Jason,
You may be interested in Dan Janzen's concept of the "wildland garden". See: Janzen, D. 1998. Gardenification of wildland nature and the human footprint. Science 279:1312-1313 and Janzen, D. 1999. Gardenification of tropical conserved wildlands: multitasking, multicropping, and multiusers. PNAS 96: 5987-5994. - Jim ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jim Armacost, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Biology Department Lamar University Beaumont, TX 77710 409-880-1756 jim.armac...@lamar.edu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jason Hernandez" <jason.hernande...@yahoo.com> To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Sent: Monday, January 17, 2011 7:08:59 PM Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Conservation or just gardening? 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 CONFIDENTIALITY: Any information contained in this e-mail (including attachments) is the property of The State of Texas and unauthorized disclosure or use is prohibited. Sending, receiving or forwarding of confidential, proprietary and privileged information is prohibited under Lamar Policy. If you received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender and delete this e-mail from your system.
