There is yet no ethic dealing with man's relation to land and to the animals and plants which grow upon it. Land, like Odysseus' slave-girls, is still property. The land-relation is still strictly economic, entailing privileges but not obligations. Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land. A land ethic, then, reflects the existence of an ecological conscience, and this in turn reflects a conviction of individual responsibility for the health of the land.
Health is the capacity of the land for self-renewal.
Conservation is our effort to understand and preserve this capacity. The land is one organism. It is inconceivable to me that an ethical relation to land can exist without love, respect, and admiration for land, and a high regard for its value. In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such.