After reading Leopold, I have been given some insight into what a land ethic might be. The land by Leopold is, almost, seen from the same view as the Native Americans. The tribes and indigenous people that lived off the land in the world saw the Earth as much more than just a place to live or a planet. Earth was everything to them. This is what stood out the most to me in our most recent readings. The colonist and settlers saw the Earth as just a place while the indigenous people saw it as their entire universe. It was not until the settlers began to live off the land rather than living in the big cities and the towns that they began to understand how the natives saw the land. Leopold views the land to me in the same way as the Native Americans. After spending so much of his time on the land, his soul and spirit seemed to make a connection to the land and that moment of connection has changed how he views everything on the Earth.
The recreational activities that take place on in nature can be both harmful and beneficial to the Earth. Hunting for recreation can be fun and it can also aid in managing the population. But if done in frequent repetition an entire species can become endangered and, maybe even, extinct. This is very dangerous because both people wish to have fun and the land wishes to survive. Every recreational activity in nature has a very large effect and impact on the environment. Natives do not hunt excessively. They only hunted and gather what they needed.
Every story of conservation starts with the invasion of settlers. The settlers appear peaceful in the beginning; however, as time goes on they begin to perform more and more like an invasive species of plant or animal, consuming whatever they see fit. This becomes possible because they have no real rival, danger, or predator. To the settlers they see land they can take whether it be forcibly or passively. The land is theirs for the taking. And with this attitude the land becomes more of just a place to the settlers. But over time, after years of being spent together with nature, man resorts back to the same way the Native Americans were.
Greg, What is your sense of any application of a land ethic to The Chessie Trail, in terms of its history, or present status as a trail owned and maintained by VMI, beloved and cared for by FOTC and volunteers?