ABSTRACT
It is really a pity the education of the human species did not develop in time to save from irremediable destruction so many species which the Creator placed on out earth to live beside man, not merely for beauty, but to fulfill a useful role for the economy of the whole. After a lifetime spent in forestry, wild-life management and conservation of one kind or another, after such a lifetime during which he nevertheless saw his country slip two steps backward for every one it took forward, the late Aldo Leopold pondered the question and came up with an unusual answer which many people would dismiss as "sentimental" and be surprised to hear from a "practical" scientific man. He published his article originally in the Journal of Forestry, but it was reprinted in the posthumous volume A Sand County Almanac, where it was given a seemingly neutral but actually very significant title, "The Land Ethic".
