Estella Leopold, the 83-year-old daughter of Aldo Leopold, shows a historic photo of her father to a member of the Cosmos Prize Commission in front of the Leopold Shack. Leopold was just announced this year’s winner of the Cosmos International Prize, in recognition of her ecological research and continuation of the land ethic.
A daughter of conservationist Aldo Leopold has won a prestigious international prize for her work using pollen to track changes in the global environment over long periods of time, and her application of that research in preservation efforts.
Dr. Estella Leopold, 83, was selected by the Japanese Expo '90 Foundation to receive its annual Cosmos International Prize, which carries with it an award of about $460,000 and puts Leopold on a list that includes ecologist Jared Diamond and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.
The prize's objective is to honor those who further "harmonious coexistence between nature and mankind," and whose work promotes "a holistic global perspective" by adding to understanding of the relationships among organisms.
Now living in Seattle, Leopold is a University of Washington professor emeritus of botany, forest resources and quaternary research, and her research has spanned more than 60 years.
She pioneered the use of fossilized pollen and spores in North America to understand how plants and ecosystems respond over long periods of time to changes in the environment, such as climate change.
She has dedicated herself to activities for the preservation of the Florissant Fossil Beds in Colorado, providing the scientific basis, through pollen analysis, for the necessity of their preservation and protection. The fossil beds, which include fossilized trees, fish, birds, insects and many other living things, are now an internationally famous National Monument thanks to her leading role in the activities that saved these beds from development.
Leopold's leadership also galvanized a movement to create a national monument at Mount St. Helens, a unique laboratory for the study of ecosystems after catastrophic events. In addition, she has conducted research into dam construction in the Grand Canyon, helping approximately 20 non-profit organizations to work in concert other on environmental conservation activities.
A statement from the prize's committee praised Leopold's commitment to her father's Land Ethic, the philosophy that humans are "plain members and citizens" of the natural world, rather than its conquerors.
"Dr. Estella Leopold has made tremendous achievements by continuing and further developing the Land Ethic," the committee's statement read. "She is still pursuing activities that weave the Land Ethic into the fabric of people's lives and society.
"There are few individuals who span generations and show others how humans can live in harmony with the land."
In a release by Baraboo's Aldo Leopold Foundation, for which she is a director and chair of its Stewardship and Science Committee, Leopold observed the need for global outreach in land conservation. In working for the Aldo Leopold Foundation, she said, the foundation's programming is increasingly engaging audiences around the globe. China, for instance, is rich with a heritage of art showing a love of nature, but the ethic is colliding with population growth, poverty and politics, she said.
Leopold said it was also important to reach out to children.
"There's a subculture of birders, of people who love nature," she said, "and many of them probably grew up like myself.
"I was raised outdoors. You'd go out to play, get on your bike and just go everywhere - out all day.
"But kids now are more restricted. How are they going to learn to love nature and to protect it?"
Leopold will receive the prize at a ceremony in the fall.
— Christie Taylor
Send e-mail to ctaylor2@capitalnewspapers.com
Posted in Local on Thursday, July 29, 2010 9:49 pm Updated: 9:55 pm.
