Six Steps to Natural Areas Restoration & Management
A simple approach based on vegetation management techniques
~ Gregory T. Rajsky, CAE

1. Inventory
2. Planning
3. Removal of Alien Components
4. Seed Collection and Dispersal
5. Burning
6. Monitoring

INVENTORY includes abiotic elements such as hydrology, microclimates, soils and artifacts, as well as biotic elements like plants and animals (residents and visitors), lichens, fungi, etc. Before you can begin, you need baseline data.

PLANNING is an inerative process that must be renewed periodically as new data come to light. What are your goals for the site? Native biodiversity? Improved habitat? A low-maintenance, self-replicating plant community? Ecological function? Listen to the landscape--what does it want to become?

REMOVAL OF ALIEN COMPONENTS may include human artifacts as well as invasive species. Not all invasive species are exotic. Native maples, for example, may be out of place in an upland savanna.

SEED COLLECTION AND DISPERSAL serves to expand populations of desirable species and fosters native diversity by bolstering the plant matrix. Harvested seed of native species can be sown in areas cleared of unwanted species.

BURNING is necessary to the ecological health of most (but not all) plant communities native to the Chicago region. Grasslands, woodlands, even most wetlands here have evolved under a regimen of periodic fire.

MONITORING is the means by which progress is evaluated and future adjustments are made. Results of monitoring efforts feed back to the planning process. Any number of metrics can be established to evaluate results.

The process of restoring and managing natural areas is site-specific. Because each site is unique, there is no universal formula to ensure success. Patience is required because results may be slow to materialize. The process, however, can be as rewarding as the results.