Transcript Document 7249784

Preserving and Restoring Nature
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Outline
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Parks and Nature Preserves
Wilderness Areas and Wildlife Refuges
Global Parks and Reserves
Preserving Functional Ecosystems
Restoration Ecology
Wetlands and Floodplains
Ecosystem Management
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PARKS AND NATURE PRESERVES
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Origins and History
 Historically, sacred groves were set aside
for religious purposes, and grounds
preserved for royalty.
 Natural landscaping became popular in
England during the eighteenth century.
- Rejected symmetry for illusion of nature.
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Central Park
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New York’s Central Park - Promoted in 1844
by newspaper editor William Cullen Bryant.
 Provide healthful open space.
- Designed by Frederick Law Olmstead.
 Became known as father of landscape
architecture.
 Became original commissioner of
Yosemite park in California.
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Yellowstone
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First U.S. area set aside to protect wild nature.
 Authorized by President Abraham Lincoln.
- Designated the first National Park by
President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872.
 Also first National Park in the world.
 Mount Rainier - 1899
 Crater Lake - 1902
 Mesa Verde - 1906
 Grand Canyon - 1908
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North American Parks
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U.S. national park system has grown to more
than 280,000 km2 in 388 parks, monuments,
historic sites and recreation areas.
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300 million visitors annually.
Canada has 1,471 protected areas occupying
about 150,000 km2.
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Trouble in our Parks and Monuments
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Many parks have become islands of nature
surrounded and threatened by destructive
land uses stemming from growing human
populations crowding park boundaries.
While number of visitors has increased by
one-third over the past decade, park budgets
have decreased by twenty-five percent.
 Estimated $6-8 billion for overdue repairs
and restoration alone.
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Trouble in our Parks and Monuments
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Air Pollution
 Acid Rain
 Photochemical Smog
Mining and Oil Interests
Conversion of inholdings to incompatible
uses.
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Wildlife in Parks
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Historically, parks killed “bad” animals
(wolves) in favor of “good” animals (elk).
 Critics contend this policy unbalanced
ecosystems, and created a false illusion of
a natural system.
Park Service now maintains a policy of
“natural regulation.”
 Bison populations
- Hunted off park property
- Brucellosis and domestic cattle
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Wildlife in Parks
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Proposals exist to close a number of parks to
tourists altogether to protect ecosystems.
 Airsheds, watersheds, and animal
territories and migration routes often
extend far beyond official boundaries.
- Biogeographical area must be managed
as a unit.
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WILDERNESS AREAS
AND WILDLIFE REFUGES
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Wilderness Areas
 A belief that wilderness is a source of
wealth and the origin of strength, selfreliance, wisdom, and character, is deeply
embedded in our culture.
 1964 - Wilderness Act defined wilderness:
- “An area of undeveloped land affected
primarily by the forces of nature, where
man is a visitor who does not remain…”
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Wilderness Areas
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Most of areas meeting these standards are in
the Western U.S. and Alaska.
 If the USFS uses a “pure” interpretation of
wilderness that excludes all lands with any
history of roads or development, only
about one-fourth of its 23 million ha of
roadless areas qualify for protection.
- Prolonged battle has been waged over
de-facto wilderness areas.
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Wilderness Areas
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Arguments for preservation:
 Refuge for endangered wildlife.
 Solitude and primitive recreation.
 Baseline for ecological research.
 Area left in natural state.
For many people in developing countries, the
idea of pristine wilderness is neither
important or interesting.
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Wildlife Refuges
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1901 - President Teddy Roosevelt
established 51 national wildlife refuges.
 Now 540 refuges encompassing 40 million
ha representing every major biome in NA.
Refuge Management
 Originally intended to be sanctuaries in
which wildlife would be protected from
hunting or other disturbances.
- 1948 - Hunting allowed in refuges.
 Duck Stamps - Wetland protection
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Wildlife Refuges
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Over the years, a number of other uses have
been allowed to operate within wildlife refuge
boundaries.
 Oil and Gas Drilling
 Cattle Grazing
 Motor-boating, Camping
Refuges also face threats from external
sources - expanding human populations.
 Water Pollution
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GLOBAL PARKS AND PRESERVES
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The idea of setting aside nature preserves
has spread rapidly over the past 50 years.
 Debt-for-nature swaps
 Consumer pressure
 Gaining status
Currently 12% of world’s terrestrial land area
in protected status (40% of this in developing
countries.)
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Growth of Protected Areas Worldwide
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GLOBAL PARKS AND PRESERVES
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Leaders include Europe (many sites but small
area), Central America, Brazil.
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Pacific with the fewest sites.
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Montane grasslands & shrublands, temperate
conifer forests, flooded grasslands, & savannas
have high level of protection.
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Temperate grasslands, Mediterranean climate
areas have little protection.
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World Conservation Strategy
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Three objectives:
 Maintain essential ecological processes
and life support systems
 Preserve genetic diversity
 Ensure utilization of wild species and
ecosystems is sustainable
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Marine Ecosystems Need Greater Protection
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“No-take” refuges protect species within them and
serve as nurseries for nearby areas.
