Restoration

“At least as important as the ecosystems the restorationist gives back to nature is the deepening of understanding, awareness, and caring that is the direct result of this work, when it is carried out thoughtfully and attentively.”
—William R. Jordan, III
Source: Jordan, W. R., III. 2003. The Sunflower Forest: Ecological Restoration and the New Communion with Nature. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Though preservation of park resources is a central part of the National Park Service mission, restoration of those resources, in particular ecological restoration of degraded natural resources, is an important strategy that provides for the well-being and enjoyment of the national parks. As park units have been added to the National Park System, the Park Service has inherited many degraded resources: altered habitats, eroded soils, extirpated native species, changed landforms, and impeded ecological processes. In many cases, restoration can reverse environmental damage and lead to the recovery of deteriorated sites. And though it is not a substitute for preservation, restoration is more than just a technical prescription for landscape healing. Done thoughtfully and thoroughly, it involves specialists acting as landscape historians, turning up information from a site’s past that is critical to the quality of its future. An expression of human creativity and respect, restoration offers hope for damaged park natural landscapes and gives them meanings they never had before. Surely limitations of scale and cost are real, but as the following articles indicate, restoration is a significant conservation strategy for the future of the national parks.

In 2004 the National Park Service revised its five-year goal under the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA goal Ia1A) to restore 5% (21,850 acres or 8,840 ha) of the total 437,150 acres (177,046 ha) of park lands disturbed by development or agriculture by 2008.* It exceeded the first-year (FY 2004) target of 4,700 acres (1,904 ha) by restoring 6,600 acres (2,673 ha) of those lands. The total number of acres restored since annual goals were first adopted under GPRA in 2000 is 20,125 (8,151 ha) over four years.

*The goal is specific to park lands disturbed by development or agriculture and does not address restoration of fauna, control of invasive plants, and use of fire as a restoration tool. Causes of disturbance include facilities, roads, mines, dams, abandoned campgrounds, farming, grazing, timber harvest, and abandoned irrigation ditches. The goal is updated every three years to account for progress and changes in the total area being targeted for restoration.

Restoration Introduction

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