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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Lions and elephants on the Great Plains?

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  • From: Ben Martin Horst <benjamin_horst@myrealbox.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Lions and elephants on the Great Plains?
  • Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 15:48:42 -0700

I wouldn't go so far as to call it TOTAL idiocy. The well-respected Australian biologist Tim Flannery, for example, makes a pretty good case in his book "Eternal Frontier" that the extinction of most North American megafauna about 10,000 years ago left major holes in many ecosystems that still haven't been filled. He claims that Arctic environments were once much lusher, more closely resembling prairie than what we think of today as tundra, due primarily to grazing by mammoths. Mastodons opened gaps in the canopies of Southeastern and Southern forests, allowing successionary species to move in, and letting a few young trees to sprout here and there among all the ancient giants. In general, North America was a friendlier place for humans to live 10,000 years ago than it is today, due primarily to the presence of all the long-gone megafauna (of course, lions, saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, short-faced bears and a host of other large predators would have made living here more of a risky venture, too).

If one takes Flannery seriously, it seems there might be some reason at least to try introducing a few species analogous to extinct North American megafauna under highly controlled conditions in order to see what happens. Flannery suggests as much near the end of his book. Such a venture might even be worthy of the support or efforts of some permaculturalists -- after all, many of us are heavily involved with such non-native species as cattle and sheep (not to mention all the various flora) ... ranching camels or something might have validity under certain circumstances as well.

But I also believe that Lawrence is entirely right that there are a lot of other, more recent ecological "holes" that we need to fill before moving on to something as bizarre and risky as introducing African megafauna into North America. As he notes, reintroduction of bison and restoration of family, small-scale, local, and organic farming top the list.

Buffalo Commons first; playing with elephants can and should wait.

Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:


Total idiocy; a coverup for the destruction of the buffalo
and attempts to destroy family farms, small scale agriculturre, serious environmental stewardship, organic farming, local food production systems.

But still there's hope if people will pay attention to their own footprint and how it interrelates to their own community, local and bioregional.

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