The Back 40

Wildlife habitat across the United States is being adversely affected by climate change, so the federal government has introduced a plan that includes the development of “corridors” to help wildlife migrate to more hospitable habitat. Called the “National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy,” the strategy aims to roll out several tactics, the corridors [...]

In the midst of severe drought, farmers and ranchers especially rely on a decent snowpack for irrigation, but, unfortunately, the recent blizzards that have hit the U.S. have not translated to long-term snow accumulation. In fact, the study, cited in the article below, found that, even though the number of severe snowstorms have increased during [...]

Sand County Foundation‘s work on behalf of the land ethic relies on good science.  Deeply as philosophical and political beliefs may move us, our work involves us inescapably with the physical world, specifically what Aldo Leopold liked to call the biosphere:  that part of our world that affects life.  We are therefore led to consider [...]

Following a decade of below-average precipitation and above average temperatures, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reports that Lake Huron and Lake Michigan are at the lowest levels ever recorded. The other Great Lakes are well below average, as well. This, obviously, has negative environmental consequences, but it also has negative economic and recreational impacts [...]

Researchers from Boston University, Harvard, and the University of Wisconsin, including Dr. Stan Temple, emeritus professor of wildlife ecology, senior fellow at the Aldo Leopold Foundation, and a Director of Sand County Foundation, used the meticulous phenological records of Henry David Thoreau and Aldo Leopold to determine that the warming climate is causing some plant [...]

Anadolu Efes, the world’s 12th largest brewery, based in Turkey, embarked on a sustainable agriculture program in response to a limited supply of  Turkish malt barley and hops for quality beer production. In addition, Anadolu Efes sees climate change as a significant threat to the long-term sustainability of these raw materials. Therefore, the company’s sustainable [...]