Sand County Almanac

A Recommended Read by Chris Hubbard

“A land ethic is the existence of an ecological conscience, and this in turn reflects a conviction of individual responsibility for the health of our land. Health is the capacity of the land for self-renewal. Conservation is our effort to understand and preserve this capacity.”

—Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

Quoted on the triptych hanging in the MFFC Visitor Center

A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There, is a book I had never really picked up. Yes, I’d read an essay here, an essay there, but I’d never sat down to read the entire book, like I tend to do with so many others. That changed in the past few weeks, when I decided to delve into the book, cover to cover.

Leopold took me through a month-by-month journey over a year of changes in ecology near his farm in Wisconsin, as well as travels through different parts of the country and world. The details Leopold described almost 75 years ago could be observed, both at home and here at Merck, in the few weeks I spent reading his essays. A large tree, felled by the wind and bucked up, as the chainsaw sliced back through time and with growth rings now exposed, now allows for foot traffic along the Farm Trail (February). My early morning risings in the dark and stillness are broken first by one, then a chorus of bird song (July). Many of Leopold’s natural observations are, fortunately, still observable today, if one takes the time to look and listen. I was captivated, as I delved deeper into the book.

“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” (p. 264). So wrote Leopold on land ethics. I found Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac and the land ethic he put forth to continue to be as relevant today as when it was written, as we face an ever-growing host of serious environmental problems: invasive species, forest defragmentation, the loss of wildlife habitat and the extinction of species, pollution, and climate change, to name a just few. Just as Leopold writes about some of the ecological challenges that were being faced, he also touches on the thinking of today, as efforts to restore the land and preserve our wildlands continue, as we look to the environment as a whole, from the microscopic organisms that live in the soil to the apex predators that are so rarely seen.

I find our mission of “inspiring curiosity, love, and responsibility toward natural and working lands” reflected in Leopold’s work. I invite you to pick up a copy of A Sand County Almanac for the first time, if you haven’t read it yet, or as a reread, if you have. It’s a timeless classic that’s well worth the read.

A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There, by Aldo Leopold (1949), Oxford University Press.

Natural Communities of Merck Forest

A Guide to the Guide

Merck Forest and Farmland Center

Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 1:00-5:00 pm

Sponsored by:

Vermont Land Trust, Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, The Nature Conservancy, and Merck Forest and Farmland Center

Join Liz Thompson, Eric Sorenson, and Bob Zaino, the three authors of Wetland, Woodland, Wildland: A Guide to the Natural Communities of Vermont to celebrate the publication of the second edition of the book with an exploration of Merck’s special natural communities, including Dry Chestnut Oak Forest and Rich Northern Hardwood Forest. The forests here are fascinating and we will learn about the trees, shrubs, wildflowers of the forest floor, and forest structure, and explore how different soils support different plants and animals.

This will be a moderate hike over variable terrain. Please register at vlt.org/events. Limit 25 participants.