[APWG] Fw: [PCA] CONFERENCE: Ecosystem Restoration (Kansas City, KC - Apr 22-27)

[Craig Dremann]

Dear All,

I was looking at the agenda of the April 2007 Ecological Restoration
conference sponsored by the Army Corp. of Engineers in Kansas, at 
http://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/NCER2007/index.html#agenda and was very,
very disappointed to see a session on "ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT".

Some professionals in ecological restoration, interpret the words
"Adaptive Management" to mean, that you really "don't know how to do the
project, and you haven't invested in the time or money to invent the
technologies you need to do the job, so you are going to use the project
to hopefully invent something that works."

That way of thinking has produced a third of a century so far, of
projects that are in the trash-heap of time, especially out here in the
arid West.

What I'm recommending instead, is to uncouple the ecological restoration
technologies from the projects, and start investing in, and working on,
inventing successful technologies themselves, that are pre-tested and
actually work in small-scale test plots, before the big project is
conducted.

And also, there needs to be an offer of some annual economic incentives
for inventors to improve on the ecological restoration technologies.  

Like paying for the technologies as a separate line on the contract, and
even consider licensing the technologies that work, instead of expecting
the technologies to be bundled for free, along with the contract?

And perhaps offering an annual X-prize for whomever can invent
successful technologies to restore each of Dr. Kuchler's Ecosystems here
in the USA? 

Sincerely,  Craig Dremann, Redwood City, CA (650) 325-7333