Conserving nature
At the end of the 19th century Canada created its first national park, located in Banff. From the beginning the park’s system would be a vehicle for tourism and recreation, as well as resource extraction. Under the pretense of conserving natural areas for public use, Canada would be ‘commodifying’ nature for profit, while strengthening its hold on Indigenous land. Establishing national parks or other natural conservation areas would always go with the displacement and dispossession of Indigenous people.

What?

Restoration looks at the (un)intended effects of nature restoration policies on the landscape of Amiskwaciwâskahikan within the contemporary political-economic context of Amiskwaciwâskahikan. It asks whether and how nature can be restored after disturbance by industrial and agricultural activities; how and what kind of ‘nature’ is created through these restoration practices; and how these practices are linked to global capitalism.

Categorizing plants
The question of whether and how a natural area can be restored to its original state, inevitably becomes linked to the question of native plants. Should natural areas only contain native plants to be considered restored? Who decides what plants are native and non-native? Who decides which plants are considered weeds that need to get rid of? And what concept of nature lies behind these decisions? The spread of invasive plants has initiated a political discourse, where concerned citizens, organizations, farmers and politicians each have their own stake in what plant gets what label.

Growing trees and plants for restoration
Sites are cleared, trees moved, soil layers removed. Then trees need to come back. How do you plant trees? What is enough? When you take away hundred year old trees, is it if you put in the seeds of the same amount of trees, even if it would take hundreds of years for them to grow as tall as the ones that were there before? There are two ways to plant trees. Either you plant cuttings directly into the ground or you plant seedlings. In the latter case seedlings have to be grown somewhere else, years before they get their destination in this or that reclaimed area. Where do these seedlings come from?

Reclaiming disturbed sites
In addition to conservation, Canada has several stipulation that obligate companies to ‘reclaim’ the lands they have used for industrial activities. In theory, an area should be restored to its original state after the end of the extraction project. However, in reality this is almost never possible. In practice natural areas should be restored to a ‘functional’ state. What does this mean and what kind of ‘nature’ is created through these processes?

Report

Weed control
Categorizing a plant as this or that facilitates certain measures, that have material consequences for the landscape.When maintaining gardens and restoring nature, you’re doing business: business in seeds, herbicides, fertilizer, plants, soil, equipment. People don’t want any ‘weeds’, so whatever is considered a ‘weed’ is gotten rid of by herbicides or other measures. In fact, people are obliged to control invasive weeds when they find them on their property. This way plants have an influence on urban planning and the other way around: both influence each other. The problems is that what many people consider ‘weeds’ are plants necessary for insects.