“Ecosystems 101” was full of exceptional details (HCN, 11/25/13). It is quite true that long-term field monitoring has until recently been the hardest research to keep funded. Thirty consecutive field seasons on glaciers in the North Cascades – which feed less-than-pristine salmon streams – and the ongoing but not particularly successful salmon restoration programs indicate how hard it is to artificially manage or restore a damaged system.
Mauri Pelto
West Boylston, Massachusetts
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Studying – and saving – ecosystems.
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