1891 – 1987
Inducted 1989
Tenacity and tireless commitment to protect Wisconsin’s navigable waters, wetlands and soils characterize AD. Sutherland’s life. A graduate of Harvard in 1917, Sutherland practiced law in his hometown of Fond du Lac. His involvement with legal cases and legislation dealing with numerous conservation initiatives extended statewide and beyond.
He joined the Izaak Walton League in the 1920s and was active all his life. He held local, state and national offices, including honorary national president. When he was state president in 1941, the league discussed creating a public hunting ground program. Sutherland drafted legislation earmarking 50 cents from each hunting license fee to purchase and maintain hunting grounds. The Eldorado Marsh in his locale was among lands purchased.
Sutherland assisted conservationists in acquiring and restoring Horicon Marsh. He helped pass a law appropriating a forestry tax for the purchase of the Kettle Moraine State Forest in southeast Wisconsin. And he successfully blocked subsequent legislation to transfer the latter for a reformatory.
In the late 1940s, the Izaak Walton League took on pollution of public waters. Still president, Sutherland drafted legislation requiring polluters to correct violations and empowering a state agency to enforce compliance. Several businesses, unions and others testified against the proposal. Undeterred, Sutherland contacted state presidents of opposing organizations. He explained the bill and secured their support. He contacted all league chapters and 400 conservation clubs, which also urged their legislators to support it. One month later, the bill passed unanimously.
Sutherland assisted friend and fellow Attorney Virgil Muench (WCHF Inductee) in preserving the natural condition of the Namekagon River. They argued the public’s right to protect navigable waters was more important than a power company’s right to dam the river. The state Supreme Court agreed in 1952.
Sutherland also was instrumental in securing legislation creating the national Soil Bank Program. Government subsidies had encouraged farmers to intensively farm all available acreage, which was depleting soil. An Izaak Walton League chapter in Illinois recommended paying landowners to instead plant grass and trees, which would hold soil. Sutherland made sure it received a proper airing at a national convention and garnered the needed support to pass Congress.
His acclaimed book, “Sixty Years Afield and Observations on Conservation,” is a testament to his many contributions to preserve our resources.
Resources
A. D. Sutherland Induction Speech, 1989
The Man, the Law, and the Land, article from Wisconsin Waltonian, 1988
You and Your Izaak Walton League, article by A. D. Sutherland for The Wisconsin Waltonian
Wisconsin Conservation Activities Biographical, by A. D. Sutherland