Natural Lands - The Magazine of Natural Lands Fall/Winter 2017, Issue 151 | Page 4

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acts of restoration,
we also restore
our relationship
with nature.
Stroud Preserve
West Chester, PA
571 acres
blend the ecological significance
of land—broad, sweeping, ineffa-
ble—with human values, which are
personal and profound.
Each acre we have preserved is
proof of this. Conservation begins
with a landowner’s choice; one root-
ed in values both universal and spe-
cific to the individual. A farmer may
love her land for different reasons
than the owner of a country estate,
but the choice to ensure their be-
loved properties remain as they are
is derived from the same impulse.
Tim Lutz, a professor at West
Chester University, has proposed a
framework for understanding the
differing ways in which people place
value on nature. His construct brings
together those of us who see the
natural world through aesthetic,
ecological, spiritual, or emotional
lenses with those who see it for its
utilitarian purposes. In all but one of
the 10 categories he identifies there
is a common thread: we value the
role that nature plays in our lives.
The challenge that conservation-
ists face is how to enliven this value
in a broader constituency so our
work might be sustained.
In her book Braiding Sweetgrass:
Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific
Knowledge and the Teachings of
Plants, author Robin Wall Kimmerer
makes the case that knowing nature
and loving nature activate us to de-
fend, protect, and celebrate. “Action
on behalf of life transforms. As we
work to heal the earth, the earth
heals us.”
Natural Lands is getting ready to
put a more public face on a fund-
raising effort that we have been
advancing quietly as our Campaign
for Humans and Nature—a cam-
paign underpinned by the notion
that “nature sustains humans who
sustain nature.”
Practicing conservation that em-
phasizes the relationship between
people and nature and that makes
the case for land conservation as
a tool for changing lives creates a
broader, more-sustainable constitu-
ency for conservation. The ethos of
Natural Lands can be summarized
as this: The land’s protection is just
the first step in a broader conser-
vation process. Just as you cannot
put a bell jar over a piece of land and
believe that the natural resources
you have protected will thrive, you
cannot create a community that
cares about conservation and its
many benefits without first providing
access to open space.
“Caring is not abstract,” says
Kimmerer. “The circle of ecological
compassion that we feel is enlarged
by direct experience of the living
world, and shrunken by its lack.”
How do we as a community and
as individuals connect over land
and nature? Cultural geographers,
anthropologists, sociologists, and
urban planners study why certain
places hold special meaning to par-
ticular people or animals, resulting
in a “sense of place.”
Environmental psychologists have
quantified links between exposure to
natural environments in childhood
and environmental preferences later
in life. Learning about surrounding
en