Incorporating place-based values into ecological restoration

Abstract

Knowledge of how ecocultural landscapes co-evolved, how they were shaped and maintained by local people, and what processes disturbed the landscape should inform the planning, execution, and significance of restoration projects. Indigenous stewardship has resulted in legacies of diverse and productive ecocultural environments. Often, this stewardship has been guided by place-based values, which are informed by Indigenous knowledge, beliefs of equal respect for all ecosystem components, and conduct that sustains resource productivity. We propose that cultivating place-based values in restoration initiatives will provide reciprocal benefits by conserving biodiversity and promoting human connections to land. Drawing on lessons from Indigenous knowledge systems in what is now called British Columbia, Canada, we demonstrate how place-based values directed the stewardship of historical oakmeadow and clam gardens, which created diverse and productive ecosystems that sustained for millennia. Drawing on examples of contemporary restoration projects (crabapple orchards and clam gardens) that utilize place-based values to inform the recovery of ecocultural landscapes, we propose a framework to help initiate a place-based values approach in contemporary restoration design congruent with ethics of inclusion.

Global research priorities for historical ecology to inform conservation

“…Clam gardens have had persistent indirect effects on soft sediment marine communities (203) and increased nearby forest productivity around village sites where clam shells and other materials were deposited after being consumed (204). Clam garden restoration is occurring today in many Indigenous territories (205). While most commonly studied in settler colonial regions, similar lessons emerge from research in other parts of the world.…”

Extending conservation of coastal and oyster reef restoration for First Nations cultural revitalization

“…With First Nations peoples involved at all stages of coastal and oyster reef restoration projects, occurring on their Sea Country, restoration projects will be better informed by place‐based values (Wickham et al., 2022), which will bolster First Nations cultural revitalization and well‐being and ensure that the intellectual property rights of First Nations peoples are sustained over generations. Critically, without comanagement and cogovernance that weaves together western and Indigenous knowledge systems, conservation scientists and coastal and oyster reef restoration projects are foregoing the opportunity to connect with traditional Sea Country management and consequently invigorate their conservation efforts, even beyond their allocated restoration time frames (Clark et al., 2021).…”

Pop-up restoration in colonial contexts: applying an indigenous food systems lens to ecological restoration

“…The integration of Indigenous knowledge in restoration ecology requires ethical engagement with community and a sincere and critical integration of source knowledges and worldviews (Grenz, 2020;Robinson et al, 2021). However, such epistemologies and values are specific to place (Wickham et al, 2022) and are not easily duplicated and scaled-upan anathema to large restoration enterprises and management agencies where formulaic or cookie-cutter solutions are the goal (Tsing, 2005; see also . The idiosyncrasies of space and complexity of time mean that Indigenous knowledges risks being misused or misrepresented, appropriated, co-opted, and in some cases even discredited (Nadasdy, 1999;Johnson and Hunn, 2010).…”