Sand County Almanac Discussion Guide
Reading Aldo LeopoldA Sand County Almanac, a classic in environmental literature, is a series of essays first published in 1949, shortly after Aldo Leopold died fighting a brush fire on his neighbor’s farm. Leopold was a founder of wildlife managment, leading conservationist, professional forester, college professor, co-founder of the Wilderness Society, early ecologist, and with his family, a steward of 120 acres of sand farm in the Wisconsin River floodplain. Leopold wrote A Sand County Almanac to change the way the reader conceives of and responds to the land. He weaves together three central concepts: the land is a community, the land is to be loved and respected, and the land yields a cultural harvest. Leopold has been called a prophet, who “finds truth in the wilderness and comes back to warn a society with little sense of its own spiritual danger. . .and certainly no wish to change.”
Purpose: Discussions centered on A Sand County Almanac will give the group an opportunity to think about and discuss ways in which humans relate to their natural surroundings.
Session 1 (40 pages)
Readings: Foreward
“January” - “June”
1. Leopold describes vividly his experiences with nature. Can you recall natural places that made a strong impression on you?
2. Of his sketches January through June, which is the most meaningful to you? Why?
3. What are the values of observing nature?
4. Leopold often reflects on humanity in the context of nature. (e.g., his comparison of men and fish on p. 42) Were there any reflections that you particularly appreciated?
5. What insights does “Good Oak” offer?
6. Is it important to know where your food and heat come from? (p. 7) Why?
7. Did you have any reflections about the role of fire after reading “Bur Oak”? (p. 32)
8. Observing the woodcock dance caused the naturalist to alter his behavior. (p. 36) Have you had any experiences with nature that have caused you to change?
Session 2 (39 pages)
Readings: “July” - “December”
1. The author presents many striking images in short phrases. For instance, he characterizes a partridge-hunting dog as “the prospector of the air, perpetually searching its strata for olfactory gold.” (p. 67) Share any descriptions that struck you and try to say why.
2. Do these sketches raise any ecological or conservation issues? What general principles emerge about attitudes we should take toward the land?
3. In your opinion, what are humans’ great possessions? (pp. 44-47)
4. How do you respond to the question Leopold raises: Can we have both progress and plants? (p. 51)
5. What do you think of Leopold’s definition of a conservationist? (p. 73)
6. Have you analyzed your preference or resentments toward particular plants or animals? (p. 73-74)
7. Leopold learns from and is influenced by pine trees. (p. 86-93) Choose a plant you identify with or learn from.
8. Do you look at disease any differently after reading “A Mighty Fortress”? (p. 77-82) Does this sketch have any implications for our tendency to want to clean up.
Session 3 (44 pages)
Readings: “Wisconsin”
“Illinois and Iowa”
“Arizona and New Mexico”
1. Leopold says that men are only fellow-voyagers with other creatures in the odyssey of evolution; yet he also says we are the only species that can mourn the death of another species. (p. 117) What comments do you have about the relationship of humans and other creatures?
2. Does our desire to understand the world rationally set us apart from nature? Or can we know “to what end?” as the crane does? (p. 102)
3. Leopold’s appreciation of the quality of the marsh is enhanced by his knowledge of its evolutionary history. Describe a place you appreciate, not because of its beauty, but because of your knowledge of its ecology or its history.
4. What is the value of wildness? (p. 107) Should we leave some land alone merely for the sake of wildness?
5. What do you think of Leopold’s statement that all conservation of wildness is self-defeating because to cherish it we must see and fondle it? (p. 108)
6. What does the “Odessey” narrative mean to you? (pp. 111-115)
7. In “Thinking Like a Mountain” how does the naturalist decipher the hidden meaning of the wolf’s call. What does the mountain represent? What is the consequence of not thinking like a mountain? (pp. 137-141)
8. How do you respond to Leopold’s statement, “Too much safety seems to yield only danger in the long run.” Can you give any examples? (p. 141)
Session 4 (38 pages)
Readings: “Country" “Goose Music”
“The Round River" A Man’s Leisure Time (optional)
“Natural History" Wildlife in American Culture (optional)
“The Deer Swath"
1. Leopold urges us to “keep every cog and wheel” even if we don’t understand their purpose and gives and example of a German forest where soil microorganisms were not respected. (p. 190) Can you think of other examples of “cogs and wheels” that may seem useless?
