permaculture

[<permed@nor.com.au>]

Hi Kirby - lots of good thoughts in your response...
>>From what I've picked up, the animals are considered a fondly nostalgic but
>not very practical component of "restored" ecosystems.  Restoration without
>the animals, IMO, is incomplete, and rather than taking the easy route of
>mechanically clearing brush and prescribed fire we need to be puzzling out
>just how to get the animals back on the land.
Interesting you noted elsewhere that they were into Holistic Management - 
Alan Savory (who invented HM) gave a great presentation at IPC 2 in 
Olympia (1986) where proposed grazers an essential tool in prarie 
restoration and maintenance and how praries with livestock removed 
continued to suffer native grassland species depletion. It was from this 
research he developed the concept of cell-block grazing.
>Domestic livestock are probably our best tool for the job but even that
>entails fencing, livestock and labor for ranching which is more than a lot
>of people want to bight off when they agree to pay for "restoration."  A lot
>of restoration work is client driven, especially here in Texas where most
>land is privately owned.  In order to be an active, practicing
>restorationist we often end up having to comply with the desires and
>limitations of the land owner.
>What you usually hear restorationists talking about are song birds.  Like
>prairies, song birds are vibrant and charming so they're in high demand and
>return quickly to restored grasslands.
Reminds me of the UK conservationists that pressured governments in 
southern Africa to fence off conservation areas in the Kalihari and 
'remove the people', which meant displacing the bushmen. Species 
depletion & population unbalance has resulted (not to mention social cost 
to the bushmen) and the fences to keep out cattle are restricting wild 
animals from their traditional nomadic grazing routes .
There's a woman in the Kimberlies (Nth Western Australia) who has 
restored the native savanah grasslands on her property using cattle as 
the 'seeders and manurers' of the system.
It's sad that well intentioned folk have such limited knowledge and focus 
only on the aspects of restoration and conservation that fit the current 
trend or cute factor. 
>I'd love to see more pronghorn antelope, mule deer, bison, bob cats, and
>wolves.  You can imagine the complexity of reintroducing these animals,
>however.  What a challenge!
Yes, yes, yes - that IS the challenge - without the animals it's not an 
ecosystem, it'll simply be a labour intensive plant museum with an open 
air aviary.
Robyn