Redwood Reader

Sustaibable management of natural resources means harvesting at a rate that is replenishable. In farming it means not depleting the soil beyond productivity. In either case it implies the system remains intact so regeneration is possible. Sustainable living means imposing our lifestyle systems on the natural landscape in such a way we maintain and improve the natural systems already extent for future generations. Human activity demands lands pay for themselves. Grazing, orcharding, permaculture and selection cutting can provide stable income without tearing apart the fabric of the soil repeatedly. Sustainable economics are based on steady returns from long term investments rather than depletion.

Living in the recovering wild lands can be an opportunity to participate in a part of large scale landscape management while being able to make your own decisions as property owners. For large area projects, such as roads, fire protection, continuous forest, stream rehabilitation or wildlife corridors, and noxious weed removal, multiple landowners find common denominators regardless of inevitable differences in outlook, priorities, methods and opinion. Govenrnment regulates today many activities in the wildland today. It can also provide information and opportunities for landowners interested in enhancing their lives and property. Regional non-governmental agencies can help citizens decide on direction and facilitate projects. Residents can and should participate in management planning for public lands, and have access to information and programs that reach beyond the average individualsexperience.

Individuals and groups can enhance many facets of restoring our landscapes into stable ecological reserves through simple small scale projects and habits that help the entire region, enriching your own experience and restoring something for future generations. How we live here will make the difference between isolated and declining habitats or using the opportunity to enhance the de facto Redwoods to the Sea Wildlife Corridor into an epicenter of ecological restoration. Many of the lands will not be entered again any time soon, so the stable landscapes should provide secure habitat for the foreseeable future.

In many areas the forest system has been totally shattered. Re-growth is haphazard though massive, creating more fire danger. Many noxious weeds have gained footholds in cutover and disturbed areas. Bird species dependent on forest canopy for shelter have declined dramatically once the crows, ravens and jays had openings in the forest cover. Native grasses, flowers, herbs, forbs and shrubs are not being reintroduced. Native bee species are refilling the niche left by the disappearance of wild honeybees. Pets are decimating small animal populations at an unguessed rate.

The subsoil nutrient systems between fungi and bacteria and trees, so important for soil stability and water retention are glossed over as irrelevant. The networks collect nutrients and bring them to the tree roots while the trees canopy sends carbon exudates to the roots in exchange. The fungi send searching fibers into the soil environment creating vast networks of transport tubes for water and minerals. They bind the soil particles together, filtering and slowing runoff and causing more water to soak into the ground. Drainages created by thousands of years of peak rain events have been completely deranged hillside hydrology creating mass wasting in countless areas. Their destruction has ruined our streams. How do we restore these vital systems for future generations?

The first necessity is awareness there is a problem. The engines of capitalism have driven every natural system to the breaking point. Residual destruction continues long after the last profitable activity has ended.

It is hoped we can replace these resources but the reality is that nature created these resources over thousands of years in conditions that may or may not be similar to today. Nature takes far too long to remediate wholesale disruption in aany given number of years. Increasingly warmer and drier conditons make it more likely any given area may not be restorable to past conditions. Still, fragments of natural systems provide an opportunity to reverse declines in wildlife, fisheries and forests.

One example is the role of the northern spotted owl in recovering forests. In natural systems they are adapted to living in the canopy of old growth forest. It provides them pr4otection from larger birds that hunt them. They eat primarily forest rodents. The rodents (flying squirrels, redbacked voles and dusky-footed wood rats) eat the fruiting bodies of important fungi species. Owls eat the rodents and distribute the spores over their range. This helps reintroduce these vital organisms so cutover and cleared lands will grow new forests. Without subsoil assisting them trees will struggle to take hold and thrive. Innoculated trees are a little better but many species of fungi are necessary for a healthy forest.

Another exsample is helping native bees recover. Out competed by wild European honeybees, our native bees are suddenly asked to resume their former roles as well as take on many new pollination jobs in home and garden, as well as in the wildlands. They mainly nest in the ground or in holes in wood. It is easy to provide more suitable sites to increase their numbers.

Our better understanding of natural systems prevents further destruction and implement decisions in agrrement with an overall strategy of improved forest conditions and wildlife habitat. It allows us to hand down healthy ecological systems. Sustainabbility asks us to make our lands profitable and stable while avoiding the boom and bust cycles of modern industry.
RM 8/16/03
Editors note: I wrote this last year before I realized the impact of glomalin on watershed dynamics.