Tao Orion - Beyond the War on Invasive Species: A Permaculture Approach to Ecosystem Restoration

Praise for Beyond the War on Invasive Species

A gathering body of evidence against the scale of chemical interventions in both agriculture and wild nature is fueling a battle of geopolitical proportions. In the process of asking the questions about how best to restore nature, Orion exposes a deep ethical corruption at the heart of both ecological science and the environmental movement.

DAVID HOLMGREN , from the Foreword

Beyond the War on Invasive Species is a devastating expos of the military-industrial invasive species complex and a sorely needed and impeccably researched volume that should become one of many as we recover from self-destructive attempts to eradicate parts of nature instead of acting with an understanding of the whole.

BEN FALK , author of The Resilient Farm and Homestead and founder of Whole Systems Design

Beyond the War on Invasive Species is part of a new, much more nuanced conversation about invasive species that is taking place in science, agriculture, and land management. It provides an analysis of the new science that looks for ecosystem function as well as harm from newly arrived species, looks at species migration in the context of climate change, and broadens our conversation to look at these organisms in the context of the human ecological footprint. Orion offers land-management guidelines, based in permaculture design process, that help to chart a new way forward in our new land of novel ecosystems.

ERIC TOENSMEIER , author of Paradise Lot and Perennial Vegetables

An interesting and valuable contribution to the ongoing refutation of invasive species ideology. Detailed and wide-ranging, Orion extends and deepens several analyses of invasionism, and offers several interesting new perspectives. She points to holistic systems management as an alternative to the current war on invasives. Land managers and invasionists would do well to give it a careful read.

D.I. THEODOROPOLOUS , author of Invasion Biology: Critique of a Pseudoscience

Beyond the War on Invasive Species creates an essential pathway for deeper care of the Earth. The holistic perspective of invasives is shared through deep experience and thoughtfulness and ultimately leads us to a greater and more aligned role in restoration of our homes ecosystems in these changing times. This book offers a critical role in civilizations evolution and highlights actions that recognize deeper values that benefit our society as a whole.

KATRINA BLAIR , author of The Wild Wisdom of Weeds: 13 Essential Plants for Human Survival

In her fascinating and highly readable book, Beyond the War on Invasive Species , author Tao Orion points out the shortcomings of our current approach toward landscape restoration and invasive species. Rather than seeing these exotic plants and animals simply as invaders that need to be eradicated, she argues, we should recognize the beneficial role they play in the environment and the many essential services they could provide to human beings. Embracing rampancy, as Orion exuberantly puts it, turns the perceived problem of invasive species into practical solutions that also allow us to make peace with both the land and ourselves.

LARRY KORN , author of One-Straw Revolutionary: The Philosophy and Work of Masanobu Fukuoka

Some of our most productive and tasty plants in the permaculture landscape are vilified as invasive weeds that need controlling. This is a mindset that also promotes a delineation between conservation and agriculture. My personal response is to cultivate fewer conventional annual vegetables and grow and eat as many of these weeds as is appropriate, creating an extensive, diverse, and resilient forage system in my own backyard. It is time to stop putting land management into boxes and create wildlife habitats and food in stacked systems.

Tao Orion explains how to take advantage of the vigor of invasive edible and useful exotics and harvest them. This is how to bring ecosystems back into balance. This is adaptive permaculture thinking at the broad-scale level. Chelsea Green has produced yet another pioneering book, demonstrating how permaculture is way ahead of conventional land-management practices.

MADDY HARLAND , editor of Permaculture magazine, cofounder of The Sustainability Centre in the UK, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts

This book brings much-needed balance to the overheated debate about so-called invasive species. Tao Orions meticulously researched yet engaging work shows that the true culprits are nearly always human-caused disturbance and development, and that species shifts are a symptom, not a cause, of this habitat destruction. Beyond the War on Invasive Species is an important book that offers a path away from unsuccessful restoration effortsbased on poor science and policyand toward new, ecologically sound programs for building and preserving biodiversity.

TOBY HEMENWAY , author of Gaias Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture and The Permaculture City: Regenerative Design for Urban, Suburban, and Town Resilience

Tao Orion has brought together personal experience, careful study, and visionary thinking to turn us toward becoming useful people of place. Her exploration widens the narrow concept of invasion (so often repeated but seldom carefully thought through) and elucidates the trouble of shortsightedness. We are not threatened by aliens, but rather we are turning our backs on the big picture.

TOM WARD , author of Greenward, Ho! Herbal Home Remedies and cofounder of Siskiyou Permaculture

Copyright 2015 by Tao Orion.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

Work Song copyright 2012 by Wendell Berry, from New Collected Poems . Reprinted by permission of Counterpoint.

Project Manager: Alexander Bullett

Developmental Editor: Brianne Goodspeed

Copy Editor: Deborah Heimann

Proofreader: Brianne Bardusch

Indexer: Peggy Holloway

Designer: Melissa Jacobson

Printed in the United States of America.

First printing June, 2015.

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Our Commitment to Green Publishing

Chelsea Green sees publishing as a tool for cultural change and ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book manufacturing practices with our editorial mission and to reduce the impact of our business enterprise in the environment. We print our books and catalogs on chlorine-free recycled paper, using vegetable-based inks whenever possible. This book may cost slightly more because it was printed on paper that contains recycled fiber, and we hope youll agree that its worth it. Chelsea Green is a member of the Green Press Initiative ( www.greenpressinitiative.org ), a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the worlds endangered forests and conserve natural resources. Beyond the War on Invasive Species was printed on paper supplied by McNaughton & Gunn that contains 100% postconsumer recycled fiber.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Orion, Tao, 1980

Beyond the war on invasive species : a permaculture approach to ecosystem restoration / Tao Orion.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-60358-563-7 (pbk.) ISBN 978-1-60358-564-4 (ebook)

1. Permaculture. 2. Restoration ecology. 3. Introduced organismsControl. 4. Endemic animalsConservation. 5. Endemic plantsConservation. I. Title. II. Title: Permaculture approach to ecosystem restoration.