I suspect that many overlook the contribution that history can make to improve restoration efforts. For others, the value of environmental history to inform restoration decisions may be self evident. Understanding historical uses and abuses seems like the obvious starting point for any restoration project.
Who historically has depended on the resource? Who had access and who was excluded? What was left behind and what was taken away? How quick were the changes to the ecosystem and how long ago were they? Has the ecosystem demonstrated any resilience? What restoration measures have already been tried, and what was the result?
Yesterday I listened to two excellent podcasts from Stanford University's iTunes (itunes.stanford.edu) about restoration work in the Monterey Bay (by Stephen Palumbi) and the San Francisco Bay (Richard White, David Freyberg, Jeff Koseff, Meg Caldwell). Both lectures/discussions emphasized the importance of placing a restoration project within a historical context.
In the case of the San Francisco Bay, environmental historian Richard White reminded us that we cannot recover teh ecosystem that existed centuries ago. That ecosystem is gone. In its place is a new San Francisco Bay that is responding to totally new oscillations and pressures. There was agreement among the discussants that restoration is not about going back, but about moving forward. At the same time, this movement forward must be grounded in an understanding of how historical uses have changed the system, and what those changes imply for its future.
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