A Thing Is Right When It Tends

Then Came The Gadgeteer, Otherwise Known As The Sporting-goods Dealer. He Has Draped The American Outdoorsman With An Infinity Of Contraptions, All Offered As Aids To Self-reliance, Hardihood, Woodcraft, Or Marksmanship, But Too Often Functioning As Substitutes For Them. Gadgets Fill The Pockets, They Dangle From Neck And Belt. The Overflow Fills The Auto-trunk And Also The Trailer. Each Item Of Outdoor Equipment Grows Lighter And Often Better, But The Aggregate Poundage Becomes Tonnage.

The Hope Of The Future Lies Not In Curbing The Influence Of Human Occupancy - It Is Already Too Late For That - But In Creating A Better Understanding Of The Extent Of That Influence And A New Ethic For Its Governance.

The Elemental Simplicities Of Wilderness Travel Were Thrills. They Represented Complete Freedom To Make Mistakes. The Wilderness Gave Those Rewards And Penalties, For Wise And Foolish Acts Against Which Civilization Has Built A Thousand Buffers.

What More Delightful Avocation Than To Take A Piece Of Land And By Cautious Experimentation To Prove How It Works. What More Substantial Service To Conservation Than To Practice It On One's Own Land?

One Of The Penalties Of An Ecological Education Is That One Lives Alone In A World Of Wounds.