Flash report

The New Mexico-based nonprofit Leopold Writing Program (LWP) is celebrating its 15th anniversary.^th The Year of the Environmental Essay Writing Contest open to all ages 6-12.^th Graders in New Mexico.

The 2023 competition will award approximately $3,000 in scholarships to the best student essays in three age categories, LWP said in a news release. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, February 15th. Entries must be emailed to LeopoldWritingContest@usgo.net.visit www.leopoldwritingprogram.org/writing-contest.html For more information on the competition.

The contest honors author, philosopher, naturalist and conservationist Land Aldo Leopold (1887-1948), who wrote The Sand County Almanac in 1949.

Leopold was posted as a forestry assistant to District 3 of the United States Forest Service (USFS) in New Mexico and Arizona in 1909 and remained in New Mexico until 1924. , the first National Wilderness Area of ​​the USFS. Leopold also created the first comprehensive management plan for the Grand Canyon.

In 2022, nine middle and high school students will read their essays to a gathering of families, educators and friends at the Old Senate Chamber at the Bataan Memorial in Santa Fe. This year’s winners will be invited to read an essay on Earth Day, April 22nd (the day after the 75th) at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque.^th Leopold’s death anniversary).

Also in April, Leopold’s annual lecturer is Robin Wall Kimmerer, a recent MacArthur Fellowship recipient and author of the award-winning book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. , says LWP.

This year’s essay prompt is based on the writings of both Leopold and Kimmerer and asks students to reflect on these quotes. From Earth? ’ and rarely say, ‘What does the Earth want from us? (Robin Wall Kimmerer) and “We abuse land because we see it as a commodity that belongs to us. (Aldo Leopold).