Thus Far We Have Considered The Problem

Thus Far We Have Considered The Problem Of Conservation Of Land Purely As An Economic Issue. A False Front Of Exclusively Economic Determinism Is So Habitual To Americans In Discussing Public Questions That One Must Speak In The Language Of Compound Interest To Get A Hearing.

Conservationists Have, I Fear, Adopted The Pedagogical Method Of The Prophets: We Mutter Darkly About Impending Doom If People Don't Mend Their Ways. The Doom Is Impending, All Right; No One Can Be An Ecologist, Even An Amateur One, Without Seeing It. But Do People Mend Their Ways For Fear Of Calamity? I Doubt It. They Are More Likely To Do It Out Of Pure Curiosity And Interest.

Wilderness Is A Continuous Stretch Of Country Preserved In Its Natural State, Open To Lawful Hunting And Fishing, Big Enough To Absorb A Two Weeks' Pack Trip, And Kept Devoid Of Roads, Artificial Trails, Cottages, Or Other Works Of Man.

The Modern Dogma Is Comfort At Any Cost.

In Wildness Is The Salvation Of The World.