2. In the 1940’s Leopold wrote “American conservation is. . .still concerned for the most part with show pieces.” (p. 193) In the 1990’s are we still in the same place, or have we learned to think in terms of small cogs and wheels?
3. Leopold expresses an aching sense of loss, loneliness, and isolation through his essays. (e.g., p. 197) How does Leopold seem to have dealt with the sense of loss? How do you?
4. Does our current education help develop an ecological consciousness? (e.g. a comprehension of the living animal and how it holds its place in the sun,” p. 206) What would education for ecological consciousness look like?
5. Is the health and integrity of ecosystems necessary for our own health and integrity--beyond life support? Does it matter whether or not we hear goose music? (p. 233)
6. How do you agree or disagree with Leopold’s attitude toward hunting? (p. 233)
Session 5 (38 pages)
Readings: “Oregon and Utah”
“Manitoba”
“The Land Ethic”
1. Leopold wrote in the 1940’s, “The land-relation is still strictly economic, entailing privileges but not obligations.” (p. 238) What would you say is our land-relation today?
2. Do you agree that man’s role as conqueror of nature is eventually self-defeating? (p. 240) Why or why not?
3. If the land ethic is extending a community’s sensibilities to all members of the community, nonhuman as well as human, how do you see this as coming about?
4. How did our society’s disapproval of slavery come about? Is that relevant?
5. Do new discoveries in science contribute to our sense of kinship with fellow creatures of the earth? (e.g., space pictures of earth, embryonic development, genetic linkages)
6. Can a land ethic emanate from self interest, or must it come from a true caring for non-human elements?
7. Consider this statement: “A land ethic changes the role of humans from conqueror of the land community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such.” (p. 240) How will this ethic be applied in practice?
8. “. . .the trend of evolution is to elaborate and diversify.” (p. 253) What responsibility does this place on us?
9. Discuss this passage: “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. 262) Was Leopold suggesting that the integrity of the biotic community supersedes the concerns for its individual members? What are the implications of this concept?
10. What is the interplay between the land ethic and human-centered cultural values? (e.g., human rights vs. population control) Has our democracy taken us more in one direction than the other?
Session 6 (48 pages)
Readings: “Chihuahua and Sonora" Guacamaja (optional)
“Song of the Gavilan”
“Wilderness”
1. Have you had any experiences in the wilderness similar to Leopold’s? Does that wilderness still exist?
2. In your view, what are the values of wilderness?
3. How does one learn to appreciate the aesthetics of the land? Can one appreciate it by understanding its evolution and ecology without direct experience? Can the appreciation be developed in one’s own backyard? (p. 292, p. 205)
4. Leopold in “The Land Ethic” said “It is inconceivable to me that an ethical relationship can exist without love, respect, admiration, and a high regard for its value” (in a philosophical sense). (p. 261) Which is more motivating: beauty (aesthetics) or duty (ethics)? (p. 203)
5. Does your experience support or discount the author’s statement: “recreation is valuable in proportion to the intensity of its experiences, and to the degree to which it differs from and contrasts with workaday life”? (p. 272)
6. According to Leopold what should conservation mean compared to what it means in practice? (p. 274, p. 243-251, p. 189)
7. Leopold says “The art of land doctoring is being practiced with vigor, but the science of land health is yet to be born.” (p. 274) Can you think of examples of doctoring? How would fostering land health be different?
8. What does the author mean by this statement: “Recreational development is a job, not of building roads into lovely country, but of building receptivity into the still unlovely human mind”? (p. 295)
9. What is the most valuable insight or feeling you gained from this book?
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