In the spring of 2003, James Hall Zimmerman (1924-1992) was inducted into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame. Jim Zim, as he was known statewide, was inducted, according to the Hall of Fame, because "[he] was a brilliant naturalist and environmental activist whose communication skills enabled him to reach broad audiences." An educator, a writer, a field naturalist, and so much more -we remember Jim because he was also a co-founder of Wisconsin Wetlands Association. His wife and longtime colleague, naturalist/artist and WWA board member Elizabeth "Libby" Zimmerman offers this personal rememberence . . .

Living with Jim was like living in a four-dimensional world, or like seeing nature from two vantage points. For 23 years, I lived a "Vegetation of Wisconsin" course as I traveled around the state with him. His interests were broad, encompassing geology, soils, weather, plants, and animals, and he was well versed in all these fields. He was a walking encyclopedia, blessed with a prodigious memory for detail, celebrating nature on every scale.
Jim was an educator. His missions were to teach and to write, to reach everyone he could, from young children to their teachers, from college students to adults to their communities. He loved his students, and they were well aware of that. He generously gave of his time, listening to their scholastic and personal problems and helping where he could. When he died, there were at least two student-led memorial celebrations. One of the occupants of Biosphere Two thanked him for helping her to be where she was.

When he was young, Jim showed an interest in plants, so his mother had a greenhouse built for him. He used it all his life. He had the good fortune of knowing Aldo Leopold, who lived in the neighborhood and used to pass Jim's house on his way to and from the campus. Later, Jim took a Leopold course, and it opened his eyes to the birds in his own back yard. Another influence of Leopold was the notion of record keeping. In the early forties, Jim started a little notebook of a few bird observations, and it grew to be his daily 3x5 card system, on which observations of seasonal events and places visited were kept - for half a century!

Jim loved all parts of Wisconsin, especially the University of Wisconsin Arboretum, where he used to census birds and plants by bike, and Door County, where we camped for years. He had a special spot in his heart for the Ridges Sanctuary.

At the end of his life, Jim was starting what he called the Ecofit project, to draw together grade school kids and their teachers, parents, and the community to protect neighborhood natural areas and use them as teaching resources.

Jim's accomplishments and legacy include:
oAn identification key to the Carex sedges of Wisconsin, which has developed into a book, now being finished.
oWildflowers and Weeds, a popular field guide to which Jim lent his technical expertise.
oA still unpublished book, Learning From the Land.
oA generation of dedicated students who are now carrying on his work. He was modest about his influence, and seemed never to realize how far it had extended.
oA wetland ecology course, established before it became a popular idea. In the mid sixties, I took him on his first canoe ride and showed him Dunn's Marsh, which I was then studying. Before I knew it, he knew more about wetlands than I did.
oThe Wisconsin Wetlands Association, established in 1970 to fight a highway crossing a marsh and to raise awareness of the need for wetland protection.
oA successful fight against the LaFarge Dam on the Kickapoo River.

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