A Sand County Almanac

A collection of nature essays published shortly after Leopold's death, in full A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There. The first part follows the months of the year on a worn-out farm in Wisconsin where Leopold and his family spent weekends restoring the land: the first geese, the flight of the woodcock, the felling of an old oak whose rings record the region's history. The second part gathers sketches from other places. It includes "Thinking Like a Mountain", in which Leopold recalls shooting a wolf and watching a fierce green fire die in her eyes, and comes to see what deer-filled, wolfless mountains do to the land. The third part sets out his philosophy, ending with "The Land Ethic". There Leopold argues that ethics should widen to include soils, waters, plants and animals, and that a thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community.

It is widely seen as a starting point of environmental ethics, and its land ethic and close, plain observation of nature still offer a way of seeing ourselves as members, not conquerors, of the land.