A Sand County Almanac

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

FOREWORD-PART 1

Reading Check

1. Where is Leopold’s farm?

2. What characteristic of the farm’s former owner does Leopold criticize?

3. What kind of fish does Leopold describe fishing for?

4. To what does Leopold metaphorically compare the river?

5. What bird does Leopold go hunting for in October?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. As Leopold fells the tree from the 1860s, what observation does he make about people’s ability to take note of divisions?

2. What is Leopold’s purpose in noting the movement of skunks and geese?

3. What is Leopold’s purpose in discussing the plover and the prairie plant Silphium?

4. What point is Leopold making when he describes the “red lanterns” as he is out hunting?

5. What factors influence Leopold’s decision about which of two trees to save when one must be culled to save the other?

Paired Resources

“Observing Nature in Your Backyard Is Not Dull but Radically Significant”

• In this essay, Oxford professor Yadvinder Malhi considers the merits of Gilbert White’s local observation approach to ecology.
• This resource relates to the theme of Nature as a Teacher.