Aldo Leopoldo's Shack??

Yessiree!! That’s where the National Conservation and NAL Committees met up last month. We flew into Madison from all over the country and right that very evening were treated to a dinner at Signe Otsby's beautiful home overlooking Lake Mendota. Dinner featured all the bounty of fall in Wisconsin, as well as what had been preserved from a summer of cows grazing and pigs slopping (cheese and sausage 😃). The spirits were local too! J. Henry & Sons Bourbon and Death's Door Gin. Has a mixologist ever smoked your glass for you before they poured your old fashioned? Well, ours did.

But seriously, we were not just about camaraderie and fun, we did a deep dive into conservation education as well.

The first morning began with a trip to the University of Wisconsin Center for Limnology for a presentation and hands-on exercises all about lakes. We even went out boating (did I mention we had fun?)! From there we were off to The Aldo Leopold Center and his shack. Aldo Leopold is considered by many to be the father of wildlife ecology and the United States’ wilderness system. We all were all eyes and ears!

More fun that evening, then the next morning it was the University of Wisconsin Arboretum, a research facility focusing on ecological restoration. The UW Arboretum has had a long relationship with GCA and evaluates all of the applications for GCA Fellowships. And….what to my wondering eyes did appear…..a mature American chestnut tree full of chestnuts!! Yes, this one had not yet been touched by the chestnut blight as the prevailing winds are westerly. Ask me and I will tell you about it.

And then it was all over. Off we scattered across the country to our respective homes, renewed and full of warm memories and the inspiration needed to continue the GCA mission to restore, improve and protect the quality of the environment.