The politics of ecological restoration

Environmental Ethics

Volumn 18, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 227-246

  Light, Andrew ^a,b   Higgs, Eric S ^a,c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA   (Canada)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA   (United States)

^c Society for Ecological Restoration

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0001319532     PISSN: 01634275     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5840/enviroethics199618315     Document Type: Article

References (60)

1. Minutes of the meeting of the Board of Directors, Society for Ecological Restoration, 13 September 1995.
2. See William Jordan, III, M. E. Gilpin, and J. D. Aber, Restoration Ecology: A Synthetic Approach to Ecological Research (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987); John Berger, Environmental Restoration (Barharbor, Maine: Bar Island Press, 1988). The terms ecological restoration and restoration ecology are routinely interchanged in the literature with confusing consequences. We propose to follow the convention that the latter refers to the body of scientific research directly concerning the restoration of ecosystems. Ecological restoration is a more inclusive term incorporating the wide-ranging practices and knowledges that constitute the broad definition given above (i.e., ecological restoration subsumes restoration ecology). However, regardless of this convention, the criteria for evaluating ecological restoration and restoration ecology as practices are most often thought to be the same.
3. See William Jordan, III, M. E. Gilpin, and J. D. Aber, Restoration Ecology: A Synthetic Approach to Ecological Research (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987); John Berger, Environmental Restoration (Barharbor, Maine: Bar Island Press, 1988). The terms ecological restoration and restoration ecology are routinely interchanged in the literature with confusing consequences. We propose to follow the convention that the latter refers to the body of scientific research directly concerning the restoration of ecosystems. Ecological restoration is a more inclusive term incorporating the wide-ranging practices and knowledges that constitute the broad definition given above (i.e., ecological restoration subsumes restoration ecology). However, regardless of this convention, the criteria for evaluating ecological restoration and restoration ecology as practices are most often thought to be the same.
4. Louis A. Toth, "The Ecological Basis of the Kissimmee River Restoration Plan," Biological Sciences 1 (1993): 25-51.
5. See Eric Higgs, "Expanding the Scope of Ecological Restoration," Restoration Ecology 2, no. 3 (1994): 137-45.
6. For example see A. D. Bradshaw, "Ecological Restoration as a Science," Restoration Ecology 1, no. 2 (1993): 71-73.
7. William Jordan et al., Restoration Ecology; Eric Higgs, "The Ethics of Mitigation," Restoration and Management Notes 9, no. 2 (1993): 138-43.
8. William Jordan et al., Restoration Ecology; Eric Higgs, "The Ethics of Mitigation," Restoration and Management Notes 9, no. 2 (1993): 138-43.
9. Robert Elliot, "Faking Nature," Inquiry 25 (1982): 81-93.
10. Eric Katz, "The Big Lie: Human Restoration of Nature," Research in Philosophy and Technology 12 (1992): 231-42; Eric Katz, "The Call of the Wild," Environmental Ethics 14 (1992): 265-73.
11. Eric Katz, "The Big Lie: Human Restoration of Nature," Research in Philosophy and Technology 12 (1992): 231-42; Eric Katz, "The Call of the Wild," Environmental Ethics 14 (1992): 265-73.
12. Mark Cowell, "Ecological Restoration and Environmental Ethics," Environmental Ethics 15 (1993): 32.
13. Alastair S. Gunn, "The Restoration of Species and Natural Environments," Environmental Ethics 13 (1991): 291-310.
14. Eric Katz, "The Ethical Significance of Human Intervention in Nature," Restoration and Management Notes 9, no. 2 (1991): 90-96.
15. See, for example, Steven Rassler, "Naturalness and Anthropocentricity," Restoration and Management Notes 12, no. 2 (1994): 116-17.
