Book excerpt: A North Country Almanac: Reflections of an Old-School Conservationist in a Modern World includes the musings of an independent mind on wilderness, the conservation ethic, and the joys of loving the outdoors. These essays offer a rich variety of perspectives on an interesting array of topics, returning always to the author's fundamental belief that conservation pioneers had it right when they affirmed Walt Whitman's observation that "the secret of making the best person . . . is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth."