Voiced: Stewardship is an act of love
About This Saving Land
Forester, consultant and author Ethan Tapper shares how he's transformed a parcel of forest in Vermont from a poorly managed piece of property into a thriving ecosystem with best forestry practices.
Ethan Tapper’s book “How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World” was inspired by his experiences as a landowner of a 175-acre forest in Vermont. Tapper is on the board of the Richmond Land Trust in Vermont. Visit him online at ethantapper.com, and on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok under the handle @HowToLoveAForest.
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I was a forester for years — first as a consultant and then as a service forester — but it was becoming a landowner myself that made the biggest impact on the way that I care for forests.
When I bought my land — I call it “Bear Island” — it was extremely degraded, suffering from the impacts of shortsighted forest management, introduced invasive plants, deer overpopulation and more. At first, I saw Bear Island as a symbol of everything that was wrong with the world — a forest with every problem that a forest could have. I had to ask myself: Would it be a greater act of care and compassion to leave this forest alone, or to do everything in my power to help it heal? A lot of people who love forests and “nature” believe the only way to care for ecosystems is to leave them alone. From a distance, it’s easy to say that all we have to do is to remove ourselves from ecosystems and somehow the thing we call “nature” will heal itself. When you work in forests, when you are in deep relationship with them, you see that in many cases our ecosystems and our biodiversity are not going to survive this moment without our help.
This was one of the main ideas that I wanted to express in my book: how doing nothing is not always an act of compassion for ecosystems. In many forests, the most profound acts of care and compassion are taking radical action — even actions as counterintuitive as cutting trees, killing deer to attenuate deer overpopulation and using herbicide to control invasive plants. In my early twenties, I remember being skeptical of conservation easements. But, over my career as a forester, I’ve seen how frequently ecosystems are lost. Now, I believe that conservation easements are absolutely essential — the only way that we can ensure that ecosystems are here for future generations. I donated a conservation easement on Bear Island to the Richmond Land Trust in 2022. I believe it’s one of the most radical things I’ve ever done.
Over the last year, I’ve been privileged to become an advocate for forests and conservation. As an author, I’ve gotten to travel all over North America talking about forests and what it means to care for them. I’ve also built social media channels with more than 100,000 followers and videos that are watched millions of times per month.
Key to my message is hope. I believe that hope is a self-fulfilling prophecy: that helping people feel hopeful inspires them to take action. I often tell people: “I’m not here to tell you about all the things that have been lost from ecosystems, all the things that are missing. I’m here to tell you that there is so much that is still here.” We already have the tools and the resources to save our ecosystems and each other — we just have to choose to do so. Let’s do it!
Ethan Tapper’s book “How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World” was inspired by his experiences as a landowner of a 175-acre forest in Vermont. Tapper is on the board of the Richmond Land Trust in Vermont. Visit him online at ethantapper.com, and on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok under the handle @HowToLoveAForest.