Edward's Environmental Home Improvement Blog

Growing Pains: Three Problems Tackled By Bush Regeneration, and How They're Solved

26 December 2017 by Terrence Gregory

Few countries boast a natural environment like Australia's. With its vast open spaces left to the wilderness, you may think that this is one country in which humans are just borrowing the land, and it's still largely taking care of itself. However, that couldn't be further from the truth. Unfortunately, human interference has caused a great number of problems for the bush, and it's in sore need of protection to ensure that these habitats remain preserved for future generations—and for their own sake. Here are three issues that bush regeneration efforts aim to solve, and how exactly they're going about that.

Lack of Plant Diversity

As plant species are overeaten or overfarmed, whether by humans or by animals, it can lead to an imbalance in the local flora and fauna, and some plants may die out from certain areas entirely. Bush regeneration experts keep an eye out for which plant species are struggling from certain areas and which have vanished entirely, and they then carefully reintroduce them in a way that won't tip the scales and harm another plant species.

Reversing Direct Environmental Damage

In some cases, the link between humans and wildlife is less subtle. Expansion into once-unpopulated areas can cause a variety of different issues for its original occupants. For example, an increase in pollution may cause local species to weaken and drop in number, or pollution could kill a certain type of fish living in a river downstream from a factory. While the actual effects are usually subtler than this and require expert eyes to spot them, this is illustrative of the kinds of effects that bush regeneration experts are there to combat. They use a combination of practical solutions and diplomacy to try and reach a compromise between the human and natural worlds.

Species Management

Sometimes, it's not just humans who cause the problems. An excess of a specific weed, for example, may be choking out other native flora and fauna. A growth spurt in a local animal population may entirely offset the balance of the area. When these things happen, bush management specialists are tasked to reduce the issue by culling back the offending plants and relocating problematic groups of animals. It requires a delicate hand and long-term observation and understanding of any given area—the kind of knowledge that doesn't spring up overnight.

These are only a small number of things that a bush regeneration team might be expected to deal with, but it does demonstrate the kind of skills that are required, and the level of observation that they need to maintain. It's no easy task, but the argument could be made that it's among the most important for ensuring Australia's future.

Share  

Search