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Some biologists have called on nations to protect at
least 20% of near-shore territory.
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90% of all coral reefs face threats from human
disturbance.
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Aquatic reserves make up less than 10% of all the
world’s protected areas.
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Conservation and Economic Development
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Many of the most seriously threatened
species & ecosystems are in developing
countries where human survival takes
precedence over environmental goals.
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Biological richness and ecotourism are
important economic resources.
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Man and Biosphere (MAB) program (initiated
by UNESCO in 1986) - divides protected
areas into zones with different uses.
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Transboundary Peace Parks
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Governments, environmental organizations,
and international donors are teaming up to
develop transfrontier conservation areas
(TFCAs).
 Offer hopeful strategy for cooperation in
long-tense regions.
- Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park
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Transfrontier Conservation Areas
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PRESERVING FUNCTIONAL
ECOSYSTEMS AND LANDSCAPES
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Landscape Ecology is the study of how
ecological processes shape diverse
environments.
 Fires periodically burn the forests of
Yellowstone, opening up patches of forest
while leaving others standing.
- Opening allow new plant species to
flourish.
 Shifting Mosaic
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Patchiness and Heterogeneity
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From a landscape ecology standpoint, all
landscapes consist of mosaics of different
abiotic and biotic conditions.
 Predominate matrix in which other patch
types are embedded.
- Human disturbances
- Successional processes
 Landscape heterogeneity can exist across
a wide range of scale.
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Habitat Fragmentation
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Landscape Dynamics
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Time and space are of special concern in
landscape ecology.
 Boundaries between habitat patches are
considered especially significant.
- Edges can induce, inhibit, or regulate
movement of materials, energy, or
organisms across a landscape.
 Inter-patch dynamics may be
especially important.
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Size and Design of Nature Preserves
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For some species with small territories,
several small isolated refuges can support
viable populations.
 But cannot support species requiring large
amounts of space.
- Corridors of natural habitat to allow
movement of species from one area to
another can help maintain genetic
exchange in fragmented areas.
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Corridors
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RESTORATION ECOLOGY
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Restoration ecology seeks to repair or
reconstruct ecosystems damaged by
humans or natural forces.
 Restoration - Bringing something back to a
former condition.
 Rehabilitation - Refers to attempts to
rebuild elements of an ecological system
without necessarily achieving complete
restoration.
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Restoration Ecology
Remediation - Cleaning chemical
contaminants from a polluted area by
physical or biological methods.
 Reclamation - Physical or chemical
manipulations carried out in severely
degraded sites.
 Re-creation - Attempts to construct a new
biological community on a severely
disturbed site.
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Tools of Restoration
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Horticultural or animal control methods.
Removal of alien intruders.
Seed broadcasting.
Fire
Let nature heal itself.
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Back to What ?
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It may not be possible to return to past
conditions as climate changes and evolution
may have made earlier communities
incompatible with current conditions.
 Who decides current conditions are bad ?
- Personal preferences ?
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WETLANDS AND FLOODPLAINS
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Wetland - Shallow water body or an area
where the ground is wet long enough to
support plants specialized to grow under
saturated soil conditions.
 Wetland Values
- Highly productive habitat for wildlife.
- Occupy 5% of land in U.S., but at least
one-third of all endangered species use
wetlands.
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Wetland Values
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Storage of flood waters.
Natural water purification systems.
Coastal Wetlands
 Wildlife Habitat
 Stabilize shorelines and reduce flood
damage.
 Recreational Opportunities
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Wetland Destruction
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Throughout much of history, wetlands have
been considered disagreeable and useless.
 US Swamp Lands Act (1850) - Allowed
individuals to purchase swamps and
marshes for as little as 10 cents per acre.
- Until recently, governments encouraged
wetland drainage.
 Consequently, sixty-six percent of
original wetlands were destroyed.
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Wetland Conservation and Mitigation
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Clean Water Act (1972) protected wetlands
by requiring discharge permits.
Farm Bill (1985) blocked agricultural
subsidies to farmers who drain or damage
wetlands.
 These laws are not necessarily effectively
enforced.
Wetland mitigation is one of the most active
areas of restoration ecology.
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Floodplains and Flood Control
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Floodplains - Low lands along riverbanks,
lakes, and coastlines subjected to periodic
inundation.
 Valuable due to rich soil, level topography,
convenient water supply, access to
shipping, and recreational potential.
- River control systems have protected
communities, but tend to channelize
rivers, speeding flow of water and
exacerbating flooding downstream.
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ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT
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Ecosystem management attempts to
integrate ecological, economic, and social
goals in a unified approach.
 Most federal and many state natural
resource agencies are implementing
ecosystem management as their guiding
policy.
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Principles and Goals of Ecosystem Management
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Manage at multiple scales.
Use ecological boundaries.
Monitor the ecosystem.
Use adaptive management.
Allow organizational change.
Consider humans in nature.
Identify values.
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Summary
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Parks and Nature Preserves
Wilderness Areas and Wildlife Refuges
Global Parks and Reserves
Preserving Functional Ecosystems
Restoration Ecology
Wetlands and Floodplains
Ecosystem Management
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