“…hardly anyone, to my knowledge, is expressing concern about the removal of humans from the roles within the ecosystem that we have evolved to play, and that Nature has evolved to have us play. Nor is anyone conducting studies to determine what these roles were or what changes have occurred because we no longer fulfill them. Most important, perhaps, no one is trying to reintroduce humans into the environment to have us resume our duties as hunters, herders, gatherers, and whatever else, even though we’re going to great ends to restore animals that have played much less significant roles.”
On a recent camping trip in eastern Oregon I stopped at the visitor’s center for the historical Peter French Round Barn in Harney County. The barn and the visitor’s center are well worth a visit. The visitor’s center has an amazing book selection, mostly concerning the American West. I wanted so many, but I had to choose just one: Gardners of Eden: Rediscovering Our Importance To Nature by Dan Dagget. I was particularly drawn in by cover quotes from one of my favorite ethnobotanists, Gary Nabhan, author of several books about indigenous plant use in the Sonoran desert. I was surprised I had never heard of this book, but when I saw that it was published by a charitable trust it all made more sense. The author is a former environmental activist, and the book in many ways looks like a glossy brochure for an environmental group, laden with pictures, side quotes and, large margins. That is not a bad thing, it was an easy and beautiful read that I devoured in just a few days.
Disgruntled and frustrated by “leave it alone” environmentalism, Dan gives numerous examples of how human interaction is an integral part of natural ecosystems, and how most ecosystems rely on disturbance of some kind such as fire or grazing or harvesting to be healthy. He is a particular fan of the “poop and stomp” method of habitat restoration whereby cattle are brought into a desertified area such as an abandoned mine, which is strewn with hay and straw and native seed, which they eat and grind into the ground fertilizing it while at the same time creating divets with their hooves for rainwater to collect in. Another method he is a fan of is the building of trincheras which are small stone dams that pool water and stop erosion. Being much like the small dams that children build for play, these do not stop the water but merely slow it, and it is not important or devasating if they wash out because the idea is you can build dozens or even hundreds of them on one stream.
Trincheras on El Coronado Ranch
This book comes off as one long rant, which some people might find annoying. I find it humorous. It would make an excellent companion to Samuel Thayer’s latest wild foods guide Nature’s Garden which is also hilariously ranty. My only criticism is that the book focuses mainly on the west/southwest and that I would like to see more non-cattle ranching related examples of how modern humans can restore ecosystems. It would be great to see it expanded for more bioregions, and while I personally have no problems with the use of domestic animals raised humanely and on a small scale, I would love to see some other examples, okay, do I need to spell it out? This may not be happening in too many places, but I would like to see hunting and gathering being deliberately used for restoration, and also to keep environments from deteriorating further. The author points that when the Forest Service is making management decisions it does not prepare impact statements for leaving the land alone, even though this could be very harmful. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see a public policy that actually required hunting and gathering!?
I’m an anarchist at heart, but I like to play a little game called if I were President of the World, (this can entertain for days on a roadtrip) and if I were president of the world I would turn over the management of public lands to the tribes which originally inhabited them with similar restrictions on development but allowing traditional cultural uses including dwelling and gathering. In fact, a National Park Service rule that would allow tribes to collect plants minerals from parks and that admits that traditional gathering helps preserve plant communities has been been propsed, but it is experiencing strong backlash from a group called Public Employees for Environmental Purposes who believe that doing so would open the door to commercial level harvest and threaten endangered species. (National Park Service Moving To Let Tribes Collect Plants, Minerals From Parks For Traditional Practices), Naturally, there are also racist undertones to the resistance.
Another idea that I’ve had would be to start a land trust or hunting and gathering collective of some sort… The quote I used in the introduction also bespeaks of ecopsychology: how does shirking our duties as caretakers affect not only the land, but our bodies and minds? Perhaps Gardner’s of Eden Volume II is a book I need to write. So if you are currently working on a project of this nature, lets talk.
I have had the same thought about collectives of foragers managing the parks by harvesting invasives. I actually called up Metro, the organization in charge of park management in the Portland area, and spoke to an official there about the idea, and he said he felt this sort of initiative would need to be carefully documented and studied, which would then require funding for people to document and study it. It seemed he felt botanical surveys and detailed ecosystem impact studies would need to be done on a pilot program before it could move ahead.
To add: Also he felt that relying on volunteers would be difficult and he worried a lot about the impact of humans being in the forests at all.
Here is a blog post I wrote after that phone call: http://firstways.com/2011/09/02/safety-warning-beware-of-blue/
The upside is he is open to individuals going and harvesting.
How much control would we have to loosen before people can feel it is all right to have an unselfconscious relationship with nature? We as people seem to be so wrapped up in trying to prove, impress, and just not look like a fool that we can’t talk/communicate honestly to a plant or animal or even another human. As a mediator I can ask a person if he/she heard what another said. Also as a mediator it is difficult and counterproductive to predict an outcome between two parties. Maybe its possible to mediate between person and plant? I’ve certainly done some conflict intervention.
Hopefully one day we can realize that we are nature while at the same time loving and accepting that self which is everything.
just found your blog, and glad to have done! As an environmental artist I am very committed to finding sources for art materials that are up-purposed- and am spending a lot of time and energy working with Vancouver Park Board (BC) and a group called Stanley Park Ecology Society looking at how the invasive plants in Stanley Park can be repurposed as replacements for traditional weaving materials- I think this is a huge area to be tapped in how we rethink what we have at hand and what it’s value is- an invasive plant is invasive because it does not participate in the ecology, but when we as humans are harvesting it for a purpose, suddenly that plant has a place- and hopefully a controller that keeps it in check. YES! I am all for recognizing we are a part of the solution and need to not be seperated from ecology and the environment- I think that line of thought is what got us into this mess in the first place. the project in Vancouver is theurbanweaverproject.wordpress.com