Practice Highlight: Biocultural Restoration
/Biocultural restoration is the science and practice of restoring ecosystems, including the human and cultural relationships within those ecosystems. It is based on the concept that humans and nature are intimately linked, and that each can have a positive impact on the health of the other.
Indigenous cultures have impacted environments and species for millennia through plant dispersal and the maintenance and proliferation of plants with favorable traits (e.g., large, fleshy fruits, edible seeds). They have also developed generational, observation-based knowledge of how to do this in a way that allows them to manage local and regional resources sustainably.
Biocultural restoration seeks to apply and scale this indigenous ecological knowledge in restoration science with the goal of developing a sustainable reciprocal relationship between people and the regional environment. Humans tend and care for the land while improving their own quality of life through cultivation, foraging, community connection, and time in nature.
Agroforestry integrates with biocultural restoration at restoration sites through the use of plant guilds, combining annuals and perennials, and multi-story cropping on degraded landscapes to mimic the diversity and complexity found in natural ecosystems.
At our PNW restoration sites, natives and select cultivated plants, along with companion plants and a diverse array of structures, niches, and habitats are established in order to not only rebuild a fully functional local ecosystem, but to also provide plants for other restoration sites, as well as culturally significant foods, medicines, and materials.
Interested in learning more about biocultural restoration? Contact Snohomish Conservation District’s Agroforester, Carrie Brausieck, at cbrausieck@snohomishcd.org or 703-407-8341.
