Creating Woodland Islets to Reconcile Ecological Restoration, Conservation, and Agricultural Land Use

BAckground

The paper recognizes that there exists an agriculture and conservation paradox - agriculture is frequently in conflict with the other environmental services that forests provide. Thus, the authors review existing approaches to woodland restoration and consider the use of the woodland islets approach. 

Conclusions & Takeaways

Pros and cons are present between natural regeneration and active restoration.  Natural regeneration is much cheaper than active restoration, but much more random and dependent upon nearby vegetation.  It also may be constrainted by arrested succession.  Active regeneration on the other hand is effective but expensive. One hybrid strategy that could utilize the best of bet worlds would be to actively plant woodland islets - local scale management interventions that could promote natural regeneration over landscape-scale areas. The woodland islets could also provide other types of ecoystem or agricultural services before full conversion to forest land.