298x300.jpg?resize=298%2C300&ssl=1" alt="" width="298" height="300">

How did animals and people influence the landscape for hundreds of thousands, and even millions of years, before the rise of civilization?

https://www.thepermaculturepodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Episode1801.mp3

Click here to download the episode. | Open Player in New Window

That question provides the framework for Wilson Alvarez and his current work, The Reintegration Project, which examines the prehistoric ecosystem engineers of the Eastern United States as a way to understand how permaculture practitioners and rewilders can use biomimicry to replicate those influences and restore the landscape.

To dig into this question and the solutions he’s found, Wilson shares his thoughts on harmonic disturbance; functional extinction; taxon vs. mechanical substitution as two different approaches to land management for conversation rewilding; and how to bolster the ecosystem by planning for correct disturbances of the correct size at the correct time.

As one of my teachers, colleagues, and friends this interview with Wilson has less structure as we didn’t need an introduction to get started so we just started talking, with the interview beginning with an explanation of the idea of niche construction.

To find out more about Wilson and his work as a permaculture practitioner and rewilder, listen to our earlier interviews:

1347 – Restoring Eden with Wilson Alvarez and Ben Weiss 1405 – Listener Questions on Zone 4 Permaculture with Wilson Alvarez and Ben Weiss 1411 – Rewilding with Wilson Alvarez and Ben Weiss

I’d also like to say that for anyone in the Mid-Atlantic the Horn Farm Center is an incredible resource for anyone interested in Agriculture, Permaculture, and Rewilding. Jon Darby, who appeared in the first group discussion of the podcast many years ago (Part 1) (Part 2), is the education director there and focuses on offering classes in these areas, often with Wilson as a lead instructor. Check out the events page and see if there is anything might be of interest to you.

—

My conversations with Wilson always restore some of my hope that we can achieve a number of our ecological, landscape, and management goals because of the way he provides practical, replicable advice on how to tackle the hard issues facing us.  He continually develops ways to face the difficult tasks of working on the edges to manage the landscape and to do so with simple tools.

Though there are some ethical and legal issues we’ll probably need to discuss at some point before taking these practices to the required landscape scale, right now you can use the four ecosystems engineers that Wilson shared today — the beaver, wolf, elephant, and wild human — and look for similar prehistoric landscape changers in your area and how they impacted the land and begin applying the mechanical disturbances they did, now, where you are.

If, after listening to this episode you dive into the research of your local ecological engineers, I’d love to hear what you find and the ways they created disturbances.

Call: 717-827-6266 Email: show@thepermaculturepodcast.com Write:

The Permaculture Podcast P.O. Box 16 Dauphin, PA 17018

From here the next interview is my conversation with Michael Judd on Natural Burials.

Support the Podcast Make a One-time Donation Become a Patreon member

The Fifth World Learn more at TheFifthWorld.com/rpg Download the Rules (Direct Link – PDF)

The Possibility Handbook See updates on this project and my other work on Instagram Learn more about the project and becoming an agent of change

Patreon Exclusives Wilson Alvarez – Practicing Permaculture On The Edge The Permaculture Earthworks Giveaway (Closes January 11, 2018) The Forest Garden Greenhouse Giveaway (Closes January 18, 2018)

Resources 1411 – Rewilding with Wilson Alvarez and Ben Weiss 1405 – Listener Questions on Zone 4 Permaculture with Wilson Alvarez and Ben Weiss 1347 – Restoring Eden with Wilson Alvarez and Ben Weiss Horn Farm Center Donate to Horn Farm Center and support The Reintegration Project The Forest Man of India (YouTube) Jadav Payeng (The Forest Man of India – Wikipedia) The Biggest Estate on Earth by Bill Gammage Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv 1535 – Beyond the War on Invasive Species (Tao Orion) 1718 – Nomad Seed Project (Zach Elfers)