(Excerpt from Watson Woods Comprehensive Plan 1996)

Restoration Plan Goals

The Watson Woods Restoration Plan strives to establish a state of desired
ecological equilibrium for the riparian ecosystem within the Watson Woods
Riparian Preserve and aims at identifying means to reach this state.

Restoration Philosophy (Also See Appendix J - Restoration Philosophy)

Restoration is defined as “to bring back to health or a normal condition.”6 It isderived from the Latin word restaurare, which means “to place again.”
This plan’s philosophy identifies restoration as a form of applied ecology in
which ecosystem potentials are derived from 1. historic descriptions of preanglo systems, 2. current comparison areas and 3. physiographic models. It is recognized that historic models are not always available, and that current
conditions often preclude ideals from being attained. It is also accepted that
vegetation will be the common perspective for approaching ecosystem
restoration (if the vegetation is being restored, then it is assumed that fauna will consequently occupy developing niches). In lieu of the ideal, a balance must be sought in which current conditions and available information are blended and balanced with theoretical and historic potentials.

It is also important to establish the importance of functional restoration versus
member restoration. Restoring members of a system (for instance, planting
trees) simply treats immediate symptoms of dysfunction; restoring ecosystem
functions (for instance, riparian recruitment) enables a system to produce
members on its own.

Assuring long-term restoration viability necessitates changing the human
perception of the system being affected. It is pertinent to involve people in the
actual restoration work in order to restore their connection with the damaged
landscape in a way that reduces the potential of future degradation. In this
manner, one of the root causes of system breakdown is being addressed.
In summary, the most ideal situation occurs when the best historic and
ecological models have been used to help the system reach a state of functional equilibrium; this provides for stewardship rather than domination.

How the Restoration Plan Relates to the Rest of Comprehensive Plan

The Restoration Plan relies heavily on and must be coordinated with the
Inventory and Monitoring Program. Specific projects will need to be created
6 The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition copyright © 1992 by Houghton-Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from InfoSoft International, Inc. All rights reserved.

for monitoring and evaluating restoration projects. Effort will be made to
integrate certain restoration projects with the Environmental Education
Program providing opportunity for community involvement. Restoration sites
may need to be closed off to the public during and after work has occurred; it will be the responsibility of management to deal with such issues.

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