Luna Leopold, 90; Earth Scientist and Pioneer in the Study of Rivers With USGS Taught at UC Berkeley

Luna B. Leopold, a gifted scientist and influential conservationist who turned the study of rivers and how they shape the landscape into a science, died Feb. 23 at his Berkeley home. He was 90 and had emphysema and congestive heart disease, said his daughter, Madelyn Leopold of Madison, Wis.

Leopold was the son of eminent wildlife ecologist Aldo Leopold and edited “A Sand County Almanac,” his father’s classic 1949 book that through its poetic explanations of the workings of the natural world became a cornerstone of the environmental movement.

The younger Leopold not only embraced his father’s belief in the importance of “harmony between men and land” but inherited his skill at observing the environment. He focused that skill on studying America’s natural waterways and became a seminal figure in his own right. His groundbreaking research demonstrated fundamental principles about the dynamics of rivers and streams and their role in the ecosystem.

“How does water move, and when it moves, what happens? How does land shape water flow and how does water flow shape land? These are among the central issues that Luna solved,” said Char Miller, an environmental historian at Trinity University in San Antonio who called Leopold a brilliant scientist who “made us concerned about rivers in ways we could not have imagined before.”

What also distinguished him was his vocal advocacy for the nation’s natural resources as a board member of organizations such as the Sierra Club and the Environmental Law Institute. He was a critic of the logging practice called clear-cutting, mining in national parks and the unrestrained use of water for irrigation.

“Everyone who studies rivers knows Luna’s work,” Andrew Fahlund, vice president of conservation programs for American Rivers, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit devoted to river conservation, said Tuesday. “Luna had an ability to do really unimpeachably good scholarship while also being able to advocate passionately on behalf of the resources he was studying. Those of us who have studied rivers and care about them owe him a great debt of gratitude for that advocacy.”

Leopold conducted his most important work during two decades at the U.S. Geological Survey, where he served as chief hydrologist and was credited with transforming its water resources division into one of the nation’s leading agencies for water research. The author of close to 200 scholarly papers, he later taught Earth and planetary science and landscape architecture at UC Berkeley.

He was known as an intrepid outdoorsman and field researcher who floated down many of America’s rivers on a raft. He nearly ran out of gas once while piloting a plane over Alaska. He was famous for his camp cooking with a Dutch oven; strawberry shortcake and standing rib roast were specialties.

He also made exquisite objects with his hands -- including bows and arrows, book bindings and furniture. He built his own cabin near Pinedale, Wyo., using logs from a 100-year-old ranch house. His family described the rugged structure, which had no indoor plumbing, as his favorite lodging, where he spent several months a year.

Leopold was born in Albuquerque on Oct. 8, 1915. His mother, Estelle Bergere, was descended from the Lunas, a prominent and colorful family who gave Leopold a love of the Southwest and his Spanish guitar, which he used to serenade fellow campers with “La Bamba” and original songs.

His father was a forester, educator and philosopher who served in the U.S. Forest Service for 19 years. In 1924, the elder Leopold was transferred to Madison, where he began the work that made him one of the 20th century’s leading ecologists.

Luna Leopold graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1936 with a degree in civil engineering. He received a master’s in geology from UCLA in 1944 and a doctorate in geology from Harvard University in 1950.

His multidisciplinary education would lead him into a wide-ranging career, which began as an engineer with the Soil Conservation Service in 1938. During World War II he served as a cadet with the Army Air Forces Corps of Engineers and was trained in physics and meteorology at UCLA. After the war he worked as chief meteorologist for the Hawaiian Pineapple Institute, where he developed a long-range weather forecasting system for pineapple and sugar cane plantations.

In 1950, he joined the U.S. Geological Survey as a hydraulic engineer and embarked on the work that would establish him as an icon in his field.

He gained attention with a 1953 paper called “The Hydraulic Geometry of Stream Channels” which, despite its unwieldy title, ushered in a new era in geomorphology, the study of landforms and the processes that shape them.

“Earlier geomorphologists were more qualitative and hand-waving. They would say that a river was ‘yea crooked.’ Luna quantified it,” said Bill Emmett, a hydrologist who worked for many years with Leopold at the U.S. Geological Survey.

“Every time he crossed a river,” Emmett added, “Luna said, ‘Hats off to science.’ Science was his first love.”

Leopold’s pioneering contribution allowed measurements of such critical characteristics as seasonal changes in the amount of water or sediment a river carries and predictions of the course of a river’s meanders.

He conducted crucial studies of plans for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and a jetport in the Florida Everglades that helped policymakers understand the importance of assessing the environmental impact of major developments.

A member of the National Academy of Sciences, he was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1991. He was also the recipient of the Penrose Medal of the Geological Society of America and the Busk Medal of the Royal Geographical Society.

His wife of 30 years, Barbara Beck Leopold, died in 2004. Besides his daughter, he is survived by his son Bruce of Baltimore; stepson T. Leverett Nelson of Chicago; stepdaughter Carolyn T. Nelson of Madison; two sisters; and a brother.