The people who cared for this land for the past 50,000 generations, used fire to enhance edible vegetation, for the people and the animals they loved. The “Too Many Deer” (TMD) myth has destroyed (afforestation = eutrophication) millions of acres of land we “man”-age” for nature.
As the great polymath-ecologist said, the two principle drivers of declines in ecological integrity in lands we manage natural are 1) Loss of Keystone Processes (biomass reduction by herbivores and fire), and 2) Social Myths (fire is bad, too many deer, invasive species, etc.).
We removed the principle keystone process (biomass reduction by herbivory and fire) over 300 years ago and the land “catastrophically” transitioned into catastrophic conditions via a process I call “Terrestrial Eutrophication & Afforestation,” which is a positive feedback, and like all positive feedbacks, deadly to biological systems.
We need to restore foodwebs to restore energy flows to restore nutrient cycles, to restore healthy floral, faunal, microbial native biological communities (NBCs), that provision ecosystem services and goods that reinforce high levels of ecological integrity, and not just “more trees.” Focus on restoring foodwebs, energy flows, nutrient cycles, that without, the system withers and dies, just like a biological being dies upon the collapse of their nutrient cycles.
Ask an Indigenous person if they would rather have more trees or more herbivores. The social myth of forest and more trees are better is clearly an imperial mindset from a colonial hangover.
The problem isn’t (TMD) but instead, the problem is “Too Few Herbivores” (TFH) and lack of humans reconnecting to the land as vital components in the machine, transforming sunlight energy to steam.