Jensen Formally Inducted into Conservation Hall of Fame

FOR A FELLOW who didn’t want to become a farmer, Jens Jensen made quite a name for himself with plants.

While his years working the family farm in his native Denmark may have altered his future ambitions, it definitely instilled a love for nature and started him on a path that made him a pioneer in the field of landscape design. Jensen probably didn’t have that title of landscape architect embossed on a business card, for there was no such “official” profession in the early days of the 20th century.

But just like the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, with whom Jensen would eventually share a period of friendship and professional collaboration, they would establish their own unique style born from midwestern influences that would carry them to widespread fame.

Jensen’s legacy was further enhanced on April 24 when he was inducted into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame, joining the ranks of 100 luminaries including Aldo Leopold, John Muir and Gaylord Nelson Jensen lived full-time in Door County from 1935 until his death in 1951. Here he zealously continued his advocacy for protection of natural areas. He was a principal proponent of The Ridges Sanctuary, Cave Point County Park, Whitefish Dunes State Park and Ellison Bay Bluff County Park, among others.

One of Jensen’s many legacies is The Clearing ,a folk school established on his Door County property in 1935 with the aim of immersing people in nature for “spiritual renewal.” Initially intended for landscape architect students, he expanded its scope to include the general public. Thousands have at tended short courses at The Clearing, now a nonprofit school, where Jensen’s philosophy of working with nature is the pervasive theme.