Re: NANFA-- Nothing to do with chick flicks

Bruce Stallsmith (fundulus_at_hotmail.com)
Tue, 22 Feb 2000 22:46:34 EST

I've followed the literature on marsh restoration efforts and technologies,
especially saltmarshes. You can attempt to exactly replicate the sediment
and soil types in a marsh, but to make it work you have to recreate the
hydrology (water flow) exactly right. The ugly truth is that you can't
recreate 30 acres of marsh here to replace the 30 acres over there that have
been filled in to support a PetSmart warehouse or whatever. It would be
great if true. If anyone places much faith in it please contact me off-list;
I have a bridge in Brooklyn you may be interested in.

Nature is resilient, but not on demand.

--Bruce Stallsmith
above the Fall Line in Huntsville, AL

> Ecological engineering is a bourgeoning field these days. Everything from
>reforestation/ prairie restoration to the creation of artificial wetlands.
>unfortunately this does not always jive with the radical environmental
>agenda
>which sees the world in terms of fighting tooth and nail to save tiny
>fragments
>of what once was as opposed to concentrating on the overall health of the
>ecosystem. For better or worse the damage has been done. But natural
>systems are
>even more resiliant than we sometimes imagine. They can recover and with
>help
>they can be brought back more quickly. Intelligently applied,
>eco-engineering and
>translocation of rare taxa to created refugia can be useful tools for
>conserving
>biodiversity as well as making human environments more livable and humane.
>That's an issue I would like to see be debated among environmentalists.
>Not only
>would it be the start of a contest for the soul of the movement, but it
>might
>even be a winning ticket for mainstream politics as well!

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