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Reviewed by:
  • Ecological Restoration by Susan M. Galatowitsch
  • Truman P. Young (bio)
Ecological Restoration Susan M. Galatowitsch. 2012. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates. Hardcover: $90.00. ISBN: 978-0878936076. 550pages.

After many years of promises and false starts, we now have not one, but two texts appropriate to be core references for academic courses in restoration ecology. I will not attempt a formal comparison of the two texts, but this stand-alone review is written with the other text in mind (see my 2012 review of Introduction to Restoration Ecology, by Evelyn Howell, John Harrington, and Steven Glass; Ecological Restoration 30:426). For example, both texts give less coverage of succession as a driver of regeneration and passive restoration than I believe is due. In particular, the dramatic resurgence of the Eastern deciduous forest in the United States is a shared glaring omission. Both texts also give little attention to the issue of cost-effectiveness of restoration techniques; however, this topic is under-represented in scholarly publications as well.

Ecological Restoration, by Susan M. Galatowitsch, is a well-written, well-produced, and well-illustrated overview of the science of restoration ecology. The text is clear and readable. It recognizes the biological, social, and (to a lesser degree) economic aspects of modern restoration. It deservedly will become a required text in many restoration ecology courses, and should be on the shelves of restoration researchers and practitioners, along with the Howell and others book.

The book is divided into three parts. Part I describes the conceptual, ecological, planning, and management bases for ecological restoration, with chapters on diagnosis and goal setting, planning, social and institutional support, and monitoring and evaluation. These cover the appropriate topics well. As with the Howell text, this book provides a description of recommended restoration protocols that is exhaustive (and to many practitioners may seem exhausting). The fact that most restoration projects (especially local, low-budget projects) do not have the resources to fulfill all of these modeling and organizational recommendations need not discourage them from moving forward, and this could be more explicitly stated in the text. Setting a high standard, however, is not a bad thing.

Part II is devoted to specific restoration activities and taxa, in chapters addressing landforms and hydrology, soil and water quality, plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. This broad range of restoration activities is handled well. The animal chapters are useful and may help engage a broader audience, but I was expecting more practical planting information, as this activity makes up the great majority of most restoration projects, and is here represented by 10% of the book. But I am perhaps unfair here—this book is not intended to be a practitioners’ handbook. [End Page 424]

Each of the chapters in Part I and II ends with a useful summary and a section titled “Apply What You’ve Learned”. I encourage instructors to come up with their own set of application thought exercises (and field exercises) adapted to local ecosystems. In fact, is it too soon to ask for a ‘lab manual’ for field courses in ecological restoration? (See, I am spoiled already.)

The 19 case histories that make up the last quarter of the book (Part III) are particularly welcome. They represent a wide variety of habitats, goals, and regions throughout the world, although more than three-fourths are from the developed world (as are most of the planet’s restoration projects). There were even a few examples of mistakes overcome, which can be the most instructive.

As with any book, I have a few quibbles. The anti-Western/Northern sociological bent evident in the first two chapters is both quaint and less than forthright. The idea that prior to European contact, traditional cultures of the world were not also environmentally destructive is a distraction, and demonstrably untrue. And the converse, the fact that the move toward conservation/restoration for non-extractive value over the last century or so is largely a Western innovation, is overlooked. This is perhaps diminished by the fact that modern conservation/restoration seems to be abandoning biodiversity for its own sake as its primary justification in favor of materialistic “ecosystem function,” to its peril (and this book continues...

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