MITIGATION AND MANAGEMENT OF DAMAGED 

 ECOSYSTEMS OR DAMAGED HABITAT: OVERVIEW 



Robert H. Giles, Jr. 



Nature is a mitigator. When a tree falls, it is replaced. When an oxbow of a stream 

 overflows, a new channel is created. The old channel is reformed so that, without 

 much effort, it can be imagined that a lake is traded for a stream. Rarely are such 

 natural processes considered mitigation. Rather, they are seen as replacement, 

 growth, and successional phenomena. Mitigation has taken on some very special 

 legal and regulatory connotations. But before discussing these, it is useful to 

 remember and rethink the major natural mitigation forces at work. By understanding 

 this concept, it may be possible to not only see damage more clearly but also to 

 establish a standard for determining how bad (or well ofQ things really are. For 

 example, a particular phenomenon which we observe may be judged "bad." If we see 

 it occurring naturally, and can also see what changes follow the event, we can then 

 better answer questions about "how bad" and about reasonable expectations for 

 recovery. 



There are some ama/ing things happening in nature: prolonged drought, volcanic 

 eruptions, floods, creation of lakes from earth slides, forest fires, tornadoes, ice 

 storms, and massive insect outbreaks. These are all natural phenomena, which 

 probably occurred before people were around. They cause major changes in 

 ecosystems and habitats where animals (including people) live. An interesting aspect 

 of all of these ecosystems is that none is static. All undergo drastic change. These 

 changes are often grouped under the concept of succession. This means, briefly, that 

 there is a series of identifiable, quite predictable, stages through which every new 

 body of water, bare rock, or clear land will go. In the eastern U.S., for example, the 

 stages often consist of mosses, small plants, softwood trees (e.g.. pine), and finally 

 hardwoods (e.g., oaks). Each part of the country, each biome, has its own 

 successional pattern. Each biome has quite different rates of succession. The changes 

 are very much a function of solar energy, temperature, and moisture. 



Catastrophe and change are natural. Sickness and death of plants and animals are 

 natural. Almost all wildlife have high parasite loads and latent disease organisms. 

 The concerns voiced about the environment are not about natural changes alone but 

 about a variety of new causes of change, new rates of change, the sequences of the 

 changes, and their interactions. 



Before discussing each of these, it is important to get a good grasp of the concept of 

 "damage." It is an ambiguous word and failureto understand it can lead to some very 

 peculiar conclusions and strategies of action in the name of mitigation. Damage is 

 any physical change in a resource or part of an ecosystem that has significant 

 detrimental effects to a particular group of people. Damage includes Injury plus 

 Negative Valuation. There are many consequences of such an understanding, a few of 

 which are; 



The Author: Dr. Giles is Professor, Dept. of Fisheries and Wildlife Services. Virginia Polytechnic Institute 

 and State University at Blacksburg. He has worked as a biologist in Virginia, and taught big game 

 management at the University of Idaho. His teaching and research at Virginia Tech concerns computer 

 systems for planning power line, mine reclamation, airport site location, watershed, and forestry land uses. 



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