Wilderness

In wilderness is the salvation of the world. – Thoreau

 James Fenimore Cooper, who wrote a lot about the woods, was deeply concerned over the tragic clash between wilderness and civilization.  He observed that the wilderness had one set of values which should be preserved, while civilization had certain values which might be brought into the wilderness but which usually destroy it. This may be the greatest single challenge to modern America : to preserve the intrinsic values of wildlands while enjoying the benefits of urban culture. –  John Madson, forward to The Deer Book

Let us probe the silent places

Let us seek what luck betides us

Let us journey to a lonely land I know

There’s a whisper on the night-wind

There’s a star agleam to guide us

And the Wild is calling, calling – let us go.    –Robert Service

To those devoid of imagination, a blank place on the map is useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.  – Aldo Leopold

I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in.  Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map? – Aldo Leopold