It is very encouraging and motivating for me to start my blog with a person like-
Aldo Lepold- A Visionary American Environmentalist
"Of all the conservationists who have preceded us, Leopold was the most radical, the most complete, and therefore the most needed" Wendell Berry
" One of the penalties of an ecological education", Aldo Leopold wrote "is that one lives alone in the world of wounds" Since his death in 1948, fighting a grass fire on a neighbors farm, the world's wounds- and our efforts to heal them- have become more evident, and Leopold is now acknowledged as a writer and thinker well ahead of time, Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac is a book often hailed- along with Thoreaus's Walden and Carsons Silent Spring, as foundation book of modern environmental movement. These are excerpts from (Introduction of Aldo Leopold) Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac and other writings on Ecology and Conservation, edited by Curt Meine and published with support from 'The Gould Family Foundation' ( The Library of America)
“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
― Aldo Leopold
We seldom see such desks where we foresters used to note down daily observations and then enter the cottage or the guest house.Thus, gradually the habit of ecological observations has been seen fading off. There are exceptions to these and these are like sparkles of hope and sprinkles of cold droplets, for the forests and wildlife of the country.
So, let us get back our legacy as fieldsman, outdoorman and fieldcraftsman and adopt conservation as a passion and not just a profession. Let us look for our old growth stands, preservation plots, mother trees, Field Provenance Trails, Sacred Groves etc. Unique Habitats, Special habitats, Mesic Sites and all the other micro habitats, for all living forms, instead of getting tiger-centric. Let us revisit our compartment histories and descriptions and give Planning its due place in the driving seat. Let us make our training Institutions as " Center of Excellence " and let us all with our partners and collaborators give an edge to our research programs. We are a tough force trained to handle the impossible and success cannot evade us for long.
Our local communities, partners, scientists, institutions, Non Government Organisations and our Policymakers can make an indelible mark on the sands of times for conservation. Let us learn from the footprints of our dedicated, senior foresters and scientists, and become visionaries like Aldo Leopold, on not only the Indian scenario but world over.
