbacks and loss of prairie to farming, he prevailed upon a wealthy family to purchase a 60-acre piece of prairie, which they subsequently deeded to the University Arboretum. The Faville Prairie became state Natural Area number three.
During the same years that Professor Leopold worked to protect this prairie remnant, he was among those who first attempted restoration of native ecosystems, both at the arboretum prairie in Madison, and at the Leopold shack near Baraboo, Wis.
Today there is extensive prairie restoration occurring contiguous to the Faville Prairie, as the Wisconsin DNR and the Madison Audubon Society work to ensure the survival of this prairie community.
Video content:
- Interviews with three of Aldo Leopold's children, one of his graduate students, and others who knew him at the university.
- Anecdotes from four grandchildren of Stoughton Faville, the farmer who worked closely with Professor Leopold in the Lake Mills area.
- Narrator reading the essay "Exit Orchis".
- Botanical footage of the Faville Prairie. Images from the entire blooming season.
- Archival photos and other pertinent images (including the pollination of the prairie fringed orchid).
- Interviews with botanists and those involved in ecological restoration.
- Voice-over narration providing story continuity.
View a clip from the DVD (mpg format, 4MB)
DVD includes a 15-minute bonus track featuring Fran Hamerstrom, talking about the beginnings of bird banding and her experiences as a graduate student of Aldo Leopold.