The Place of Natural Values, Ecology and Technology in Restoration Policy

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Ecological restorations involve human attempts to return physical sites to some state preceding some human disturbances. There are more and more restoration efforts underway; a shift to ecological restoration at the biogeographical level in the Pacific Northwest represents the largest effort in the world. However, scientists have shown it is rarely possible to know what these sites may have looked like or how they function. Restoration policy then lies in the domain of `transcience,` involving the intermingling of facts and values. An understanding of the influence of restoration values will add to the advancement and development of effective and responsible restoration strategies. This project will assess the place of natural values, science, and technology in restoration policy development. The researchers will examine two research questions central to the issue of large scale ecological restoration taking place in the Pacific Northwest. First, what are the specific values and ethical positions of individuals and institutions currently involved in large scale restoration efforts? Second, what is the role of scientific decision-making in ecological restoration? The investigators speculate that the capability of participants to restore severely damaged ecosystems and wild species is predicated on collective and shared values about the landscape, their sense of place in it, their perceived relationship to nature, and their beliefs in the ability of science and technology to restore ecosystems. The investigation will employ both document analysis and a survey questionnaire to persons involved in restoration efforts in the Pacitic Northwest, to develop profiles of individual and institutional orientations to the range of potential restoration values. The analysis will be extended by comparative case study of three large-scale restoration efforts. Results will be disseminated among scholarly and professional audiences in presentations and journal articles.