Left - Aldo Leopold
Aldo Leopolds Ties To The Area
Aldo Leopold, often called "the Father of Wildlife Ecology", is best known for his classic book of essays "Sand County Almanac, he was also the first Chair of the University of Wisconsin Department of Game Management. His progressive ideas on conservation are often sited and his books are widely read. What is little known about Leopold is that he had ties to the Mt. Horeb Area.
The idea of the Riley Game Cooperative was conceived in the summer of 1931, when Aldo Leopold was driving in rural Dane County looking for a good place to hunt that season. He stopped at the farm of R.J. Paulson to get a drink of water which led to a conversation between the two on the subject of game. Mr. Paulson spoke of a need to control poachers on his land despite posted signs. Aldo Leopold talked of the need to manage land to promote game for hunting. They concluded that a group of farmers working with town sportsmen offered the best defense against poaching, and could work to build up game in the area. From that conversation the inspiration of the Riley Game Cooperative was born.
By 1939, eleven farmers and five town members were part of the Cooperative, and together they managed 1,715 acres. The farm members furnished land, fencing, grain, and labor. The town members furnished capital for the project and also helped with the work. Pheasant eggs were bought and the farmers' wives raised the pheasants to 8 weeks old at which time they were weighed and banded. The farmers were reimbursed by the town members at 50¢ per bird. At 8 weeks the birds quit returning to the brooder coops and remained in the wild. (See photo to the left)
Aldo Leopold's ties to the University were linked to the game cooperative which was used as a research area. Graduate students were often assigned to the area for census work, banding of game and supervising plantings in the game cooperative.
The cooperative spirit of the two diverse groups of the project continued into the 1950s, and successfully managed the area to be conducive to wildlife.
An article in the July, 1940 Journal of Wildlife Management describes the challenges the co-op faced in land management and their accomplishments: "Riley presents two major ecological problems: the gradual transfer of fertility from upland to bottoms by erosion, and the gradual elimination of cover by grazing."
Leopold contends that much of the cover for game had been lost by the debrushing by the highway crews. He mentioned that the railroad right of way had been burned yearly but when requested by the Cooperative, was only cleared to remove woody growth that had gotten too large, this provided needed cover for game.
The game co-op worked to provide better cover for wildlife by plantings. Much of the plantings were done by trial and error. Problems with cattle grazing which destroyed new plantings, and drought which killed many seedlings were encountered. Farmers did much of the plantings in 1939 and 1940. "Tree planting bees" became enjoyable social events. The planting areas were fenced as rabbits were a major cause of damage for seedlings.
Feeding of game during the winter months was also done at the game cooperative. Ten feeding stations were in place from November to March. Each station required 40 bushels of corn, at a price of $25.00 a year. Before the Co-op was established Riley was devoid of pheasant. By 1939, with improvements to wildlife habitat and the stocking of pheasants, the birds flourished in the co-op. Other species of wildlife that inhabited the game co-op were Bob-whites, Hungarian Partridge, Ruffled Grouse, Woodcocks, and Prairie Chicken. Gray Fox came back to the area perhaps because of the increased pheasant crop.
The farm members in the game co-op in 1940 were R.J. Paulson, Joe and Jerome Brown, Oscar Hub, Melvin Thompson, L. England, Wesley Riley, Hillary McCaughey, Albert Bohle, J. Lester Henderson, William Cook, and Joe Brannan. The Town Members included T.E. Coleman, A.W. Schorger, Howard Weiss, R. J. Roark and Aldo Leopold.
The Riley Game Cooperative continued into the 1950's. It was a successful effort by two interested groups to work toward a common cause. Riley's success was that the two groups worked so well together. As Leopold wrote: "No farmer-sportsman group is stronger than the ties of mutual confidence and enthusiasm which bind its members."
To find out more about Aldo Leopold go to the website: http://www.aldoleopold.org/