The Ten Principles of Ecological Restoration...

PRINCIPLE ONE

Mimic nature wherever possible

It follows from the premise, ‘Nature knows best,’ that we should seek to mimic natural processes when we work to restore degraded ecosystems and habitats. Under natural processes, a damaged parcel of habitat would heal itself over time. This process has been undermined to the point that it cannot fully take place under its own power. When we plant replacement species in empty niches, we do so in patterns which copy the natural distribution of naturally regenerating plants in similar types of habitat in a functioning system. This is in contrast to commercial tree planting, which is done in a linear fashion, and where the land is shaped only to human needs or desires.