Curt Meine - Driftless Bioregion, Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold

In this special studio episode I was joined in the studio by my friend and Driftless Folk School colleague Julie Tomaro, who hosts the monthly "Folk School Radio Hour" on our local community radio station, WDRT-FM, Viroqua. Together, Julie and I had the honor of interviewing Curt Meine, the most eminent and decorated scholar of the Driftless Bioregion, the unique geological, ecological, and cultural niche we call home. Curt is a conservation biologist, environmental historian, and writer. He serves as Senior Fellow with the Aldo Leopold Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin, and with the Chicago-based Center for Humans and Nature. He is also a Research Associate with the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo and Associate Adjunct Professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology. Curt received his B.A. in English and History from DePaul University in Chicago, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Land Resources from the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His dissertation was published in 1988 as Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work (reissued in a new edition in 2010). This work, the first biography of Leopold, received a number of awards, including the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Award of Merit, the Wisconsin Library Association’s Outstanding Achievement Award, and the Forest History Society’s Book of the Year Award. As a teacher and advisor, Meine has worked with dozens of undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and other institutions. In his home landscape he is a founding member of the Sauk Prairie Conservation Alliance, which has worked for more than two decades to chart a shared community vision for the future of the former Badger Army Ammunition Plant property. In addition to his Leopold biography, Meine has written and edited a number of books on conservation and environmental history including editing the definite bioregional anthology The Driftless Reader (2017). Meine also served as narrator and on-screen guide for the Emmy Award-winning documentary film Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time (2011). Listen to Folk School Radio Hour: https://www.wdrt.org/folk-school-radio-hour/ Curt Meine's Website: https://curtmeine.com/ Buy "The Driftless Reader" and Curt's other Books: https://curtmeine.com/books/ Watch "Green Fire" - https://www.pbs.org/video/green-fire-mzvnwt/ The Aldo Leopold Foundation: https://www.aldoleopold.org/ The Center for Humans and Nature: https://humansandnature.org/ The International Crane Foundation: https://savingcranes.org/ The Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies: https://nelson.wisc.edu/ The Sauk Prairie Conservation Alliance: https://www.saukprairie.org/