Ecological Enhancement:

Motivation

A Conversation

The wods ecological enhancement slip easily off the tongue but the idea behind them is not necessarily obvious or one that everyone will readily agree with. A friend with strong personal and professional acquainenance with environmental concerns, upon hearing the term, asked "Why not just leave the whole thing up to Nature?" A good question!

Why not protect desirable parcels from subdivision and development and then leave them alone to "let nature take its course"? That's what many conservationists and conservation easements do. One answer is that in the 300 years since this country was settled, there has been a vast influx of new plant and animal species introduced or allowed to take hold. In many cases, existing habitats included no inherent means to stop the expansion of such new introductions with the result that in some cases, prior species were overwhelmed by new ones. Such invasives may not be unnatural in a fundamental way but they may not be desirable when they overwhelm earlier species and reduse diversity. In central Pennsylvania, Tarterian Honeysuckle, Autumn Olive, Multiflora Rose, European  Bittersweet are a few obvious examples that can turn rich ecological areas into monocrops.

Many  conservation easements include requirements for the landowner to protect the area not just from subdivision and development but also from invasives. But controlling invasives, particularly for larger tracts, is an expensive and labor-intensive job, often neglected by the  landowner and not enforced by the  easement holder. Even at best, it is settling for the lowest common denominator. Why not restore a diminished property to some semblance of a former, richer environment? For an old farm transitioning out of agriculture, for whatever reasosn, why not help it find a place among the natural conditions that existed before it was cropped? In areas near municipalities, why not enable such lands to become places of solace or learning for neighbors who may be lving in more mediated environments?

"But isn't that what parks are for?" you ask. To an extent, "yes." But more and more, parks are places for recreationg and exercise, shouting, competing, blowing  off steam. All needed, but not the same thing as quiet, solace, observation of the natural world, slowing down, being. It would be wonderful if governements shared this  perspective and had the means to provide such places for their citizens. But we don't see this happening. If such places or going to be preserved or created, it will likely be done by charitable organizations or private landowners. By groups and individuals who are willing to direct private resources to lands that they control, that they are willing to develop ecologically and share them with others in a responsible and appropriate manner. This is not elitist but pragmatic.