RESURRECTING AND CONNECTING
Resurrecting ecosystems and connecting trails is a way to increase biodiversity and connect people to the land as guardians. Resurrecting is recreating an ecosystem that previously existed naturally. It is raising it from the dead so to speak. Connecting trails through existing natural ecosystems and those systems that are undergoing resurrection enables people to enjoy and experience the natural facets of earth. By enabling individuals to go into the woodlands, forests and deserts with a mindset of care and stewardship to the land, we strengthen the ancient culture of responsibility that protects and supports the land for now and into the future.
Soaking in the priceless benefits
It is not just the physical action of walking or riding in natural land that is a good thing, it is the immersion with everything in it that feels rejuvenating. It is listening to the chittering natter of a family of small birds high up in the tree tops or the wind rustling the leaves. It is, smelling the earthy dampness of the soil while walking through the dark shady parts of a trail. It’s looking across a steep gully and seeing no man-made features, no jarring straight lines, just the easy-on-the-eye, jangled order of a natural ecosystem.
Scale
Resurrection can be done at all scales. It might not be possible to resurrect a whole intact ecosystem but fragmented components of our original ecosystems persist even in the Central Business Districts in cities. It is about matching the plant types to as close to site specific indigenous species as possible. So for the Sydney CBD, the first step is to determine the dominant eucalypt trees and understory shrubs that grew there before colonization. Then, grow new seedlings from existing trees as close to the area as possible and gradually replace those plants that are not native to the area with the new resurrection ones.
At the minute scale, you can grow a single plant of a species that once naturally existed in that location in a pot or on a 30 X 30 cm square patch of land. We can extend this idea to growing indigenous native plant species in residential areas, council lands, industrial areas, hobby farms, outback stations, mine rehabilitation sites and vacant roadside strips. In Australia, livestock grazing on native vegetation occurs and affects a whopping 55% of the continent and is of huge concern as it is a primary factor contributing to the loss of biodiversity of flora and fauna. Every type of land use can be transformed and resurrected.
REACT.CARE (Resurrecting Ecosystems and Connecting Trails) aims to create a strategic and efficient formula for protecting and increasing our biodiversity. The method involves growing structurally strong ecosystems that support an increase in numbers of native flora and fauna from the site-specific tiny orchid and soil microorganisms to the iconic birds and mammals. The outcomes must be measurable with clear performance indicators and involves all citizen types of land users, land owners and other people who control what happens to portions of land. The earth’s flora and fauna’s greatest threat is habitat loss. This additive approach of growing more habitats actively combats the current rapid rate of habitat loss across the globe.
Australia
Australia covers 7688503 square km. Livestock grazing on native vegetation occurs on 55% of the continent, conservation reserves make up only 7%. Land protected by indigenous uses totaling 13% leaving 25% for the rest. See Figure 1.
Figure 1 Broad land use types on the continent of Australia.
So the ‘other’ land use makes up 19221257 square kilometers. If you add the livestock grazing land (42286766 square km) to the rest of the unprotected land, this makes 61508023 square km. If 25% of this is resurrected with intact ecosystems, Australia would enjoy 15377005 square km of replenished land supporting an increase in native plants and animals. To give you a visual idea of this vastness, Sydney city is 12368 square kilometers and would fit 1243 times into that 25%. Imagine the Sydney area as completely intact native bushland spreading out 1242 times in area out. See Figure 2.
Figure 2. Map of Sydney area within the purple coloured borders.
Australia has one of the highest land clearing rates in the world. Most of the clearing of native vegetation has happened in recent decades, more than at any other time of the island’s history (Bradshaw 2012). A goal of increasing the proportion of intact ecosystems on all land use types by 25% is today both modest and ambitious.
Our Ownership and Connections to the Land
As humans, we all are linked to the earth. It does not matter what our ancestral path is, nor does it matter who formally owns the land, we all have ownership and connections to the land. If you live in a particular place and you travel to another place and spend time there, they are both your places. You may have knowledge about a place but have never physically been there. That too can be your place. I have never visited Tasmania, but I have knowledge of the ancient forests there and I feel a degree of ownership and connection to that land. Certain lands have stronger connections within us. Maybe it is where we live right now, or where we were raised, where we like to go to make us feel good. It could be the ocean, a creek or a mountain top you like to visit or the city. You are connected and it is yours forever. No one and nothing can completely take your places from you although other people can change them. Sometimes, your connections may weaken over time. Some places make us feel better within than other places. The more you visit, think about in your head or grow in knowledge of your lands, the stronger your connection to them and the richer you are.
When you are connected to your land and places, you then can have a degree of guardianship of your places. People who visit lands can protect them at varying scales. Trails threading through ecosystems located on public land, government land, private lands and reserves allow people to become more strongly connected to these lands. These visiting individuals become protectors of our precious ecosystems. Continuous trails enable people to strengthen their connections to the natural world and in turn, strengthen the ancient human culture of caring for the land.
Reference
Bradshaw, CJA (2012) Little left to lose: deforestation and forest degradation in Australia since European colonization. Journal of Plant Ecology, 5: 109-120.
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