Spiritual values in Leopold's land ethic: The noumenal integrity of forest ecosystems

Leopold's land ethic is controversial in forestry, perhaps because it is potentially a transforming ethic that would significantly alter conventional forest management and forest practices. His identification of "hard-to-define" or "noumenal" values in nature is a case in point. While Leopold was not religious, he did talk about the noumena of ecosystems, had profound reverence for natural beings, and focused his later work on the moral dimensions of human relationships to the biotic community, all of which reveal his belief in the deeper meaning of nature. To Leopold there were real yet "non-material" values that express the essence, the vitality, and the wildness of particular ecosystems or landscapes. The Guacamaja of the Sierra Madre is one illustration. When human activities result in the loss of these noumenal species, the ecosystems they inhabit lose their very integrity. Leopold's "biotic forestry" would counsel us to elevate the preservation of forest noumena in forest management, along with the maintenance of ecological and aesthetic values. Forestry would thus be necessary to Leopold, contrary to a recent claim otherwise.