We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope.
- Wallace Stegner
A couple of months ago I wrote how the slumping real estate market has proven a boon to land-preservation organizations, allowing us to protect magnificent properties that once seemed well beyond our monetary reach. While the dollar value of an acre of forest or farmland may have dropped across the country, the intangible value of that acre has never been higher — and it’s rising every day.
The landscapes we safeguard remain a constant presence despite life’s uncertainties. And in these extremely turbulent times, we desperately need places where we can retreat, however briefly, from fears about paying college tuition, shrinking retirement accounts and job security. Whether hiking through a 10,000-acre Montana wilderness or sitting in Manhattan’s Central Park, open spaces give us the chance to feel kinship with the wider world. Amid nature’s grandeur, we experience great calm, solace — and, yes, even hope. As Rachel Carson wrote, “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” ...