We interviewed 69 restoration ecologists from across Canada to find out what works, and what information sources they regularly consult. What did we find?
When asked about the state of ecosystem restoration in Canada, our interview participants had many insightful comments. But as you can see, to the right, challenges abound and yet there is also opportunity for growth.
Some of our interview participants had some fascinating insights.
To actually get funded to do restoration on a full time basis is a rare, rare opportunity across the country. And that really for restoration to realize its full potential needs to be somehow taken up by corporations, governments, institutions in some way to support restoration on an ongoing basis.
A lot of the restoration projects are pretty shoestring. You’ll get just enough money to do a thing, but that to me, that’s not a healthy landscape; it’s just a push to try to get it somewhere a bit more functional. I think ultimately we’re trying to reach a point of stewardship that benefits things beyond the human scope. And I don’t think that with the resourcing we have now, it’s not wholly achievable.
[Canada is] Late to the party in terms of policy and procedure, and best practices. And funding, in terms of prioritizing. [Word] Number two; Exciting I think, because of the opportunities. Maybe that’s one word that describes it, because so little has been done. There’s so many opportunities to do things based on best practices developed elsewhere. You know, learning from other people’s mistakes.