Authenticity and Historical Fidelity in Ecological Restoration: The Case of Former U.S. Military Lands

University Of Colorado At Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs CO

Investigators

Abstract

In recent decades, hundreds of U.S. Department of Defense installations have closed as military infrastructure in the United States. Many of these military sites are heavily contaminated with toxic chemicals and unexploded ordnance; however, many of these same lands are ecologically rich and relatively undeveloped. This combination of characteristics has led to the conversion of almost two dozen former military bases to National Wildlife Refuges. The restoration of these military-to-wildlife (M2W) conversion sites raises important questions about restoration goals and the values that underlie them. This project investigates two key values in ecological restoration - authenticity and historical fidelity - and their relation to restoration at M2W sites. The research explicitly considers the values that underlie restoration goals at military-to-wildlife conversion sites and probes the extent to which these values and goals account for the sites' complex genealogies. The research will illuminate the critical ethical and practical question of what restoration should preserve, recreate, or obscure, while also addressing important issues facing managers of M2W lands as they develop restoration plans. Whether restoration should aim to recreate "pre-settlement conditions," "pre-military conditions," or have another goal, and how these goals produce authentic restorations or historically faithful ones, are questions of pressing practical importance. The philosophical portion of this study utilizes conceptual analysis to investigate existing conceptions of authenticity and historical fidelity in the ecological restoration literature. These results will be synthesized with empirical case studies of three M2W sites, involving document reviews, archival research, on-site visits, and interviews and surveys of land managers and refuge visitors.