WOMEN IN CONSERVATION

            Frances “Fran” Hamerstrom was a naturalist, ornithologist, author, and falconer. She was the only female graduate student of Aldo Leopold, who was basically the male version of Rachel Carson and author of "A Sand County Almanac." In 1961, she formed the Society of Tympanuchus Cupido Pinnatus, which purchased 2,000 acres for prairie grouse habitat. As a child, she would catch and keep wild animals as pets, to the disappointment of her parents whom told her it was “unladylike.” To keep her parents in the dark, she planted poison ivy along the path where they were kept in her backyard. Throughout her life, she published 10 books and over 200 papers and literature reviews. This even included a wild game cookbook, which included bear lard as her secret ingredient for pie crust. While the reason remains unknown, she married her husband Frederick in secret. He was also one of the few graduate students of Aldo Leopold, and she and Frederick went on to go to graduate school and do over 50 years of research together. Despite being married in the 1931, they lived in an 1850s home with no water or heat. This home also had an unfinished ballroom on the second floor, a space the couple used to keep specimens and records of their field data. One of my favorite quotes of her says, “We had all the luxuries, such as a first-rate ornithological library, and none of the necessities” (The Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame).