Ruderal+Ecology

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=Ruderal Ecologies as the Urban Zone 5= with Oliver Kellhammer

Oliver's [|posts] that mention "ruderal" from his weblog, [|The Show So Far] Oliver's [|ruderal slide show] and [|more photos].
 * [|Ruderal] Ecologies**- looking at Urban zone 5

What is [|urban zone 5?] Degraded land, post-industrial, concrete islands...

What happens when you leave these spots alone?

The weeds move in...Himalayan blackberry, scotch broom, European grasses and natives like cottonwood trees. If you leave these alone long enough, biodiversity emerges, including native plants. [[|America's most wanted plants]]

**Nature: The Sequel**
Where Scotch Broom is seen as an nitrogen fixer that goes where others fear to tread and Cottonwood trees perform heroic feats of erosion control.

//what's happening here?//
Oliver created a [|ruderal, botanical garden] for the World Urban Forum in Vancouver, 2006. Except he didn't want to "create" anything; the idea was to leave the urban dynamic alone. Voila the [|concrete island], isolated from the surrounding landscape. Everything contained within arrived via some kind of vector; wind and birds planted the seeds that grew into Herb Robert, Cottonwood, Wild Rose, Himalayan Blackberry. Labels were attached with a 1-800 number. Dial and learn my children. Brave callers embarked on a magical mystery tour of these demonic plants. Relationships were forged, expectations challenged. [Are there any digital traces of these messages we could post here?] (I'll see what I can do, I terminated the 1-800 number but still have the text somewhere.)

[|A former railway bed] in False Creek, Vancouver. A degraded ecology. "Ruined" but full of life:


 * plant life is stubborn, alpine-like
 * a forest of birch and cottonwood trees
 * shore birds like sandpipers using this as a beach environment
 * an ephemeral marsh supporting frogs
 * Habitat for migratory wildlife; Eagles, Coyotes and Red-tailed hawks are witnessed
 * Homeless people seek shelter in abandoned pipes

The very best thing we can do for some species is to just leave them alone. It's the absence of humans (the settling type anyway) that creates the opportunity for restoration.

[|Learn from Chernobyl.] It's the last remaining habitat for some species of birds and wild horses. The short lives of wild creatures protects them from the radioactive illnesses that conquer us. Read [|Wormwood Forest: A Natural History of Chernobyl]