Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Early Online
    • Archive
    • Subject Collections
  • Info For
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
    • Subscribers
    • Advertisers
  • About
    • About JSWC
    • Editorial Board
    • Permissions
    • Alerts
    • RSS Feeds
    • Contact Us

User menu

  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation

  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Early Online
    • Archive
    • Subject Collections
  • Info For
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
    • Subscribers
    • Advertisers
  • About
    • About JSWC
    • Editorial Board
    • Permissions
    • Alerts
    • RSS Feeds
    • Contact Us
  • Follow SWCS on Twitter
  • Visit SWCS on Facebook
Research ArticleA Section

The conservation journey

Pete Nowak
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation May 2011, 66 (3) 61A-64A; DOI: https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.66.3.61A
Pete Nowak
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • References
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Excerpt

Most of us recognize that conservation is not a practice, a program, a technical standard, or a plan. Neither is conservation another name for a government financial incentive. As Aldo Leopold so eloquently reminded us, conservation is a precarious, never-ending process of seeking harmony between land and people (Leopold 1966). Conservation is a journey.

Unfortunately, the conservation journey today, like so many travels, is restricted to well-worn paths. We choose to pursue the conservation journey on the interstate rather than on the blue highway. Conservation is a topic to be addressed with a “tweet” rather than seeking out the subtle nuances and complexities of the written chronicle. We continually seek a conservation path characterized by convenience, speed, and simplicity—a superficial, quick fix to our conservation challenges resulting in a jaunt rather than a journey.

Our conservation journey is stuck in a rut. We have created uniform and standardized pathways to conservation with technical guides, models, and consistent program requirements. These regimented processes become prerequisites for an ever-increasing diversity of conservation programs supported by progressively more public dollars. We are slow to learn that more dollars do not necessarily translate into more conservation. More funds, however, do mean more accountability, which…

  • © 2011 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Journal of Soil and Water Conservation: 66 (3)
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
Vol. 66, Issue 3
May/June 2011
  • Table of Contents
  • About the Cover
  • Index by author
  • Front Matter (PDF)
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Journal of Soil and Water Conservation.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
The conservation journey
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
8 + 3 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
Citation Tools
The conservation journey
Pete Nowak
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation May 2011, 66 (3) 61A-64A; DOI: 10.2489/jswc.66.3.61A

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Request Permissions
Share
The conservation journey
Pete Nowak
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation May 2011, 66 (3) 61A-64A; DOI: 10.2489/jswc.66.3.61A
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • A certain wholeness: The dividends of conservation
  • Thinking about a future conservation agenda
  • A modest proposal
  • Taking stock of voluntary nutrient management: Measuring and tracking change
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

A Section

  • Flooding: Management and risk mitigation
  • Twenty years of conservation effects assessment in the St. Joseph River watershed, Indiana
  • Developing cover crop systems for California almonds: Current knowledge and uncertainties
Show more A Section

Viewpoint

  • Flooding: Management and risk mitigation
  • Sustaining soil for advancing peace: World is one family
  • Conservation programs to reduce greenhouse gases
Show more Viewpoint

Similar Articles

Content

  • Current Issue
  • Early Online
  • Archive
  • Subject Collections

Info For

  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • Subscribers
  • Advertisers

Customer Service

  • Subscriptions
  • Permissions and Reprints
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy

SWCS

  • Membership
  • Publications
  • Meetings and Events
  • Conservation Career Center

© 2023 Soil and Water Conservation Society