Plants are the first and most effective restoration ecologists

Evidence

We can clamber back on the hay wagon to travel to the next display, only this one is not well marked. It sprawls across the oldest lakeside section of the beds into a scruffy patchwork of vegetation. The restoration ecologists here at Stop #4 are not university scientists or corporate engineers, but the oldest and most effective of land healers. They are the plants themselves, representing the design firm of Mother Nature and Father Time, llc. … A few brave trees have become established, mostly cottonwoods and aspens that can tolerate the soil. There are clumps of shrubs, some patches of asters and goldenrod, but mostly a thin scraggly collection of the common roadside weeds. Dandelions, ragweed, chicory, and Queen Anne’s lace blown to this spot have made a go of it. Nitrogenfixing legumes in abundance, and clovers of all kinds, have also come to do their work. That struggling field of green is, to me, a form of peacemaking. Plants are the first restoration ecologists. They are using their gifts for healing the land, showing us the way. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1216

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to ch20’s restoration themes and to eco-justice/Eco-Justice Education course discussions of agency and who does the healing. — connects to: Restoration forestry succeeds as intimate gardening rather than technical management — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 1070; Nursery-grown native plants can masquerade as ecological restoration — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 530; Sustainable communities never interfere with natural systems’ self-regeneration — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 123
• SEED: Angle: centered eco-justice essay on ‘plants as first restoration ecologists’ — an alternative to human managerial restoration.

Broader Connections

• Nursery-grown native plants can masquerade as ecological restoration #qualifies (0.80) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 530
• Sustainable communities never interfere with natural systems’ self-regeneration #complicates (0.80) — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education, 123