Conservation is a Community Affair
Aldo Leopold, pre-eminent American conservationist, wrote, “When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” Leopold saw this as a basic concept of ecology, and added, “that land to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics.”
The Georgia Piedmont Land Trust holds a conservation easement on a fine example of Leopold’s precepts: Mulberry Fields, a community garden in Atlanta’s Candler Park.
Several years ago local residents banded together to buy two small lots to prevent inappropriate development from swamping their adjacent lots. Determined that this area should have value for the surrounding community, the landowners established an organic community garden with a number of raised beds. Since then, the garden’s beds have been fully subscribed, and a chicken coop was added, along with an area for miniature goats and an informal kids’ playground. It’s a community center and gathering place. Kids learn about growing flowers and vegetables, perhaps even raising chickens and gathering eggs. All around, it is a green jewel in the midst of an urban landscape, today managed by the Wylde Center, a local nonprofit focused on connecting people with nature, and one of GPLT’s valued conservation partners.
