A Sand County Almanac was published in 1949. Leopold, a chair of new game management department at the University of Wisconsin, became disillusioned with man’ s regard to the natural world.
He said,“ Conservation … is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our concept of the land. 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.”
Leopold includes the human emotion of love. Can we love and respect the land the way we love and respect our spouse, our children? If I borrow something from the land, like I borrow something from a neighbor, ethically I am required to return it. Can I do this with the land?
Maybe not. To borrow something implies it’ s returned unmolested and unchanged. But development of land means it will never be returned to its original state. In Brown County, we are obliged to
decide what land requires while meeting the public needs.
An idea of ecological conscience evolved on how to encourage mankind’ s thoughtful existence with the earth. He called it the“ Land Ethic,” reflecting a conviction of an individual’ s responsibility for the health of the land.“ Health is the capacity of the land for self-renewal and conservation is our effort to understand and preserve this capacity.”
I’ ve often wondered if my professors knew what impact Leopold had. Understanding man’ s existence with the natural world was an important lesson. They saw us as young and impressionable, while we were excited. Anxious to work in some capacity of natural resources, we were to be guided by Leopold’ s words. What we gained from formal class lectures and labs was reinforced by our time afield and in the woods. But as any resource manager knows, it’ s the people they work with, and for, that will determine how well we live on the land. •
March / April 2023 • Our Brown County 53