16. One exception to the tone and quality of these letters is found in part of an article by Donald Scherer which attempts a serious objection to Katz's argument. See Scherer, "Between Theory and Practice: Some Thoughts on Motivations Behind Restoration," Restoration and Management Notes 12, no. 2 ( 1994): 184-88, esp. pp. 186-87. A more philosophical version of this article was published as "Evolution, Human Limits, and the Practice of Ecological Restoration," in Environmental Ethics 17, no. 4 (1995): 359-79. It may be fair, however, to characterize the Scherer-Katz exchange as another intramural debate between philosophers rather than as a serious exchange between theorists and practitioners.
17. One exception to the tone and quality of these letters is found in part of an article by Donald Scherer which attempts a serious objection to Katz's argument. See Scherer, "Between Theory and Practice: Some Thoughts on Motivations Behind Restoration," Restoration and Management Notes 12, no. 2 ( 1994): 184-88, esp. pp. 186-87. A more philosophical version of this article was published as "Evolution, Human Limits, and the Practice of Ecological Restoration," in Environmental Ethics 17, no. 4 (1995): 359-79. It may be fair, however, to characterize the Scherer-Katz exchange as another intramural debate between philosophers rather than as a serious exchange between theorists and practitioners.
18. See Andrew Light, "Materialists, Ontologists, and Environmental Pragmatists," Social Theory and Practice 21, no. 2 (1994): 315-33, esp. pp. 324-25.
19. The contrast drawn here is to theoretical problems in restoration ecology, the sort of thing that philosophers like Katz and Elliot seem to be interested in.
20. This distinction was first introduced in Andrew Light, "Hegemony and Democracy: How the Politics in Restoration Informs the Politics of Restoration," Restoration and Management Notes 12, no. 2 (1994): 140-44.
21. Carl Pletsch, "Humans Assert Sovereignty Over Nature," in Beyond Preservation (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994), pp. 85-89.
22. See Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature (New York: Harper and Row, 1980).
23. See the account of this relationship in A. Dwight Baldwin, Judith DeLuce and Carl Pletsch, "Introduction: Ecological Preservation versus Restoration and Innovation," in Beyond Preservation, pp. 3-16.
24. In the past three meetings of the Society for Ecological Restoration, we observed a marked discomfort on the part of delegates in taking political positions, and also relatively little interest in engaging political issues.
25. For example, the exchange between Constance Pierce and Frederick Turner over the politics of restoration in Beyond Preservation is a paradigmatic example of how thinking about politics as simply a dirty issue produces insubstantial discussions of the political dimensions of and in restoration. See Constance Pierce, "The Poetics and Politics of Prairie Restoration," in Beyond Preservation, pp. 226-33, and Frederick Turner, "The Invented Landscape (Reprise)," in Beyond Preservation, pp. 251-59. For a critique of both sides of this debate see Andrew Light, "Hegemony and Democracy."
26. For example, the exchange between Constance Pierce and Frederick Turner over the politics of restoration in Beyond Preservation is a paradigmatic example of how thinking about politics as simply a dirty issue produces insubstantial discussions of the political dimensions of and in restoration. See Constance Pierce, "The Poetics and Politics of Prairie Restoration," in Beyond Preservation, pp. 226-33, and Frederick Turner, "The Invented Landscape (Reprise)," in Beyond Preservation, pp. 251-59. For a critique of both sides of this debate see Andrew Light, "Hegemony and Democracy."
27. For example, the exchange between Constance Pierce and Frederick Turner over the politics of restoration in Beyond Preservation is a paradigmatic example of how thinking about politics as simply a dirty issue produces insubstantial discussions of the political dimensions of and in restoration. See Constance Pierce, "The Poetics and Politics of Prairie Restoration," in Beyond Preservation, pp. 226-33, and Frederick Turner, "The Invented Landscape (Reprise)," in Beyond Preservation, pp. 251-59. For a critique of both sides of this debate see Andrew Light, "Hegemony and Democracy."
28. Jordan's journal, Restoration and Management Notes, as we briefly noted at the beginning of this paper, was for some time the only journal in the field. The tacitly accepted division between Restoration and Management Notes and Restoration Ecology is that Restoration and Management Notes covers matters of primary interest to practitioners (including wider cultural, political, and social issues in restoration), while Restoration Ecology aims for a more scientific audience. It is not clear, however, that this division of labor holds, or indeed that it ought to be maintained. See Higgs, "Expanding the Scope of Ecological Restoration."
