As a young man, fresh out of Yale forestry school, Leopold went to work in land management in the American southwest. Like so many of his colleagues, he was eager to kill wolves and other predators, believing that fewer wolves would mean more deer to hunt and eat. Instead, Leopold found that, as predators, wolves prevented deer from overpopulating and chewing through their habitat, especially the forests that he and others were trying to manage. Leopold spent the rest of his life studying and writing about the biotic community that sustains life on earth. And so he developed his land ethic: saying that the land under our feet is as much a part of our lives and just as important to us and our future as our own children.
A color photo of naturalist, writer, and forester Aldo Leopold, circa 1948
Image source: Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture
“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.”
-American naturalist, philosopher, and writer Aldo Leopold, born on this day in 1887.
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