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The Ten Principles of Ecological Restoration... PRINCIPLE NINE Let nature do most of the work This principal is a logical extension of the premise that nature knows best and is essential if restoration is to achieve a wild ecosystem rather than a managed landscape. The misguided belief that humans can do it better and that nature needs to be managed is one of the main factors contributing to the present state of many of the world’s ecosystems. Human shortsightedness is no match for 5 billion years of evolution on earth. The sophistication and complexity of ecosystem functions are only now beginning to be understood. Restoration is simply the process of assisting nature to repair damage done by past human actions. We are not managing nature; we are correcting our own actions in relationship to nature and place. All our efforts of restoration are designed to ‘kick start’ the process and then allow it to develop under its own terms. By beginning to understand how natural processes work, we become agents of nature itself; in doing that, we begin the healing of not just the landscape but also of ourselves. An example of this could be as simple as enlisting the aid of squirrels in the process of restoring an absent tree species by placing nuts and seeds at feeding stations and allowing them to disburse them in natural patterns.
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