Wednesday, August 8, 2007: 8:00 PM-10:00 PM
A4&5, San Jose McEnery Convention Center
SS 28 - Restoration to sustainable landscapes: Building a partnership between scientific, traditional, and local ecological knowledge
A persistent quandary for restoration ecology is defining the target landscape to restore to. A commonly stated goal for North American restoration projects is the re-creation of a "pre-Columbian" landscape; this is often conceptualized as having been a time when landscapes were pristine and untrammeled by humanity. However, recent research has shown that the populations living here had extensively impacted and managed the landscapes of the Americas prior to European arrival. Two significant goals of many restoration projects are creation of a sustainable system and to manage landscapes for increased biodiversity. Ethnographic and ecological studies have shown that landscape management strategies practiced by pre-Columbian indigenous populations frequently resulted in landscapes with increased biodiversity in comparison to non-managed lands. These managed landscapes were often carefully maintained over hundreds of years, showing successful management for sustainable and resilient landscapes. This session will explore ways to integrate traditional, scientific, and local knowledge into coherent management plans. Speakers from each of these management epistemologies will present and discuss management strategies and ways to integrate beneficial and complimentary aspects of each knowledge base into comprehensive restoration and management plans. We propose that combining the knowledge and landscape management skills of practitioners of traditional ecological knowledge with rigorous scientific inquiry will increase the ability of all managers to successfully restore and implement long-term landscape management plans that will be beneficial to all stake-holders.
Organizer:	Hoski Schaafsma, Arizona State University
Speakers:	Frank K. Lake, Oregon State University Nelson Denman, Hawaiian Permaculture Design David Blume, International Institute of Ecological Agriculture

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See more of The ESA/SER Joint Meeting (August 5 -- August 10, 2007)