Of Men and Marshes: A Tribute to Ecologist Paul Errington

James Pritchard and Matthew Sivils

Monday, 09 Feb 2009 at 3:00 pm – Sun Room, Memorial Union

Faculty and students honor the life, work, and memory of the ecologist and Iowa State professor Paul L. Errington. Errington was internationally recognized for his work on the population phenomena of vertebrates, especially fur and game species. He became a staff member at Iowa State University in 1932, the same year he received his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, and was a professor of zoology at Iowa State at the time of his death in 1962. He was the author of four books, including Of Predation and Life and Of Men and Marshes. The tribute will be led by James Pritchard, Departments of Landscape Architecture and Natural Resource Ecology and Management, and Matthew Sivils, Department of English, and include short readings from Errington’s work. Part of the Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness, and the Creative Imagination.

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Paul L. Errington was internationally recognized for his work on the population phenomena of vertebrates, especially fur and game species, and made extensive studies in this field in North American and northern Europe. He became a staff member at Iowa State University in 1932, the same year he received his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, and was a professor of Zoology at Iowa State at the time of his death in 1962.

Errington was presented the American Wildlife Conference Aldo Leopold Medal in 1962 and was twice honored by the Wildlife Society for his outstanding wildlife publication. Dr. Errington received research support in the form of grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Swedish government.

A fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Ornithologists Union, and a member of the American Society of Zoologists, Dr. Errington was the author of more than two hundred published technical and popular articles and the author of four books: Of Predation and Life, Of Men and Marshes, Muskrats and Marsh Management, and Muskrat Population. Two books featuring Errington’s work, published posthumously—The Red Gods Call and A Question of Values—were collected and edited by his wife, Carolyn Errington.

More information and a complete schedule of events for the Fifth Annual Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness, and the Creative Imagination