“Conservation is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our Abrahamic concept of 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.” ― Aldo Leopold

“The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, "What good is it?" If the land mechanism is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of eons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.” ― Aldo Leopold

“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.” ― Aldo Leopold

By DR. CAMERON BARROWS

During Theodore Roosevelt’s second term as President of the United States, in February 1905, the National Forest Service was established, and in so doing created the first effort to protect our country’s natural wealth. However, protecting our natural wealth had different definitions depending on one’s view of where people fit into nature. Recognizing this dichotomy, Roosevelt brought in two leaders to attempt to find a balanced approach for conservation. On one side was John Muir, a Scottish immigrant who proposed a more spiritual approach, believing in nature’s beauty and perfection, and so was a strict protectionist. Our nation’s National Park System owes its inception to John Muir’s influence with Roosevelt and later Woodrow Wilson. 

The other side was represented by Gifford Pinchot. Born into a family of wealthy merchants and real estate developers, Pinchot argued for the protection of our remaining natural lands as a commodity for enhancing our nation’s wealth, as a source of the raw materials to build our homes and cities. He was schooled in both France’s and Yale University’s schools of forestry and advocated for the sustainable use of our natural resources, but the emphasis was on use, not setting aside lands for their own inherent value, be it spiritual or ecological. The U.S. Forest Service is to this day, still largely a mirror of Pinchot’s vision for managing our nation’s natural resources.

The National Park Service (NPS) was established a decade later August 25, 1916, when President Woodrow Wilson signed the National Park Service Organic Act. The NPS is a federal agency within the Department of the Interior. Prior to that Act, several National Parks had already been protected, each with John Muir’s influence catalyzing their establishment. Muir was directly involved in establishing Yosemite (1890), Sequoia (1890), Mount Ranier (1899) and the Grand Canyon (1908) National Parks. Muir is often called the Father of Our National Park System.

In 1909, Aldo Leopold graduated from Yale University’s School of Forestry, steeped in Pinchot’s utilitarian and sustainability perspective. Upon graduation he shipped out to manage Forest Service lands in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico. His tasks included supervising grazing leases, timber leases, and managing hunting on Forest Service lands. Over time, Aldo witnessed soil erosion and habitat degradation caused by sheep grazers, a group that was constantly lobbying for increased access and use of federal lands. There was nothing sustainable about the impact the sheep had on these lands. As part of his wildlife management responsibilities, Aldo oversaw and participated in “predator control” (killing wolves, mountain lions and coyotes) aimed at maximizing deer and elk densities for hunters. At first Aldo saw the increased herds of elk and deer as a benefit to hunters. However, as time passed, he saw how these ungulates were, like the sheep, eating all the vegetation that was protecting the soil, and thus reducing forest regeneration and increasing soil erosion.

Aldo began to develop a philosophy of nature as being comprised of countless, integrated parts, each working together to create a healthy ecosystem. Each “part” (species) contributed to the sustainability of the natural landscape. A healthy ecosystem required ensuring all those parts were incorporated in any management action. He realized that thinking of short-term benefits to sheep grazers, timber companies, and market hunters ultimately degraded the entire system. Rather than focusing on those short-term gains, he began the idea of “thinking like a mountain”, taking the very long-term view of ecosystem health. He was not against people using the land, only that use needed to be truly sustainable, with a full recognition of what their impact was, and what were the long-term costs if that use exceeded the land’s carrying capacity. Frustrated with a focus on short-term economic gains at the expense of long-term ecosystem health, Aldo left the Forest Service, accepting a teaching position at the University of Wisconsin. It was there where he further developed his philosophy of a land ethic and was able pass that on to his students. There he wrote his famous book, the “Sand County Almanac,” a must-read for every budding ecologist and naturalist. The book includes a month-by-month account of how he and his family restored a deteriorating Wisconsin farm, degraded by overuse and a focus on short-term gains by a previous owner, and then restored it to a thriving haven for wildlife. Farming was limited to only what his family needed, and hunting was similarly limited to a sustainable level.

Some time ago I was reminded once again of Leopold’s wisdom. I was listening to a lecture about a conflict between cattle ranchers and protecting wild bison on the same range. The location was public land, one of the few (perhaps the only) ranges where cattle and bison grazed the same landscape. The rarity was due to the possibility of disease transmission between the cattle and the bison, but here both species were disease free. The ranchers were convinced that the bison had become too numerous and were not leaving enough forage for their cattle. So, the ranchers hired a young biologist to prove their point, with the aim of convincing the government to reduce the bison numbers. The biologist carefully measured what each species was eating, and created exclosures to see what impact each species, bison and cattle, had on the land.

At the end of his study the biologist met with a room full of ranchers to tell them his results. After a long pause one of the impatient ranchers asked if he had proved what they “knew was true.”  The biologist told them that his research showed that the bison and cattle eat very different forage, with little overlap. The incredulous and now angry ranchers said the biologist was wrong, because there had been a decline in forage for their cattle, so if not the bison, who was eating the “cattle forage”? After a deep breath, the biologist told them they were right, that there was a decline in forage, except it wasn’t because of the bison, it was due to an overabundance of jackrabbits. There was silence from the ranchers until one with more insight than then others said, “well gentlemen, perhaps we should stop killing coyotes.” In a very Leopold-like way, the ranchers were made aware of the connectivity of nature.

Nullius in verba – Go outside, tip your hat to a chuckwalla (and a cactus), and think like a mountain