Aldo Leopold Foundation Senior Fellow Stan Temple will explore Leopold’s fascination with natural sounds, introduce the new field of soundscape ecology, and share his detailed recreation of the dawn chorus of birds that Leopold meticulously documented at the Shack in June 1940.

For Aldo Leopold, part of the enjoyment of being outdoors was experiencing the sounds of nature. His essays in A Sand Count Almanac make frequent reference to how natural sounds provide an important sense of place. Science is only now coming to grips with the loss of natural soundscapes: the totality of the sounds of nature (much like the music of an entire orchestra) rather than the individual components of the soundscape. Today, it is increasingly impossible to escape human-generated noise, even in places designated as wilderness, making it difficult to study or simply enjoy natural soundscapes. Preserving the natural sounds of a place may be just as challenging as conserving its plants and animals.