“Land Ethics and Water Resources,” a presentation and discussion by Heidi Mehl, will be held Oct. 12 at 3 p.m. during the 3i Show at the Western State Bank Expo Center in Dodge City, Kan. The free program is hosted by Boot Hill Museum and made possible by the Kansas Humanities Council.

In 1949, Aldo Leopold sparked the modern conservation movement with his treatise on land ethics, declaring that ethical individual cooperation should also consider soil, water, plants and animals. This presentation will explore the role that culture plays in determining the land ethics of place. Special focus will be on agricultural practices in Kansas and how they compare with the indigenous land ethics of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, the Atlai Republic of Siberia and the grasslands of central Kenya.

Mehl is the manager of the Kansas Healthy Streams Initiative at the Nature Conservancy. She holds a Ph.D. in geography from Kansas State University.

“As quoted by the great freshwater biologist H.B.N. Hynes, ‘In every respect, the valley rules the stream.’ Therefore, if we want to understand and protect our streams and rivers, we must understand the land use patterns surrounding them and what is driving those patterns in various cultural contexts,” says Mehl.

“Land Ethics and Water Resources” is part of the Kansas Humanities Council’s Water/Ways Speakers Bureau, featuring presentations and discussions that focus on the numerous relationships between people and water — how it shapes our history and traditions and impacts our daily life. Boot Hill Museum hosts the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street exhibition Water/Ways Sept. 30 through Nov. 12. 

For more information about “Land Ethics and Water Resources,” contact the Boot Hill Museum at 620-227-8188. For more information about KHC programs, contact the Kansas Humanities Council at 785-357-0359 or visit online at kansashumanities.org.

Source: 3i Show