Aldo Leopold

This is a biography of an early 20th century conservation ecologist, Aldo Leopold, who said, "To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.[Temple, S., 1997. Maintainng the integrity of managed ecosystems, IN: (M.S. Boyce and A. Haney, eds.) Ecosystem Management. Yale Univ Press, New Haven. pg. 78.]"

Later Life

Golden Rule

Leopold's Golden Rule states, "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.[Temple, pg. 78.] He developed this during his years working on native prairie restoration to provide guidance to the restoration project.

Long-term Impacts

Leopold has provided an ethical basis from which many conservation biologists and restoration ecologists build upon. For example, in the Principles of Conservation Biology textbook by Meffe and Carroll[Meffe, G.K. and R.C. Carroll, 1994. Principles of Conservation Biology. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA.], Leopold's Golden Rule is one of the ethical foundations of the field.