John, You raised an interesting question. I just have a comment. A few years back I taught a class called "Restoring Ecosystems Across the Landscape". Among the projects we proposed, was one on a wildlife park in Charlotte, Vermont with a couple of degraded 25-acre corn fields. One of the proposed sub-projects was to establish an eco-cemetery in one of these fields where, for every person buried there, three or four native trees were planted. The idea was to create a future forest restoring the degraded corn fields reestablishing forest connectivity and thus, habitat for biodiversity. Just my 2 cts!
Cheers, Juan .............................. Juan P. Alvez, Ph.D. Gund Institute for Ecological Economics Rubenstein School of Environmental and Natural Resources The University of Vermont ............................. -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Duncan Thomas Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2012 4:55 PM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Cemeteries as habitat hi, John: you probably know this already, but the Jacksonville Oregon cemetery is an important site for the protection of the endangered lily, Fritillaria gentneri, and supports a large population. It is managed to protect the lily (as well as for normal cemetery things) Duncan Thomas http://www.fws.gov/ecos/ajax/docs/recovery_plan/030828.pdf http://www.npsoregon.org/kalmiopsis/kalmiopsis12/gentners.pdf On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 11:39 AM, John Mickelson <jmicke...@yahoo.com> wrote: > Working in NYC and looking at the spatial dimensions of biodiversity > in this heavily urbanized setting. > > Wondering what folks thoughts are re: the extent to which cemeteries > (and, to a lesser extent: ball fields, play grounds, golf courses > etc...) "really" serve as habitat. > > Clearly they serve multiple purposes and are utilized by a range of > flora and fauna (presumably more so within "green" managed programs), > but should they really form a core element within a comprehensive > urban conservation plan? > > I'm finding myself able to argue both sides..... thoughts? > > -John >
