Abstract
Managing for sustained biodiversity and restoration of natural habitat has become increasingly important over the last two decades, first as mitigation for development (especially in wetlands), and , more recently in natural areas. The latter has come about as land managing agencies like the Department of Defense and Bureau of Land Management have seen the need to reverse the impact of past land uses and agencies like the National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy have taken on the responsibility for less-than-pristine lands. On the California Channel Islands, the need for restoring and managing biodiversity is great, but this restoration and management needs to be based on a sound ecological understanding. By conducting surveys, implementing long-term research and monitoring, and by conducting population and community dynamics research, the necessary data to arrive at such an understanding can be obtained. Once management actions have been taken to effect restoration, monitoring needs to be conducted to determine the success of those actions. The need is to gain enough of an understanding of the islands' ecosystems that we can manage to restore, not just populations of native plants and animals, but also the processes of a naturally functioning ecosystem. The challenges that confront this goal are many and include ecology and popUlation biology, conservation ecology, information management, agency mandates and regulations, the need to build constituencies and consensus among disparate groups, financing, and political pressures.
Highlights
We are privileged to live in a time of a major shift in landscape management policies and procedures, and I believe that we will still see more shifts in the years to come
The California islands present a microcosm of what has been happening on a larger scale in our part of the world: The 1700s and early 1800s: a time of European exploration; the late 1800s and early 1900s: a time of taming and exploitation; and the late 1900s: development of ecological understanding, and ecological management
On the California islands as elsewhere in the United States, we are quickly moving from management by belief-based directives of the few to management by scientific understanding and broad consensus
Summary
We are privileged to live in a time of a major shift in landscape management policies and procedures, and I believe that we will still see more shifts in the years to come. Today managers seem to be heading to where they need to be attempting management of people, places, and resources, all at the same time. Agencies were just getting to the point that managers were understanding that long-term research and monitoring were required to understand the dynamics of ecosystems, and we are off on a track to include as many people as possible in every decision. There is concern that we not manage resources strictly for the sake of the natural environment, but that we manage resources from the perspective that humans need a living space and sustenance from the landscape. The California islands present a microcosm of what has been happening on a larger scale in our part of the world: The 1700s and early 1800s: a time of European exploration; the late 1800s and early 1900s: a time of taming and exploitation; and the late 1900s: development of ecological understanding, and ecological management
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