Restoring ecosystems is regarded as one of few ways to reverse trends of
environmental degradation caused by unsuitable land uses. Attempts to
cultivate marginal lands, to intensively graze arid lands, and to urbanize
unstable lands have resulted in landscapes possessing few cultural or natural
benefits to society. There is growing interest in restoring ecosystems to
improve water quality, increase biodiversity, reduce soil loss, and minimize
catastrophic flooding.
Successful restoration entails re-establishing soil,
hydrologic, and vegetative characteristics that existed on a site prior to
disturbance. Some of these characteristics may be regained over time through
natural processes whereas others rely on interventions. Drastically altered
sites within highly disturbed landscapes often exhibit the least resiliency and
may rely almost entirely on active restoration measures such as soil amendments
and revegetation. Developing effective restoration strategies depends on our
ability to predict rates and outcomes of ecosystem recovery via natural
processes and to determine how best to intervene to stimulate recovery.
However, with few exceptions, only weak predictions of ecosystem recovery can be
advanced because the scientific basis for restoration is scant. Consequently,
ecosystem restoration is prone to failure.
Restoration ecology has been slow
to develop as a scientific discipline, although implemented projects have the
potential to be rich experimental opportunities. How a restoration actually
comes to be is far more complex than a well-controlled scientific experiment.
Social perception, economic feasibility, and project administration/regulation
are as important as optimizing ecosystem recovery. Consequently, examples of
restorations that were primarily driven by what is known of ecosystem structure
and function are very rare. Moreoften, restorations reflect many compromises
that are often undocumented. For experimentation, then, lack of ecosystem
recovery cannot be clearly tracked to a flawed scientific assumption.
The Restoration and Reclamation Ecology class (Hort 5015) at the University of
Minnesota compiled case-studies during Spring 1996. These case studies
augmented class lectures on scientific concepts relevant to ecosystem
restoration. By documenting case studies, students explored the extent to which
our conceptual understanding of ecosystems is a basis for project
implementation. Each case study describes the location, goals and people
responsible for the restoration, what interventions are planned or have been
done, and how success will be evaluated. These case studies have been assembled
in the format of an electronic journal. This issue of the journal will remain
on the Web until June 30, 1996 so students can download a copy and will reappear
on the Web in the future during terms when the class is taught. Next year's
class will produce the second issue with the theme of intervention techniques.
Each student will research the history of a specific technique and characterize
how it is used in restoration.
I thank the restoration and reclamation project
managers in industry, government, and academia who provided information and
guidance to the students as they prepared their case studies.
--Susan Galatowitsch, Assistant Professor Course Instructor, Restoration and Reclamation Ecology