In Nature’s
Restoration, writer and naturalist Peter Friederici
transports the reader to six ecologically damaged landscapes, from
Bermuda to Arizona, that people are struggling to restore. Some of
the challenges derive from the painstaking work inherent in
restoration: plant by plant, species by species, two steps forward,
one step back.
Friederici also examines the conundrums
re-creating nature can pose, such as the controversy over
decommissioning Glen Canyon Dam. Friederici provides a taste of
what an unsubmerged Glen Canyon would look like when he boats
through Cathedral in the Desert, “an airy chamber at once
confined and soaring, a womblike place, almost subterranean.”
But before you get too attached to a free Colorado River, he
introduces Joan Nevills-Staveley, who grew up running the river and
now survives off Lake Powell tourists. She rages at the thought of
sending reservoir waters downriver and destroying Page’s
economy.
While it’s easy to pick a side in some of
these clashes, others leave us scratching our heads. American
chestnuts that contain a percentage of Chinese chestnut genes
better withstand blight. Does it count as restoration if we
introduce exotic species into the mix? Should we rely on fire to
thin the Southwest’s choked ponderosa pine forests? Or should
we invite economic interests to the table by allowing a pellet
manufacturer to log the trees to feed efficient stoves?
In most cases, Friederici makes his allegiances clear by virtue of
the characters he focuses on. He quotes the prominent
restorationist Steve Packard, who says, “People think nature
means leave it alone. But it doesn’t. Etymologically it
means, ‘It reproduces itself.’ ” Packard speaks
these words in front of a patch of invasive buckthorn, which, left
alone, swiftly crowded out the native plants.
Although
none of the places Friederici visits will ever take care of itself,
we need not wallow in despair. Restoration equals “ecological
medicine,” Friederici insists, the fulfillment of an
obligation to heal the wounds we have inflicted. And it also
provides a chance for fun and learning for those who are willing to
work towards the health of their surroundings. “Restoration
might just make life more meaningful,” Friederici suggests,
“helping them discover new depths in their surroundings, in
other people, and in themselves.”
Nature’s Restoration: People and Places on the Front
Lines of Conservation
Peter Friederici
320 pages, hardcover: $25.95.
Island Press,
2006.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline A taste of ecological medicine.
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