This question is inspired by a conversation with a former employer. When do
our interventions cease to be conservation and become gardening?
For the sake of argument, I was taking the purist position: that ideally, we
want to be able to put a fence around a natural area and walk away, letting
nature manage it. But as my employer rightly pointed out, that is just not a
realistic expectation in the 21st century, what with invasive species, systemic
pollution, human pressures on surrounding areas, and countless other factors
which will not go away. But of course, she also knew that there is a degree of
intervention which crosses the line from conservation to gardening, that is,
caring for a population that no longer participates in its ecosystem processes.
There is, of course, a continuum of interventions. Removal of invasive
competitors is a relatively light intervention; growing seedlings in a
greenhouse and then planting them out is more intensive; maintaining an in
vitro germplasm collection still more intensive. Are there any recognized
criteria for determining the boundary between conservation and gardening? And
if a species is beyond saving with conservation, how worthwhile is it to save
that species with gardening? Can we determine when a species' only hope is
gardening?
Jason Hernandez
Biological Science Technician, USDA Forest Service
