An Introduction...
This research project is the culmination of my experience in the Environmental Studies Senior Capstone (2006), as well as the final project of my major. As an passionate environmentalist, I have struggled with some classes and areas within the St. Olaf Environmental Studies major that seem to provide students with a wealth of information, plenty of disheartening statistics about the subject matter, some testing to make sure you are fully aware of the widespread degradation, then little opportunity to do anything about it. We are left standing amidst the deprivation of our ecosystem with feelings of despair and hopelessness and a freshly graded paper; as if that "B" (out of principle) is supposed to make things okay. This is my major criticism of Environmental Studies - it's all talk with little walk, and although this is perhaps the nature of an undergraduate education, I strongly feel that our studies are doing us a disservice if they maintain the clinical detac
hments of classrooms over the opportunity to study our capacity for change.
As a result of this belief, my final research project involves not only studying the concepts of native forest restoration, but also creating a planed development strategy for the actual physical restoration of native forest habitat. The project will take place in Northfield, Minnesota on private property belonging to my family in the vicinity of the St. Olaf College natural lands. We have lived on this 8.5 acre hobby farm for the last 12 years, and during that time approximately 6 of the acres were rented out for use in conventional agriculture. The fields experienced a corn and soybean monoculture rotation until 2003 when it was seeded with a mixture of alfalfa and hay for green manure and hay bailing. The goal of this project is to outline a restoration plan that will include the establishment of native forests (deciduous and conifer), native orchards, and mixed organic agriculture focused on the perennial polyculture of vegetables and herbs. In all, a total o
f approximately 6 acres will be converted from conventional agriculture in to approximately 3 acres of mixed organic crop production, 2 acres of mixed restored forest, and 1 acre of mixed organic orchards, with the goal of project completion by 2010 (8 year implementation).
Forest ecosystems provide a wide variety of services to humans and wildlife, with interactions that are invaluable to the existence of all life on the planet. The necessity for the protection and restoration of native forests is an imperative component of our duty to both earth and humanity, and is an obvious factor in the health of our environment. Forests have a history of service to mankind with their vast resources and immeasurable wonders - this relationship coupled with a scientific story that compels us to regard its complexities leads us to bittersweet relations with our forests. We need them for so many things, where does a balance lie? The early European settlers of our region removed most of the forest ecosystem of the area (as well as the prairie ecosystem) to make room for the millions of acres of conventional farming that has dominated our landscape for decades. What certainly did not seem obvious to these early farmers was the possibility for a coo
perative, coexistent relationship between the woods and the fields. In addition to learning the actual skills of forest restoration, I am particularly interested in observing the potentially beneficial relationships between the restored forest and the renewed organic farm, free of chemicals. From research and preliminary empirical observation, evidence might suggest that forests can craft some of the best gardens.
Some environmentalists argue against restoration in debates of whether or not restorations are "natural" in scope of time and composition and they instead favor preservation and conservation of existing habitats because of the needed effort on those fronts. Although I support those endeavors whole-heartedly, I feel restoration (despite its pitfalls), is a crucial component of our multiple approach answer to widespread environmental degradation. If private land owners have the capacity and willingness to restore their land back to its "natural" state, their efforts should be applauded and supported as critical environmental efforts, even if we cannot precisely define "natural". In the efforts to improve ecological matters, we must approach all offers of environmental improvement as important - the more the merrier - we cannot predict the impact of our environmental activism, so we must believe it makes a difference for the better.
"There is a story (original teller unknown) about a big storm that came and washed thousands of starfish onto the beach. A little girl came down to the beach and was terribly upset by all of the stranded starfish that would soon die. She began picking up starfish, running down to the ocean, and throwing them back into the sea. A man came along and reasoned with the child that she was wasting her time. There were so many starfish on the beach that her efforts just would not matter. The little girl grabbed up a starfish, ran to the sea, and threw it into the sea. She returned to the man and, with a smile, said 'It mattered to that one'" (Harker 3).
This research project aspires to restore native "natural" forest habitat and encourage the companionship of these ecosystems with organic agricultural systems. It is my hope that this alteration of 6 small acres will not only accomplish its individual goals, but will also somehow act as a keystone for larger pro-environmental impacts; most restoration projects will outlive the restorer, and to such a degree we are limited in the good we can do, the rest is up to nature - it is this faith in nature that gives me hope.
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