birding-aus
Nigel Sterpin wrote:
>
> birding-aus
>
> 1) Take a drive along the Western Highway to Ballarat. See how much land
> is
> bare in the median strip and along the sides of the road. Take a trip to
> your local park, see how much area is bare. Walk along a street or streets
> in your area, see how many nature strips don't have trees or native trees.
> It may sound extreme, but these are simple examples.
> 2) I would like an example of where and how revegetated land was better
> than its natural self...I can't think of any. Basics of Evolution would
> suggest that the environment of an area is at its most harmonious at that
> point in time and is its 'hardiest'. The problem I believe is that man's
> brain has evolved too fast relatively to the rest of the planet's species
> 3) Let's start with pre-European settlement and then worry about
> pre-Aboriginal
> ----------
> > From: Ian Montgomery <>
> > To: Birding-Aus <>
> > Subject: birding-aus Land restoration (Was native plants etc)
> > Date: Sunday, February 14, 1999 12:30
> >
> > birding-aus
> >
> >
> > >The main point is that we have to, as a nation, try to restore as much
> land
> > >as possible to its pre settlement self.
> >
> > This raises two questions:
> >
> > 1. Why?
> > 2. What was its pre settlement self?
> >
> > 1. Why? This is a value judgement that undisturbed land is always
> somehow
> > superior to _improved_ land. Does it also mean that we can't manage land
> > to help endangered species? I am not trying to be facetious or
> smart-alec,
> > here. I am just suggesting that land management and restoration involve
> > complex decisions and the reconciliation of different views and values.
> >
> > 2. Pre-European or Pre-Aboriginal settlement? Not only do natural
> states
> > change (naturally) over time it is also quite difficult to define what a
> > natural state is. Aboriginal land practices, particularly the use of
> fire,
> > had big impacts on the Australian landscape. Do we want to go back to
> the
> > way things were in 1770, or would 60,000 years ago be better?
> >
> > Best regards, Ian
> > ****************************************
> > Dr Ian Montgomery, Marine Ecology, A11, University of Sydney, NSW 2006.
> > Ph: (+61-2) 9351 4786; Fax: 9351 6713; Home ph: 9818 4838.
> > Visit us at: http://www.bio.usyd.edu.au:80/SOBS/SRC_EICC/QTUF/qtuf.html
> > Some of my bird photos are at:
> http://home.vicnet.net.au/~osch/hintsfor.htm
> > ****************************************
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Being from Ballarat myself, I can only agree with you Nigel regarding
the amount of "exotic" landscapes in any city or town for that matter.
When working for the Conservation Dept. in Ballarat, I spent a lot of
time looking for patches of remnant vegetation around the district which
would aid in revegetation by seed collecting. Very few areas survived
and more often than not they were disturbed areas or single plants that
were found. My suggestion is that we try to start in the mid to late
1800's, as earlier vegetation (and animals in broad terms) would have
been adapted to the aboriginal style of land management over thousands
of years??
But they are only my thoughts
John Harris
07 3371 3217
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