29. Jordan's journal, Restoration and Management Notes, as we briefly noted at the beginning of this paper, was for some time the only journal in the field. The tacitly accepted division between Restoration and Management Notes and Restoration Ecology is that Restoration and Management Notes covers matters of primary interest to practitioners (including wider cultural, political, and social issues in restoration), while Restoration Ecology aims for a more scientific audience. It is not clear, however, that this division of labor holds, or indeed that it ought to be maintained. See Higgs, "Expanding the Scope of Ecological Restoration."
30. William Jordan, III, "Sunflower Forest: Ecological Restoration as the Basis for a New Environmental Paradigm," in Beyond Preservation, p. 27.
31. We are assuming here, of course, that the value of the land is not simply reducible to the value given to it by a valuing agent. Nevertheless, the claim against such a reductive account does not necessarily have to be made in terms of intrinsic value. Again, the debate between intrinsic and instrumental value theorists need not be resolved at this time, and we believe that our analysis still holds regardless of the outcome of this disagreement in the environmental ethics literature. We are assuming that most preservationists and restorationists admit that the value of nature is not merely reducible to value added by humans.
32. Although the specific content of the value produced in a restoration is philosophically up for grabs, we bracket out the question, which such theorists as Katz and Elliot are interested in, of whether restorations can produce "nature," in the sense meant by those who attribute intrinsic or inherent value to nature. Suffice it to say that some kind of value is produced in a restoration, which may or may not represent the intrinsic value of nature. Perhaps it only has the value attributable to a human artifact. Still, this value could be quite important as is the case with some great buildings and artifacts. Also see Cowell, "Ecological Restoration and Environmental Ethics."
33. If swaths of degraded land were left untouched for many years, some things might come back (the length of time varies from one type of ecosystem to another), but there is no assurance that these regenerated ecosystems would be functionally and structurally sound. An "accidental restoration" would be considered a "recovery."
34. A strict intrinsic value theorist would, of course, reject this argument. But at the very least, if a restored ecosystem became a habitat for some nonhuman animals, then the restoration would have produced a nonanthropocentric instrumental value. On the plausibility and importance of this type of value, see Eugene Hargrove, "Weak Anthropocentric Intrinsic Value," The Monist 75, no. 2 (1992): 183-207.
35. There is the nagging question of whether restoration can be connected with fascism, either metaphorically through the idea of "rooting out exotics," or through some more direct historical connection. Bill Jordan takes up and provides a good answer to the question of the metaphorical connotations of restoration in "The Nazi Connection," Restoration and Management Notes 12, no. 2 (1994): 113. Donna Haraway voices the worry over the direct connection in a brief exchange with Light reprinted in Society and Space 13, no. 5 (1995): 523-24. For reasons we will not go into here, we don't think either of these arguments are sound. We are currently at work on a manuscript that will in part take up these questions more fully: "Beyond Lifestyle: Restoring a Politics of Commitment in Bioregionalism," in The Bioregional Primer, ed. Michael McGinnis (London: Routledge Press, forthcoming).
36. There is the nagging question of whether restoration can be connected with fascism, either metaphorically through the idea of "rooting out exotics," or through some more direct historical connection. Bill Jordan takes up and provides a good answer to the question of the metaphorical connotations of restoration in "The Nazi Connection," Restoration and Management Notes 12, no. 2 (1994): 113. Donna Haraway voices the worry over the direct connection in a brief exchange with Light reprinted in Society and Space 13, no. 5 (1995): 523-24. For reasons we will not go into here, we don't think either of these arguments are sound. We are currently at work on a manuscript that will in part take up these questions more fully: "Beyond Lifestyle: Restoring a Politics of Commitment in Bioregionalism," in The Bioregional Primer, ed. Michael McGinnis (London: Routledge Press, forthcoming).
