STEVENS POINT — The 100th anniversary of the birth of Gaylord Nelson came and went earlier this month. There was a smattering of coverage in the state, but the occasion was cause for hardly more than a whisper outside of the conservation community.

That’s too bad, because Nelson’s remarkable service as governor of and U.S. senator from Wisconsin is a reminder of his own brilliance and also how unremarkable are the legacies of many who followed him.

As governor, he boosted spending on education and infrastructure and at the same time vastly expanded our understanding of and appreciation for natural resources. He didn`t consider these in conflict, although politicians today should be required to write 1,000 times the famous Nelson line: “The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment.”...