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Sometime around eight hundred years ago, man first arrived on the Hawaiian islands. While there is some question about what precisely happened next, it is clear that man's arrival was a very bad thing for the native flora and fauna. There were mass extinctions, some of them occuring very early in man's time on the islands, some of them later.
A scientist, David Burney, arrived to examine the Hawaiian islands in recent history. He had experience in using archelogical techniques, combined with advanced dating techniques and extensive experience in identifying extinct species of animals from their fossilized bones, and plants from their fossilized pollen. His biggest task was to locate a place on the islands with undisturbed soil stratas that would allow him to examine them to identify past species while at the same time carefully documenting the dates that plants and animals went extinct.
Now, let's combine the two data sets of extinction and identification into a new strategy for replacing lost ecologies. Digging in a relatively undisturbed cave on Kaua'i, Burney was able to place extinctions on a time-line and show a rough - exact really - correlation between the presense of first, initial explorers from other Pacific islands, and second, the first arrival of Western explorers. Now for the interesting part: Burney suggests that, using his data, he can suggest what plants to re-establish in Hawaii to recreate or closely simulate the environment before man arrived, including plants and animals. In fact, working with various agencies and land-holders on the island, he has begun work on re-introducing extinct species.
Obviously, there is a question of why this is important. It ends up that the older, now extinct, plants and animals are more sustainable. Keeping the gene pool dense with all the different species is easier to do in native habitats rather than in the green house. We can stop extinctions and environmental degradation, and provide a map for a future of newly introduced plants similar to extinct plants that will eventually be ecologically lush.
Reintroduction of extinct species into locales they were driven from is a possibility for large portions of the western United States because (and this is where it becomes interesting) some landholder like Ted Turner (who owns millions of wester US acres) wants to return his land to a "pre-man" state, or certainly, pre-whiteman state of ecological soundness and diversity. Using the methods of identification using archeology, etc. Turner is able to, with great assuredness, recreate sustainable environments soundly based on real historical data.
Re-wilding. A new word to add to the sustainability wars just kicking off because of global warming and the future necessity of replacing our oil-based energy economy with sustainable local "substitutes".
Reference
Burney, David A. Back to the Future in the Caves of Kaua'i. A Scientist's Adventures in the Dark. Yale University Press. 2010.