Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging
to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong,
we may begin to use it with love and respect.
—Aldo Leopold,
A Sand County Almanac
(1949)
Steve Humphrey jabs his walking stick into an old farm road, the oaken
bridge that once bore the heft of cattle, rotting behind him. I jog my memory
to conjure up the road's former course, because it now is invisible. A forest of
Steve's making completely consumed it. Just four years ago, when I i rst vis-
ited Steve, his land was a pasture, and the road on which he stands was in-
deed visible. Today I am amidst a rich mix of young trees, some of substantial
stature, and many cloaked with epiphytic bromeliads, mosses, and orchids.
Daily toil and a long-term vision are transforming ten acres of Costa Rica back
into the cloud forest it once was. Birds—more than 170 species have been
sighted, most from the comfort of a fabulous veranda—are singing its praises.
As Steve tells my class about the ecology of tropical forest restoration, I watch
violet sabrewings sip nectar from
Inga oerstediana,
gaze upon l ocks of tana-
gers seeking the fruits of melastomes, and marvel at the surreal plumage of a
