Ethics has long guided how we treat one another, with respect for the mutual benefit of all.  Land ethic includes all of the earth: soils, water, plants, and animals.  This is what Aldo Leopold called, “The Land.”

Relationships between people and land are intertwined: care for people cannot be distinguished from care for the land. A land ethic is a moral code of conduct that grows out of these interconnected caring relationships.

Land ethic guides our business.  that prioritizes restoration and land management throughout the Southern Blue Ridge.  When we develop land for human use, we also take an oath to be good stewards.

We want to help people to do this by enabling people to protect and conserve our lands in the Southern Appalachians and beyond.

When we develop land for human benefit, we change natural processes like fire and flooding.  Wildlife have disappeared from many areas when the natural process no longer occurs, generally due to human improvements.

The most important tree for wildlife of the Southern Appalachians is the white oak. Seedlings and young trees require abundant sunlight to grow, but there are realitvely few forests that allow enough sunlight for oaks. The same can be said

Trees and shrubs replacing the oaks are those that would normally be suppressed by fire, such as red maple and poplar outcompete oaks in many cases,

 

 

“When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” Aldo Leopold