The process of ecosystem restoration
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By Warren Carr of EcoNeutral, today’s guest blogger
The key element of the ecosystem restoration process is commitment. The landowner, the community, local government, the scientists, the restoration company and the workers in the field must all be on the same page before the project can begin.
This can take up to a year or more. Through this time period the scope of work is throughly explored as well as all the potential benefits as the restoration matures. The site biometrics are gathered, the prescription is written and an implementation plan is devised. To put it in other terms, the doctor examines the patient, the diagnosis is confirmed and the plan for healing is administered and monitored.
Definitely not an overnight situation. It takes time to prepare the sites and some sites are so massive there is no choice but to do them in phases. Removing invasive plants, taking away decomposing elements that are not beneficial, if necessary removing garbage and at the same time being careful of the wildlife present as well as avoiding damage to the functioning parts of the ecosystem.
Once the implementation plan is complete a few years of constant vigilance is required to ensure the plants do not get swallowed by returning invasives, killed by pests or destroyed in other ways such as theft or vandalism. When the plants have reached a level of maturity and strength to survive on their own it’s time to let natural process take its course. So if we consider the entire process from start to a hundred foot tall conifer is about a hundred years it illustrates the concept that there is lifetimes of restoration work to do before the problem is solved.
Editor’s note: Warren Carr, Communications and Sales, works at EcoNeutral, a leading carbon offset provider in
The views expressed above are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent The Element Agency. If you are interested in penning guest posts for My Green Element, please email Stefan Deeran via stefan@theelementagency.com.