I Have Purposely Presented The Land Ethic

He Who Searches For Spring With His Knees In The Mud Finds It, In Abundance.

The Whole Conflict Thus Boils Down To A Question Of Degree. We Of The Minority See A Law Of Diminishing Returns In Progress; Our Opponents Do Not.

There Is, As Yet, No Sense Of Pride In The Husbandry Of Wild Plants And Animals, No Sense Of Shame In The Proprietorship Of A Sick Landscape. We Tilt Windmills In Behalf Of Conservation In Convention Halls And Editorial Offices, But On The Back Forty We Disclaim Even Owning A Lance.

Barring Love And War, Few Enterprises Are Undertaken With Such Abandon, Or By Such Diverse Individuals, Or With So Paradoxical A Mixture Of Appetite And Altruism, As That Group Of Avocations Known As Outdoor Recreation. It Is, By Common Consent, A Good Thing For People To Get Back To Nature. But Wherein Lies The Goodness, And What Can Be Done To Encourage Its Pursuit?

Health Is The Capacity Of The Land For Self-renewal.