Burned to be wild: Herbert Stoddard and the roots of ecological conservation in the southern longleaf pine forest
January 23, 2021
| This essay examines the work of wildlife biologist Herbert Stoddard, who came to the longleaf pine-grassland forests of south Georgia in 1924 to study the bobwhite quail, and stayed to develop a method of land management that stressed ecological habitat over the dominant production-oriented model. Stoddard’s major early accomplishments were threefold: He helped to create the new profession of wildlife management, he fought for the reintroduction of fire in the longleaf-grassland system, and he was among the first to advocate for ecological diversity in cultural landscapes. His work offers new insight on how conservation played out regionally, suggesting that we rethink the local elements of national conservation policy. |