Rampant Destruction

One of the more foreign aspects of ecological restoration is the destruction sometimes involved in order to fix a broken situation.  I spent last week doing a bit of that constructive destrution.  I'm not sure how many milliions of plants we killed, but it is all part of returning the land to its former glory.  Since the removal of wild fire from the natural ecosystem, lands that were once a rich grassland and savanah are now choked with brush.

 

 

In order to remove the brush, one of several options must be employed.  The best choice is fire, but if there isn't enough fine fuel (ie grass) still growing under the brush that becomes no longer a viable option.  Another choice is to go in with a herbicide.  I don't really consider this to be a good choice, due to the enviromental toxicity of the herbicides.  The last method of clearing is using heavy metal. 

 

 

This particular hunk of metal grinds the brush into a mulch which will protect the soil over the winter.  When spring time rolls around we will go to the next step of this restoration projet which is planting native grasses and forbs.  With a little luck and some rain this area should soon be back to same condition it was in precolumbian times.