Curt Meine is a conservation biologist, environmental historian, and writer. Meine received his B.A. from DePaul University in Chicago and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He serves as Senior Fellow with the Aldo Leopold Foundation and the Center for Humans & Nature; as Research Associate with the International Crane Foundation; and Associate Adjunct Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has worked for more than thirty-five years at the intersection of biodiversity conservation, restoration, agriculture, climate change, environmental justice, and community resilience. His work has included conservation projects across North America, Europe, and East Asia, with a wide array of organizations, agencies, universities, and businesses. In his home landscape he is a founding member of the Sauk Prairie Conservation Alliance.
Meine has written and edited a number of books on conservation and environmental history, including Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work; Correction Lines: Essays on Land, Leopold, and Conservation (2004); and The Driftless Reader (2017). His most recent book is We Can Do Better: Collected Writings on Land, Conservation, and Public Policy by Paul W. Johnson (2025).
Meine also appeared as narrator and on-screen guide of the Emmy Award-winning documentary film Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time (2011), which has appeared more than 1,000 times on PBS stations around the country.
