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Re: Oak barren?

Ed,

I consider myself a purist in some ways, but I still agree with you 100%.
First of all, our goals need to be the restoration of biodiversity, not
the creation of some sort of historical museum piece.  We need to ask
ourselves: how can my restoration site best conserve local biodiversity?
For example, if PHutch learns that the woods surrounding his hilltop
harbor a sensitive species (sensitive to forest edges) then maybe planting
trees there to complement the surrounding woods might be the best
use for that individual site, even if it was prairie in pre-European
settlement times.  Planting an isolated prairie might do little to
increase the local biodiversity.

Second: like you said, European settlement was a long time ago.  Things 
have changed.  The diversity of habitats in the  midwest (or anywhere for
that matter) is the result of 1000's of years of influence from climate,
hydrology, and disturbance patterns.  When those patterns changed, the
plant communities naturally adjusted to those changes.  If those things
are drastically altered by European settlement (like with field tiles
destroying the natural hydrology), we might need to anticipate how the
plant community would have adjusted, given the chance.  Sometimes we are
not able to restore the original plant community because of the current
conditions.

So, does it make sense to try to put on a site the
EXACT same thing that was there originally?  I don't think so.  It seems
like it would be more valuable to try to maximize the benefit to the local
biodiversity, and to adapt to human-induced changes that we have no
control over.

What do you think?

Chris.

>Do some soil tests. See if other hilltops in your neighborhood were/are
>"balds" or wooded. In the context of "restoration" or re-construction, try
>asking the question is there adequate woodland habitat for the current
>residents or is prairie more appropriate. European settlement was a long
>time ago. I expect flack from purists.
>Ed Cook
>Southern IL
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: PHutch6000@aol.com <PHutch6000@aol.com>
>To: prairie@mallorn.com <prairie@mallorn.com>
>Date: Saturday, October 07, 2000 10:10 AM
>Subject: Re: Oak barren?
>
>
>>How do you know if you are "restoring"?  I'd like to plant a prairie in a
>>portion of my property but I'm thinking now maybe this was originally a
>>timberland area, and so now I'm in a quandry of maybe I should restore back
>>to timber?  The area is a 70 acre hilltop surrounded on 3 sides by timber.
>>This land has been farmed for generations and is now in CRP.  How can I
>find
>>out what was there when the first settler came?  Thank you.
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