Wetlands

In behalf of the people of California and the nation, I wish to thank you and the author of the editorial (Dec. 27), “Worrying About Wetlands,” for supporting the recent Supreme Court and congressional actions designed to protect America’s remaining wetland habitats.

The position taken by The Times in this matter is strongly in the public interest.

The late Aldo Leopold, possibly America’s foremost conservation philosopher, wrote eloquently of the value of wetlands in “Marshland Elegy.” In a later part of his classic, “A Sand County Almanac,” written in the 1940s, he lamented America’s failure to adopt a land ethic. He wrote: “It is inconceivable to me that an ethical relationship to land can exist without love, respect, and admiration for land, and a high regard for its value. By value, I, of course, mean something far broader than mere economic value; I mean value in the philosophical sense.”

Your editorial increases my optimism that the nation may be drawing closer to this goal.

E. P. PISTER

Bishop