To save a forest, Carl Leopold plants himself

We knew it would happen one day. Could be any of us. A deer in the headlights; a fall from a tree: the opportunities are endless.

Still, Carl Leopold, who died on November 18, 2009 at 89, was the odds-on favorite. Carl and I used to joke about death and old age. But when I’d say, “Carl, I’m just a baby step behind you,” he’d shoot me that give me a break look. Yet baby step wasn’t the best metaphor for evolutionary time, for galactic time—for the timescale I was trying to approximate.

An eminent scientist and conservationist, Carl’s last conservation startup was Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve …. You can finish here in Scribd. (Learn more about the Aldo Leopold Foundation.)