Recommended Reading, A Sand County Almanac

I was first introduced to Aldo Leopold’s, A Sand County Almanac, in an environmental ethics class. Leopold is considered the father of the conservation movement and is responsible for many of the policies that govern conservation now. Leopold considered protection of the natural world to be a matter of ethics and lays out his argument for a land ethic gracefully in his book.

“All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants and animals, or collectively the land.”

The Land Ethic, A Sand County Almanac.

Leopold put his ethic into practice by buying a horribly degraded piece of land in sand county Wisconsin and gradually restoring it by planting pines until his beloved sandhill cranes returned. Even after his early death, his family and students continue to restore this little piece of land and it is open to the public to visit now. I have been twice to visit and see the sandhill cranes. Visiting Leopold’s shack is almost like a pilgrimage for conservationists.

“Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets, but humbler folk may circumvent this restriction if they know how. To plant a pine, for example, one need be neither god nor poet; one need only own a good shovel.”

Pines Above the Snow, A Sand County Almanac.

As native plant gardeners we can incorporate the land ethic into our everyday lives. We each have a small piece of land to protect and heal. Bring back the wildlife that depends on that patch of land by creating and protecting the habitat they need. Each bird or butterfly that visits our garden is a living creature that we have helped to find a place in this degraded world.

“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

Foreword, A Sand County Almanac.

Leopold’s land ethic is a way of seeing the world differently. We are part of this big living community that we must protect and nurture. Healing the earth one garden at a time as the Wild Ones motto says. We need the land as much as the land needs us, we can save each other.

I recommend getting a copy of A Sand County Almanac. Pick a nice spot outside to read it. Imagine you are with Leopold as he watches the sky dance of the woodcock, counting each tree ring through time, and watching the green fire in the wolf’s eye. It is a beautifully written book.

Learn more at https://www.aldoleopold.org/