"I think all the wrong things are beautiful: invasive cheatgrass, the glint of sprinklers firing in late-day light, the glossy introduced rainbow trout. I realize it’s hard for me to tell what’s native and natural, what’s been altered by people, and what counts as history." — Heather Hansman Downriver: Into the Future of Water in the West
"What counts as valuable seems arbitrary; the human demarcation line seems blurry. Even for an expert, it’s hard to tell what’s natural or native at this point because the changes in the ecosystem are similarly subtle and blurred. Ranchers argue that irrigation smooths out the seasonal variation in stream flow and recharges the aquifer, creating habitat, making it better for people and wildlife. But it’s not necessarily historically native animals that would be there if ranchers weren’t watering the land. That’s the tricky part of trying to recreate an unclear past." — Heather Hansman Downriver: Into the Future of Water in the West
"'We can’t restore the river because it would require taking out the dam, but we can understand how the dam impacts ecosystems, then try to understand how to best manage it,' [Anya] says. 'You can’t always manage for restoration, but you can try to manage for a healthy ecosystem.' Healthy is a tricky, subjective goal. Jack believes that for the future of healthy rivers, and to hold onto some modicum of pristineness, we should try to keep the Green as wild as we can. The dams have broken the rivers, that’s inarguable, but they’re there. So now, he says, it’s important to try to manage the rivers in as natural a way as possible and to gather as much data as possible to try to figure out what natural looks like. It’s a combination of looking realistically at the ecosystem and working smartly within the bounds of what we need to exist." — Heather Hansman Downriver: Into the Future of Water in the West
"The reason why we won’t face up to our problems with the environment is that we are the problem. It’s not the corporations out there, it’s not the governments, it’s us. We’re the ones telling the corporations to make more stuff, and make it as cheap and as disposable as possible. We’re not citizens anymore. We’re consumers. That’s what we’re called. It’s just like being an alcoholic and being in denial that you’re an alcoholic. We’re in denial that each and every one of us is the problem. And until we face up to that, nothing’s going to happen. So, there’s a movement for simplifying your life: purchase less stuff, own a few things that are very high quality that last a long time, and that are multifunctional." — Yvon Chouinard The Usual Montauk, "Don of the Dirtbags: An Interview with Yvon Chouinard"
"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed." — Mahatma Gandhi
"The human race is challenged more than ever before to demonstrate our mastery, not over nature but of ourselves." — Rachel Carson
"In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy." — John C. Sawhill
"The creature at your feet dismissed as a bug or a weed is a creation in and of itself. It has a name, a million-year history, and a place in the world. Its genome adapts it to a special niche in an ecosystem. The ethical value substantiated by close examination of its biology is that the life forms around us are too old, too complex, and potentially too useful to be carelessly discarded." — Edward Wilson The Future of Life
"Public lands instruct in the value of respecting differences. We may all be endowed with a love of nature, but that passion takes many forms. Public lands must accommodate multiple uses because there are multiple publics whose wishes point in all directions. … Such differences don’t have to fester into divisions. The duck hunter and the birdwatcher may have their own ideas about the highest value of a wetland. Yet both know that without public protection, there might not be a wetland at all…. America’s public lands teach the etiquette of sharing. They instruct is in the manners of coexistence, cooperation, and consideration toward each other. … Such humility can remind us that even though we may find the culture and politics of others to be incomprehensible, their desire to find happiness in the natural world is much the same as our own." — Jason Mark Sierra Magazine, July/August 2020 Issue, "In Public Lands is the Preservation of the Republic"
"I feel the urge to share these wild places with everyone, but I also covet the solitude that is only possible in places where humans are scarce." — Rebecca Robinson Voices from Bears Ears: Seeking Common Ground on Sacred Land
"This was the manicured, bought, sold, developed, regulated coast of Southern California. Still beautiful—still wild in many ways—but it felt more like real estate than nature. The best beach houses, the best cliffs, the best coves—but owned by someone else. And the public beaches are covered in signs and controlled by rules." — Jedidiah Jenkins To Shake the Sleeping Self: A Journey from Oregon to Patagonia, and a Quest for a Life with No Regret
"As we entered California, it looked exactly like Oregon—another reminder of the arbitrariness of most human boundaries." — Jedidiah Jenkins To Shake the Sleeping Self: A Journey from Oregon to Patagonia, and a Quest for a Life with No Regret
"I’d had this idea that I could push myself physically through anything if I was tough and smart and rugged, and that the push would show me something about myself and my place on the river. That being able to do things alone was a sign of strength, not fear. I’d thought I could conquer the landscape and fully understand the problem of water use. But none of that is true. The tough part is connection, looking across lines and knowing when to push the lever on what you think is right." — Heather Hansman Downriver: Into the Future of Water in the West
"It’s more interesting and fun to honor the reality that no two redwoods are the same, and that if you’ve seen one redwood … you’ve seen one redwood. We are sustained by each redwood truly seen, and we evolve by understanding and being inspired by the differences between each tree, person, culture, mountain range, and creature of the earth. The Funhogs of 1968 were on the road of realizing in each present moment the truism of the iconic John Muir’s observation: “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” If you’ve seen one redwood, you’re connected to them all." — Dick Dorworth Climbing Fitz Roy, 1968, "Viva los Funhogs"
"Keep close to Nature’s heart, yourself; and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean." — John Muir via Samuel Hall Young Alaska Days With John Muir
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." — John Muir My First Summer in the Sierra
"I’m increasingly interested in making myself a sheet of paper, in forfeiting my privileged status as author and allowing stacked stones, mud mortar, surrounding geology, encompassing weather...to do the writing." — Leath Tonino Adventure Journal, "The Wild and the Old Places Do Not Need You"
"This is the value of this piece of wilderness—its absolutely untouched character. Not spectacular, no unique or “strange” features, but just the beautiful, wild country of a beautiful, wild free-running river, with no sign of man or his structures." — Anne LaBastille Women and Wilderness
"Should we publish a magazine at all? Since the increased numbers of backpackers are now threatening the backcountry from overuse, how then could we justify publishing a magazine which would probably encourage more backpacking? … It has not yet ben satisfactorily proved that when people do take up backpacking they ergo become more respectful of the environment." — The Editor Backpacker Magazine, Issue 1, 1973
"In many parts of experimental science unexpected discoveries are made in a workshop. The book of nature, whose pages are open to all, is read but by a few." — James D. Forbes Travels Through the Alps
