TWS 2024: Aldo Leopold winner emphasizes leaving a legacy

Carol Chambers vividly remembers her parents instilling the value of “leave it better than you found it” on her and her sister.

The past TWS president and 2023 Aldo Leopold Memorial Award recipient said this sentiment comes to mind when she thinks about leaving a legacy in the wildlife field.

In her keynote at this year’s 31^st annual TWS conference in Baltimore, Maryland, she compared this lesson from her parents, including their emphasis on caring about others, with Aldo Leopold’s enduring land ethic.

“We’re tasked with building upon the legacy left before us,” she said. “Leave a legacy that doesn’t have to be undone by the next generation.”

Chambers has spent years working in the southwestern United States in many of the same areas that Leopold himself managed, studying bats, Ponderosa pine snag dynamics and the recovery of the New Mexico jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius luteus). The mice have experienced significant habitat decline as a result of wildfire.

Indigenous people first managed these lands in Arizona’s White Mountains through the use of fire, leaving the surrounding areas with beautiful wildflower covered meadows, she said. That is, before colonial intervention.

“Now, we have an unfortunate legacy of wildfire,” she said. “But in some cases, that’s not such a bad thing. Now, we have an appreciation for Indigenous land management.”

Just as impactful as Chambers’ work with wildlife is her commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion within the wildlife profession. She harkened back to more memories of her family, growing up during a time when women and people of color faced significant discrimination.

“Today, women feel as though things are getting better, but we still don’t feel like everyone is represented,” she said.

Chambers shared that she hopes that current wildlife professionals will take every opportunity to not only mentor the next generation but also give everyone in the field a voice.

“Hire people that don’t look like you,” she said.

She also encourages wildlifers to recognize role models and donate to groups and organizations that are working toward similar inclusive goals.

Some of her final slides displayed what she hoped would be her legacy: a utopia for New Mexico jumping mice and helping women get more involved in the wildlife profession, touting the Women in Wildlife community.

In closing, Chambers noted that Ponderosa pine trees that are over 250 years old are considered legacy trees because they carry the past forward. She brought her own mini legacy trees, even engraved with the word “legacy,” for conference attendees to take with them as constant reminders to do just that.

Maurice Hornocker accepted the 2024 Aldo Leopold Memorial Award. He will speak at next year’s annual TWS conference in Edmonton, Alberta.

Hornocker was humbled by the award.

“I have been surrounded by the most passionate and most capable students and colleagues who made me who I am,” Hornocker said. “I may have written music, but for the most part, they’ve conducted.”