Restoring Wilderness Functions and the Vicarious Basis of Ecological Stewardship

Abstract

Wilderness and natural ecological functions are subject to a range of cultural interpretation. Using great lake ecosystems as an example, it is possible to argue that some areas of Canada that are now widely considered to be wilderness and to function naturally either are or were significantly dependent upon human intervention. Moreover, some areas that were completely constructed by humans are slowly assuming characteristics of wilderness and are becoming ecologically naturalized. The convergence of these two perpectives leads to a re-examination of the degree to which ecological restoration is a non-contradictory opportunity for restoring wilderness functions and for engaging society experientially with the complexities and limits of functional restoration in non-wilderness areas, an engagement that could constitute the basis of broad political support for wilderness stewardship.

Re‐animating Gros Morne's storyless space: From natural heritage to ecological heritage

“…Concurrently, geographic research has contributed to further unsettling the idea of wilderness as pristine (for an extensive review see identifying Vannini & Vannini, ). Within the Canadian context a few authors have striven to de‐construct the notion of wild nature as a domain separate from culture and society and thus exposed some of the anthropocentric (Greig & Whillains, ), ethnocentric (Hodgins, ), and androcentric ideologies (Sandilands, ) underlying this separation. For example, Baldwin () has revealed how narratives on Canadian wilderness are racialised and implicitly exclude non‐white Canadians.…”