Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
it and our imaginations yearn for it.” Higgs (2003) likewise ponders, “Are our imagi-
native capacities diminishing so that we are less and less able to conceive of positive
encounters with real nature?” He states that our great challenge is to imagine a “new”
relationship between people and nature. What is “new” to Western science often has
antecedents in indigenous knowledge, articulated millennia ago. This chapter reveals
the contributions of TEK to our thinking about restoration.
Expanding the Vision and Goals for Ecological Restoration
Explicit definition of the goal is a fundamental first step in restoration design (Meffee
and Carroll 1994). Because indigenous peoples live within the tradition of reciprocity,
they may prioritize restoration goals rather differently, with outcomes based on a more
broadly imagined vision. Goals manifest in restoration projects undertaken by indige-
nous peoples span the entire range of recognized restoration practices and motiva-
tions (Clewell and Aronson 2006), and often extend well beyond the goal-oriented
restoration described by Cairns and Heckman (1996).This expanded vision of restora-
tion encompasses not only repair of ecosystem structure and function, but cultural
services as well. Traditional ecological knowledge is valuable to restoration, not only
for the wealth of biological information it contains but for the worldview of respect,
reciprocity, and responsibility in which it is embedded (Kimmerer 1998; Pierotti and
Wildcat 2000). Restoration of reciprocal relationships with land is central to the in-
digenous vision of restoration, which may also include the following:
• Restoration of subsistence-use activities
• Focus on cultural keystone species
• Restoration of traditional indigenous diets
• Revitalization of TEK, language, and culture
• Exercise of spiritual responsibility
• Development of place-based, sustainable economies
• Restoration of traditional land management for the benefit of nonhuman rela-
tives (i.e., biodiversity)
What these expanded goals have in common is the priority given to restoration of
relationships to place that may be manifest in subsistence activities, spiritual responsi-
bility, language revitalization, and other cultural practices. These goals are more in-
clusive than the science- and conservation-oriented goal of creating a self-sustaining
ecosystem, free of human intervention. Nonetheless, the indigenous ethic of partici-
patory responsibility does not preclude the goal of maintaining landscape areas free of
human use. For example, the Klamath forest restoration plan (Wolf 2004) identifies
resource utilization areas as well as those set aside as reserves substantially unaltered
by human activity. Likewise, the Salish-Kootenai tribes in Montana protect tribally
designated wilderness areas. A guiding principle that emerges from numerous tribal
restoration projects is that the well-being of the land is inextricably tied to the well-be-
ing of the community and the individual.
