A Sand County Almanac Reflection Essay.
A Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold, is the quintessential book on the subject of ecology, land ethics, and conservancy. Leopold's writings had the ability to transcend the masses, read by both professionals and students, by woodsmen and city dwellers. His style of writing was loose and often poetic, and unlike many other books of the same topic, easily readable. His ideology took a very moderate stance, not advocating total conservation, nor total exploitation. In "A Sand County Almanac", Leopold finds a way to make the reader understand the plight of nature against man, the consequences of this divide, and the responsibilities that we, as humans, have as stewards of environment.
In his writing, Leopold offers several points of view, from both that of "man" and from the ecosystem. The flora in his book don't stop at being an inanimate, they take on personalities and characteristics of their own. On page 29 Leopold writes about a species of Oak as if it had human characteristics. He says that the "Bur Oaks were the shock troops, sent by the invading forest to storm the prairie; fire is what they had to fight." Leopold knows that the "forest" has no power to send "troops" ahead as scouts, but by writing so, he has made it easier for the reader to understand the history of the prairie and why certain trees are successful there and others are not. He writes of a battle between the forest and the prairie and gives each side a personality. By doing so he has given reason to the different strata of the forest, the yearly wild fires, and how the animals that called this area home interacted with the land to produce the current outcome.
Leopold's writings give reason for the natural changes of the land, but he does not stop there, he goes on to explain how "man" has affected those changes. Using the same "Prairie War" he explains why the prairies and plains in the Midwest of this country are dwindling in size.