Defining Your Project - Project Planning and Management for Ecological Restoration - page 34

At this stage in the process, you will have the basic elements leading to a restoration plan. This
general idea of the condition of your restoration site and what you want to restore will continue
to develop, modify, and change as you go through the site analysis process (described in chapter
4). Only after you have gone through the site analysis process will you be able to fully refine your
goals for the site. The actions you identified in your worksheet can be refined, and the associated
objective statements can be more precisely crafted. The goal and objective statements will be the
critical foundation for any restoration plan.
Leitbild Concept
Leitbild , a German word meaning “ideal” or “guiding principle,” is a “frame of mind” for planning
a restoration project. It is a means of visualizing and developing a project without considering
any constraints on the project design (Middleton 1999). Leitbild originated in Germany (Larson
1995) for use in stream and river restoration and is currently being applied in numerous European
countries. When embarking on a project, one often has a dream or visualization of how the site
will look based on one's knowledge of the area and the expected changes that the various ecosys-
tems typically undergo. Most likely this vision encompasses a condition that is devoid of human
structures or modifications and is not limited by lack of resources.
In essence, leitbild is an exercise in response to the often asked question, What would you do if
you had all the time needed, all the money required, and no outside restrictions? Using available
data, your team can develop an “ideal,” which will then undergo an iterative process of modifica-
tion as physical, biological, fiscal, legal, and political factors, in addition to resource constraints,
are identified and their influence accounted for in the restoration proposal (Valentin and Span-
genberg 2000; Muhar, Schmutz, and Jungwirth 1995). This vision is constrained by the need to
restore the attributes of naturally functioning ecosystems. The leitbild process results in a realistic
project that has been tempered with the realities of the project site and resources available, while
maintaining the historic continuity of the ecological trajectory of the site. The leitbild is not a
means of engineering the ecosystem but can be involved in reverse engineering a site. Leitbild is
a tool you can use to explore all options for your project.
Developing a leitbild can be an important first step in the process of developing goal state-
ments. Using a leitbild approach enables you to consider the full range of possibilities for your site.
Benefits of the leitbild method include the following:
• Focuses attention on what is best for the site
• Leads to more comprehensive planning and design decisions
• Helps the restoration team to better visualize the project goals
• Causes the restoration team to think not only at the project level (short term) but also at
the program level (long term)
• Creative method of problem solving that focuses attention on what is possible and not on
what is feasible