Whyman and her husband bought a mountainside in Virginia. Love of nature and a need to escape urban pressures led to the purchase. One part of the property was a former meadow, previously used for growing crops and later for grazing animals. Now it was overgrown and threatened by numerous non-native plants.
With a nice sense of humor, Whyman describes how she worked months and then years, and spent considerable money, to restore the meadow. In her concern for the desirable plants, animals, and insects on her property Whyman at first resisted controlled burns and herbicides. One invasive plant that helped modify her views was the blackberry – wildly invasive here in western Washington, too. She came to accept the burns but continued to limit herbicides to the least amount she could, feeling anguish at every drop applied.
One change in her approach that began early was acceptance of help. She sought out experts who instructed and assisted her, both restoration gurus and experienced workers. She found Celia Vuocolo, from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, for instance, to assess her property and create a plan. After considerable searching she found Brian Morse, an ecological restoration expert, who differed from others in NOT recommending to begin by spraying to kill all the plants in the meadow. It has taken a small army to make the changes Whyman wanted.
Years ago
May Watts, a naturalist at the Morton Arboretum near Chicago, made gentle fun of the Arboretum’s development of a restored prairie, now the Schulenberg Prairie. I remember her saying something like, “When you are finished, you won’t have a prairie. You will have a prairie garden.” It will always require tending, unlike a natural prairie. Whyman’s accomplishments are many, but in the end she came to realize that like a garden, her restored meadow will need regular hard work.
Bad Naturalist makes clear the many challenges facing any effort to restore degraded land and the satisfactions of each small success.
