Revegetation Priorities

Revegetation is a needed means of mitigating man-made and natural disturbance. Our current ability to address environmental insults contrasts sharply with that existing when John Muir fi rst sowed the roots of environmental awareness or Aldo Leopold and Hugh H. Bennett inspired a land ethic and a sense of stewardship. We now have considerable revegetation science and experience and—equally important—viable native-seed and revegetation industries expert in repairing environmental damage. Through the National Plant Materials program, related and usually cooperative work within state universities and other entities, and the development of ecological service industries, our society has heeded Leopold’s call to take pride in the “husbandry” of wild plants.1 Yet, wild-plant husbandry is now being questioned, as is the wisdom of much of the knowledge, experience, and use of plant materials developed over the past 3 to 5 decades. Controversy exists over the seed sources to be preferred and the intended outcome of revegetation projects. We have agreement that disturbed sites need to be stabilized, erosion minimized, and basic ecosystem processes maintained, but disagreement on the extent that revegetation should exactly reproduce the predisturbance plant community and within-species genetic composition. It is a question of priorities. Should preferential use of local plant materials be advocated as the best method to preserve genetic composition, or should available cultivars of native species, and other source identifi ed materials, be employed as the most expedient means for timely soil stabilization and long-term ecosystem-process restoration? There is agreement among land managers, Federal and state agencies, conservation groups, and scientists that the decisions should be based on research and science. There are hundreds of species on the rangelands of North America and rigorous genetic and adaptation studies have been conducted on only a few, so the scientifi c information base is small in comparison to that of cultivated crops. Our intent here is to summarize key aspects of this problem, suggest some potential approaches and solutions, and encourage further research.