37. There is the nagging question of whether restoration can be connected with fascism, either metaphorically through the idea of "rooting out exotics," or through some more direct historical connection. Bill Jordan takes up and provides a good answer to the question of the metaphorical connotations of restoration in "The Nazi Connection," Restoration and Management Notes 12, no. 2 (1994): 113. Donna Haraway voices the worry over the direct connection in a brief exchange with Light reprinted in Society and Space 13, no. 5 (1995): 523-24. For reasons we will not go into here, we don't think either of these arguments are sound. We are currently at work on a manuscript that will in part take up these questions more fully: "Beyond Lifestyle: Restoring a Politics of Commitment in Bioregionalism," in The Bioregional Primer, ed. Michael McGinnis (London: Routledge Press, forthcoming).
38. For a more complete argument describing the qualities of a good ecological restoration see Eric Higgs, "What is a Good Ecological Restoration?" Conservation Biology, forthcoming.
39. See Antonio Gramsci, The Prison Notebooks, trans. Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Smith, (New York: International Publishers, 1971).
40. This was certainly our experience at the 1994 SER conference, where a version of the argument in this section was presented.
41. See the editorial "Definitions, Definitions, Definitions," SER News 17 (1994): 5.
42. Given the interests specifically of the U.S. federal government in such projects, the linguistic and political components of the hegemony of restoration will certainly converge. The issue here however is not a paper tiger; there are important restoration practitioners who resist the acceptance of wetlands mitigation for scientific as well as political reasons. See Nic Korte and Peter Kearl, "Should Western Watersheds be Public Policy in the United States?" Environmental Management 17, no. 6 (1993): 729-34; and John Munro, "Wetland Restoration in Context," Restoration and Management Notes 9, no. 2 (1991): 80-86.
43. Given the interests specifically of the U.S. federal government in such projects, the linguistic and political components of the hegemony of restoration will certainly converge. The issue here however is not a paper tiger; there are important restoration practitioners who resist the acceptance of wetlands mitigation for scientific as well as political reasons. See Nic Korte and Peter Kearl, "Should Western Watersheds be Public Policy in the United States?" Environmental Management 17, no. 6 (1993): 729-34; and John Munro, "Wetland Restoration in Context," Restoration and Management Notes 9, no. 2 (1991): 80-86.
44. For a helpful discussion of the relationship between politics and practices see Andrew Feenberg, Alternative Modernity: The Technical Turn in Philosophy and Social Theory (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995).
45. Jonathan Perry, "Greening Corporate Environments: Authorship and Politics in Restoration," Restoration and Management Notes 12, no. 2 (1994): 145-47; Jonathan Perry, "The Commodious Veil of Nature: Ecological Restoration as Corporate Landscape Architecture" (Master's thesis, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1995).
46. Jonathan Perry, "Greening Corporate Environments: Authorship and Politics in Restoration," Restoration and Management Notes 12, no. 2 (1994): 145-47; Jonathan Perry, "The Commodious Veil of Nature: Ecological Restoration as Corporate Landscape Architecture" (Master's thesis, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1995).
47. Perry, "Greening Corporate Environments," p. 146.
48. For a fine application of this intuition to environmental organizations see L. M. Benton, "Selling the Natural or Selling Out?: Exploring Environmental Merchandising," Environmental Ethics 17 (1995): 3-22. Certainly the argument that such restorations do harm to nature requires a better argument than we have simply hinted at here. We are currently at work on a paper which tries to make just such an argument tentatively titled, "Restoration, Inc." The only argument we are entitled to here is that the type of corporate restorations identified by Perry are not good restorations because they do not achieve the democratic potential of restoration as a practice.
49. Alexander Wilson, The Culture of Nature (London: Blackwell, 1992), p. 16.
50. Eric Higgs, "A Life in Restoration: Robert Starbird Dorney 1928-1987," Restoration and Management Notes 11, no. 2 (1993): 144-47. Dorney studied briefly with Leopold in the late 1940s. Though often forgotten in the treatment of his environmental philosophy in Environmental Ethics, Aldo Leopold was important in the development of what is now understood as ecological restoration. He was the Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum until his death in 1949. See Curt Meine, Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988).
