Many histories can be told about a landscape. Some can be told through written histories or oral traditions of peoples who have lived there. Some can be told by the evolutionary past or life history of a particular species. There are also histories that can be imprinted into an ecosystem itself. An ecosystem’s ecological patterns and processes are more than a statement or an account of the current interactions among the different ecosystem components, including the humans who live there. These patterns and processes also recount a history of inter-relationships of the living communities and non-living features which have contributed to the development, characteristics, and dynamics of the current landscape. The ecosystem’s history is therefore as determinative of its future possibilities as its genetic material. An ecosystem can tell a story that has its own emergent features, different from but inclusive of the genes, organisms, populations and written human accounts of that place. Are we listening to these narratives as we do our conservation work? As we consider how ecosystems might respond to climate change, we need to ask ourselves seriously about how these histories might affect our developing relationship with nature. Can we use these narratives to build resilience into our ecosystems? If we need to focus on building ecological resilience and connectivity (for example, in the climate change context we can imagine the need for interconnected networks of soil types) do we need to change our approach to restoration?
Brooke Hecht, Center for Humans and Nature
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