June 2, 2011

6:00 pm

USDA Forest Service Celebrates Two Conservation Legacies: The Weeks Act & The Life of Aldo Leopold

MILWAUKEE (May 23, 2011) – The USDA Forest Service is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Weeks Act. As part of the celebration, the Forest Service has partnered with the Aldo Leopold Foundation to honor two conservation successes in one evening, June 2, at the Stuart Street Playhouse in Boston, MA. This special premiere in Boston includes the release of the first feature-length, high-definition documentary film about Leopold, Green Fire, along with a Forest Service film about the legacy of the Weeks Act.

This spring Green Fire is premiering in over a dozen cities across the country, along with a Forest Service film on the legacy of the Weeks Act, 100 Years of Restoring America’s Forests, presented by noted historian and author, Char Miller. Miller tells a riveting story about the social and ecological climate at the turn of the 20th century, when the Weeks Act created a way to restore the cut-down, burned-over, and farmed-out lands of the East.

Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time is jointly produced by the Aldo Leopold Foundation, the Forest Service, and the Center for Humans and Nature. The film highlights Aldo Leopold’s life and extraordinary career, showing how he shaped conservation and the modern environmental movement and how his land ethic still inspires people today. Although best known as the author of the conservation classic A Sand County Almanac, Leopold is also renowned for his work as an educator, philosopher, forester, ecologist, and wilderness advocate. In addition, Green Fire will be released on nationwide public television in early 2012.

Legacy of the Weeks Act: 100 Years of Restoring America’s Forests: At the turn of the 20th century, America fueled its emergence as a world power by cutting trees. Loggers slashed entire landscapes across New England, the Midwest, and the South to fuel an economic engine that left a legacy of broken communities, eroded soils, and sediment-choked streams. One generation’s wealth threatened the fundamental source of all future wealth: the productivity of the land. This is the story of George Perkins Marsh, George Bird Grinnell, and John Weeks, who recognized the profound challenge and devoted their lives to restoring the land. It is the story of un-named hundreds, taking on the largest challenge of their day. It is the story of ordinary people, stepping forward with extraordinary vision, courage, and initiative, to restore the natural bounty on which America’s future would depend.

Visit www.greenfiremovie.com for venue information and to buy tickets. For the June 2 event at 6:30 p.m. select Boston, MA at the Stuart Street Playhouse. Premiere venues and dates continue to be added across the country.

About the USDA Forest Service
The Forest Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and is part of the federal government’s executive branch. The Forest Service’s mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land and is the world’s largest forestry research organization. For more information about the Forest Service and the Weeks Act, visit www.fs.fed.us/land/staff/weeks-act.html.

About the Aldo Leopold Foundation
The Aldo Leopold Foundation is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization based in Baraboo, Wisconsin. The foundation’s mission is to inspire an ethical relationship between people and land through the legacy of Aldo Leopold. Leopold regarded a land ethic as a product of social evolution. “Nothing so important as an ethic is ever ‘written,’” he explained. “It evolves ‘in the minds of a thinking community.’” Learn more about the Aldo Leopold Foundation and the Green Fire movie at www.aldoleopold.org