Book Review
Nature by Design: People, Natural Process
and Ecological Restoration
Eric Higgs. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press,
2003
Reviewed by Alison E. Doyle, who holds a recent
BA in anthropology from the University of Texas at
San Antonio.
Concerned with environmental longevity and sus-
tainability, the scientific community has taken a very
pragmatic approach to environmental matters. With
the advancement of technology, ecological restoration
has moved to the forefront as a solution for environ-
mental concerns. In his book, Nature by Design, Eric
Higgs writes about the issues surrounding ecological
restoration while providing an analytical approach to
environmental reparation.
Higgs’s main purpose is to define the components
that successful ecological restoration should encompass.
He goes beyond technology to explore the deeper rela-
tionship that exists between humans and the environ-
ment. In an attempt to develop a balanced approach to
ecological restoration, Higgs delivers a purposeful
combination of scientific and subjective views of
restoration.
Higgs provides an overview of issues that sur-
round ecological restoration within the first three
chapters. He begins by depicting the point at which
nature and domestic living cross paths. During his
stay at the Palisades Research Center, inside Jasper
National Park, he encounters a bear in the research
center’s kitchen. As the park rangers remove the bear
they make a note of the bear’s encounter with humans.
The park has a three strikes rule about certain wild
and domestic meetings. Another mishap and the bear
will be removed from the park and put to sleep. This
level of control forces the inevitable inquiry into the
meaning of “wilderness.” Higgs continues to explore
the relationship between humans and natural ecological
processes to obtain a better understanding of the term.
By comparing naturally developed wilderness (Jasper
National Park) to technologically developed wilderness
Culture & Agriculture Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 135–137. ISSN 1048-4876, eISSN 1556-486X. © 2006 by the American Anthropological Association. All
rights reserved. Permission to photocopy or reproduce article content via University of California Press Journals, www.ucpressjournals.com.
(Disney’s Wilderness Lodge), Higgs finds that we are
becoming less interested in experiencing nature and
more interested in nature mediated by technology.
Although the Jasper landscape is considered pris-
tine, “[it] challenges our notion of wilderness precisely
because it is at once both a remarkably wild place and
a place that had been marked and shaped by human
activities for thousands of years” (p. 58). This poses
another problem for restorationists. If Jasper is consid-
ered pristine, then to what degree is restoration
needed and to what historical point? Disney, however,
“is in the business of selling programmed experience:
consummation through consumption of reality or
more accurately, virtual reality. In doing this, Disney is
ultimately involved in the production of landscapes
and the selling of stories about nature” (p. 50). Themed
wilderness creates a convoluted understanding of
what a true and real wilderness is supposed to be,
“these are the physical manifestations of a large cul-
tural shift on our disposition toward places and things
we regard as nature” (p. 56). This is suggesting that
cultural shifts, such as technological advancements,
changes in cultural views, and our perceptions and
understanding of wilderness are important in deter-
mining the suitable approach for restoration.
Although the precise definition is still unclear,
Higgs enters into the realm of boundaries. In chapter 2,
he presents the issue of defining what constitutes
restoration. Is it the same as gardening and landscap-
ing? Higgs considers these conceptual boundaries to
be subjective. If restoration requires the understanding
of cultural shifts through time, then it should consider
cultural traditions as a characteristic. Cultural tradi-
tions also require data of historical landscapes to be
considered. Historical landscape information is used
independently from culture to determine ecological
success within certain environmental conditions.
When restoration is determined exclusively by cultural
tradition to restore a particular historical landscape an
issue arises in that, “there is no original condition for
an ecosystem in any meaningful sense; one cannot fix
a specific point in time” (p. 39). Recognition of bound-
ary constraints only develops the need to secure a pre-
cise definition for ecological restoration. Chapter 3
addresses the various definitions offered by several
restorationists as well as an effort, by Higgs, to clarify
the difference between restoration ecology and ecolog-
ical restoration. Higgs then delves deeper into whether
ecological restoration should include other forms of
environmental management. In this section he takes a
look at the central concepts that best comprise suc-
cessful restoration and reveals the underlying themes
of ecological integrity and historical fidelity. Ecological
integrity is, “an ecosystems ability to maintain its or-
ganization” (p. 122). It can manage to adapt to the
changing environment. For restoration to be viewed as
successful, each project should maintain some level of
integrity. This concept is used to determine the success
of an ecosystem. However, the concept of historical fi-
delity is applied to the project goals. Together, “a restora-
tion project is defined by its location along two scales,
ecological integrity and historical fidelity” (p. 127). The
delicate balance between integrity and fidelity help to
comprise one portion of what ecological restoration is
about. Within the concept of historical fidelity, Higgs
argues three principle components: (1) structural and
compositional replication, (2) functional success, and
(3) durability.
