Restoration of Native Ecosystems

There is little published information on "nearnatural" ecosystems and their restoration. Ecosystem restoration involves the setting of a date to indicate a restoration point (e.g., 1778 for the National Park Service in Hawaii) and presupposes some knowledge of ecosystem status at the target date and time. In Hawaii, knowledge of past conditions is usually precluded by the rapidity and magnitude of recent changes. However, some restoration efforts based largely on removal of alien organisms have resulted in recovery of ecosystems that are largely native but lack components and processes destroyed in the past by alien organisms including man. No cost estimates for ecosystem restoration in Hawaii are available as yet. Efforts devoted to prevention of the degradation of prime examples of near-natural and natural Hawaiian ecosystems should at least be equal to restoration efforts.