Where has the scientific model of restoration ecology gone wrong?
I think that many Western ecological scientists still have a notion that there was an Edenic wilderness before humans screwed it up. It’s virtually impossible to find a reference ecosystem that has not been touched by human hands. The Americas were much more populated than most history books or anthropologists will admit, because if we admit how many people were actually here, we’d have to admit that a genocide and a holocaust really did happen. Indigenous restoration seems to embrace a more dynamic nature compared to a Western version of a static, quantifiable wilderness. Our whole [Western scientific] system is based on predicting the output of natural systems. But from an indigenous perspective, nature is ultimately unpredictable, chaotic, and changeable. You always leave room for the unexpected. We need to harmoniously interface with these natural systems: How can we nudge these systems so we can optimize their use and yet not take away from wildlife and vegetation their own natura