The first area of structural and compositional repli-
cation “must strongly resemble the structure and com-
position of an appropriate reference ecosystem.
Functional success is dependent on management and is
considered to be tied to structural/compositional repli-
cation,” and finally, “durability, the key for restoration
success” (p. 128). Durability is important because an
ecosystem must survive over time. Higgs suggests that
the three components that comprise historical fidelity
are a few determinants for restoration success.
He continues with historical fidelity in chapter 4.
Here he discusses the importance of history, or his-
toricity, in designing and management of a restored
ecosystem. Problems that restorationists will encounter
with historical fidelity are, “incompleteness of refer-
ence information, uncertainty and industrial rates of
change” (p. 176). The first of the three problems is the
decaying historical data followed by the uncertainty of
the future and finally the industrial rates of change,
which holds no knowledge about future environmental
conditions and will affect the integrity of an ecosystem.
Historicity is important in restoration because it will
develop a nostalgic awareness of nature and encourage
Culture & Agriculture
preservation. Combining ecology and culture is a diffi-
cult task in a continuously shifting society, but “land-
scape change is about the intertwining of ecological and
cultural processes—not just material processes, but also
out changing mindsets” (p. 179–180). Unfortunately for
restorationists social changes occur very quickly.
Each day a new technology keeps people indoors and
unaware.
The pace at which social changes occur will affect
the way we view what is important to environmental
restoration and preservation. In fact, restorationists
face a paradoxical situation. Ecological restoration is
meant to improve and restore landscapes that have
been damaged by human use or misuse. Technological
developments have played are large role in environ-
mental degradation and now restorationists would
like to use technology to help restore it. Higgs intro-
duces two approaches the first being technological
restoration and the second, focal restoration.
Technological restoration “is connected to patterns of
technological culture,” and focal restoration “is shaped
by engaged relationships between people and ecosys-
tems” (p. 186). The negative side to ecosystem restora-
tion is that nature can become a commodity. Viewed as
a business, restored nature can become processed and
efficient, bought and sold. Restoration also implies
that ecosystems and wildernesses can be rebuilt and
any concern for environmental preservation will dimin-
ish. A concern for restoration is that there is “a slow,
inexorable drift in society, whether through themed
hotels that purport to mirror wilderness or technolog-
ically dependent leisure activities to convert every-
thing of value into something that can be bought or
sold” (p. 180). Focal restoration is used to connect people
with their environment minimize the themed vision of
our environment.
In the final chapter Higgs addresses the topic of
design. He suggests that design is a way to connect the
past to the future. As with any concept problems will
surface. Design is art. It reflects the interests of people.
Design within restoration is supposed to reflect the in-
terest of the ecosystem developing awareness and con-
cern for the surrounding environment, however there
is the possibility that it will reflect the interest of peo-
ple. This leads to the second problem. The concern
with design is that it becomes characteristic of “tech-
nological culture rather than as a critical response to
technology” (p. 280). By focusing on the needs of the
environment over the needs of people design can help
make restoration successful.
136 Vol. 28, No. 2 Fall 2006
 Ultimately, restoration is a process that requires cau-
tious coordination when combining history, culture, and
technology in an attempt to preserve the environment.
Higgs assessment of what restoration should encompass
is delivered in a descriptive and well-written form. His
discussion of boundaries, both conceptual and physical,
provides enough information to make concepts easy
Culture & Agriculture
to grasp. Defining ecological restoration provided an
important attempt at theorizing this area. Higgs offers
multiple perspectives on the importance of history and
culture and the necessity of technology. Overall Higgs
provides a clear approach to ecological restoration and
its central concepts while presenting solutions to the
issues that complicate ecological restoration.
137 Vol. 28, No. 2 Fall 2006