51. Eric Higgs, "A Life in Restoration: Robert Starbird Dorney 1928-1987," Restoration and Management Notes 11, no. 2 (1993): 144-47. Dorney studied briefly with Leopold in the late 1940s. Though often forgotten in the treatment of his environmental philosophy in Environmental Ethics, Aldo Leopold was important in the development of what is now understood as ecological restoration. He was the Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum until his death in 1949. See Curt Meine, Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988).
52. For a critique of this trend see Andrew Light, "The Environment as a Public Good," Wild Lands Advocate 3, no. 2 (1995): 9, 14.
53. The story, of course, is more complicated. A recent push for industry collaborative projects has led to lavishly-funded research programs such as the "model forests" springing up across the country. Increasingly, conservation and environmental research is linked directly with industrial sponsorship.
54. See Karen Holland, "Restoration Rituals: Transforming Workday Tasks into Inspirational Rites," Restoration and Management Notes 12 (1994): 121-25.
55. We say "reinforced" here because of the undeniable truth of the existence of some form of nationalized nature in the United States. For the historical roots of this form of nationalized nature, see for example: Perry Miller, Errand into the Wilderness (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1956), Roderick Nash, Wilderness and the American Mind, 3d ed. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982), and Lawrence Buell, The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and the Formation of American Culture (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995). Whatever the extent of the origins of American nationalized nature, it is our strong intuition (having both lived and worked in each country, and one of us having grown up in the U.S., and the other in Canada) that a nationalized "use" of nature is much stronger today in Canada than in the U.S.
56. We say "reinforced" here because of the undeniable truth of the existence of some form of nationalized nature in the United States. For the historical roots of this form of nationalized nature, see for example: Perry Miller, Errand into the Wilderness (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1956), Roderick Nash, Wilderness and the American Mind, 3d ed. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982), and Lawrence Buell, The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and the Formation of American Culture (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995). Whatever the extent of the origins of American nationalized nature, it is our strong intuition (having both lived and worked in each country, and one of us having grown up in the U.S., and the other in Canada) that a nationalized "use" of nature is much stronger today in Canada than in the U.S.
57. We say "reinforced" here because of the undeniable truth of the existence of some form of nationalized nature in the United States. For the historical roots of this form of nationalized nature, see for example: Perry Miller, Errand into the Wilderness (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1956), Roderick Nash, Wilderness and the American Mind, 3d ed. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982), and Lawrence Buell, The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and the Formation of American Culture (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995). Whatever the extent of the origins of American nationalized nature, it is our strong intuition (having both lived and worked in each country, and one of us having grown up in the U.S., and the other in Canada) that a nationalized "use" of nature is much stronger today in Canada than in the U.S.
58. Several fine descriptions of local ecological restorations exist. See for example, Denis Rogers-Martinez, "Northwestern Coastal Forests: the Sinkyone Intertribal Park," Restoration and Management Notes 10 (1992): 64-69; William K. Stevens, Miracle Under the Oaks: the revival of nature in America (New York: Pocket Books, 1995); and Freeman House, "Dreaming Indigenous," Restoration and Management Notes 10 (1992): 60-63.
59. Several fine descriptions of local ecological restorations exist. See for example, Denis Rogers-Martinez, "Northwestern Coastal Forests: the Sinkyone Intertribal Park," Restoration and Management Notes 10 (1992): 64-69; William K. Stevens, Miracle Under the Oaks: the revival of nature in America (New York: Pocket Books, 1995); and Freeman House, "Dreaming Indigenous," Restoration and Management Notes 10 (1992): 60-63.
60. Several fine descriptions of local ecological restorations exist. See for example, Denis Rogers-Martinez, "Northwestern Coastal Forests: the Sinkyone Intertribal Park," Restoration and Management Notes 10 (1992): 64-69; William K. Stevens, Miracle Under the Oaks: the revival of nature in America (New York: Pocket Books, 1995); and Freeman House, "Dreaming Indigenous," Restoration and Management Notes 10 (1992): 60-63.