In Memoriam: Luna Leopold

Luna Leopold died on February 23rd, 2006 at his home in Berkeley, California. The former Sierra Club board member and chief hydrologist for the US Geological Survey was 90 years old.

Son of forester and conservationist Aldo Leopold (author of A Sand County Almanac), Luna is best remembered for his contributions to the field of fluvial geomorphology; that is, the study of rivers and their role in shaping the landscape. In 1991, Leopold has awarded the National Medal of Science. Next month, he will become the posthumous recipient of the prestigious Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science. Friends and colleagues report that he continued working until the very end of his life.

A critic of clearcutting, grazing on public land and mining in national parks, Leopold's work as an earth scientist often put him at the center of important environmental debates. Above all, his work focused on rivers and watersheds. "The health of our waters," he once wrote, "is the principal measure of how we live on the land."