“An infamous media type said, ‘In essence we’re a conceited naked ape but in our mind we’re a divine legend and we see ourselves as some sort of God that we can walk around the earth deciding who will live and die and what will be destroyed and saved.’ Wilderness has no gods or one almighty. All is equal in life and death and just simply being. The rich tapestry of a wilderness includes the naked ape, but does not sustain those that want to dominate it. It then becomes something else.” Posted by: Travis at May 7, 2008 08:07 AM
Near Wentworth, Blue Mountains, photo taken April 27, 2008
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Under the expected emission trading schemes the Qld govt is moving to retain the funds by purchasing more wilderness for restoration.
A perceived win/win.
Their past record however, ranges from pretty ordinary to woeful.
As a for instance, Fraser Island which was resumed 30 years ago to protect our wildlife has simply become a dingo nursery.
The dingo being an Asian dog that arrived 3.5-4,000 years ago and as feral as the cane toad and a killing machine that our ground dwellers never evolved with and can’t cope with.
There is more biodiversity on North Stradbroke, a similar island with all the industry and activity that Fraser had before Nat Parks spent all our money.
When it comes to regenerating “wilderness” it is important to remember that along with a good dose of exotic weeds, we still have a good flora bank which means we can always replace the flora but our fauna balance is a little shaky and we can’t afford to lose much of what’s left.
A sheet of iron lying on the ground can be a vital refuge for many vulnerable species.
In this era of fragmented wilderness infested by ferals this sheet of iron is part of the new wilderness.
Too much “wilderness regeneration” is based on garden club mentality.
Shucks Jen, thanks. I don’t think any words can do justice to your lovely photo.
A sheet of iron, like a rusted car, may be an important refuge for some endemics, but it may also be a refuge for exotics. What lead to the sheet of iron or car getting to that spot in the first place, with clearing and development and an environmental change should not be justification for removing the original habitat of that endemic and then letting it remain in that state.
How much of wilderness is what we can’t see? When you look at the beautiful cascade in the photo you see trees and ferns, and it looks like a quiet place for fauna. But the moss on the rocks is home to tardigrades and springtails, the rotting log under the ferns has nematodes, isopods and maybe even peripatus, under the leaves are leaf-curling spiders and wolf spiders are under the bark, further downstream are the brilliant red yabbies you see in the Blue Mountains. These invertebrates are intricately linked to the cycle of life and death in the small area captured in the photo, and are just as important as the eastern-barred bandicoots living in the car dump or the marsh snake living under the sheet of tin.
Travis, you’re missing the point here.
When it comes to wilderness regeneration don’t destroy the last refuge of what has struggled to survive in order to create something that you think should look like that lovely picture.
Wilderness regen has nothing to do with landscape architecture.
Inspite of what backyard makeover TV would have us believe.
Tamborineman,
No point missed. Wilderness regeneration is different from wilderness preservation. As an insurance policy there has been a successful captive breeding program for EBBs (as an example), regardless of them living in a dump ‘in the wild’. No one is out to destroy the dump, but establishing a captive-bred colony in a far more appropriate environment is better than relying on the dump alone.
I’ve never seen the likes of Jamie Durie tackle wilderness regeneration, but then I prefer David Attenborough 🙂
Wilderness regeneration is usually done by a group of volunteers who start by clearing the “ugly areas”, often with machinery, and any refuge quality is thoroughly removed.
The area is quickly planted, staked, watered etc., and voila! wilderness!
But no wild life and maybe none for years.
If that same area had a few natives planted progressively by a much smaller group with minimal disturbance, fauna and flora would both thrive and those “ugly areas” would slowly dissappear.
It’s much easier, you just don’t get instant results but you get better ones long term.
As the doctors say, “First, do no harm”.
Travis, I was under the impression I was talking about wilderness regeneration and restoration.
I agree, preservation of established wilderness is many other things.
It also makes better television than regeneration.
I should have said that preservation also has a common thread with reg. and rest. particularly in relation to preserving existing fauna.
Wilderness regeneration is an oxymoron. Unless, you can restore the lost gods and spirit places as well.
Maybe the most relevant film ever made about about “wilderness” is Princess Mononoke.
I know its anime. Yet there is something sublime in the way it handles the destruction of wilderness in medieval Japan…so utterly unsoiled by the prejudices of western environmentalism that is shockingly refreshing.
A must see for “What is Wilderness” types.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Mononokegslw
Wes, in that case wilderness does not exist anywhere on earth.
Civilisations have well and truly trampled all wildernesses long before they were ever set aside.
I live next door to the oldest NP in Qld and the second oldest in Aust and it was logged and grazed 50 years before it was gazetted.
Non virgin wilderness is still pretty acceptable provided it gets respected and looked after.
sorry bad link above.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Mononoke