Every natural area or restoration site is unique in its many characteristics—moisture, light levels, slopes, amount or absence of leaf or grass litter, variations in plant assemblages, degree of disturbance, level of invasiveness, types of invasives, and so many more. Because of this, there’s no standard procedure that can be universally applied to ecological restoration.
In this discussion we’ll begin to talk about how to read the landscape from a restoration perspective in order to decide what management efforts to use and which to avoid, where to start and what to leave for later, and how to listen to what the site tells us about our early (or later) efforts.