Natural landscape
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Natural landscapes ""are landscapes beyond cultural influence. "a natural landscape is one that is unaffected by human activity", "SES501 Landscape Ecology and GIS", Keith Ferdinands, Charles Darwin University, July 2004, (1970)[1]
The expression natural landscape was first used by Alexander von Humbolt Alexander von Humboldt’s Invention of the Natural Landscape.
A discussion of a pristine landscape state to a humanized landscape state which includes the human-modified landscape, the primeval landscape, the ancient landscape, the undisturbed wilderness and the managed landscape can be found in Vale, 2002[2]. The natural landscape, on the other hand, is not a state but rather a place dynamically under the current control of natural forces and free of the control of people for an extended period of time.
No place on earth is unaffected by people and our culture. However, there is no place on earth which cannot return to natural landscape if abandoned by culture. People are part of biodiversity, but people exert forces on biodiversity, which destroy the natural landscape. Some authorities have coined a wide range of terms such as semi-natural to describe landscapes with both cultural and natural features.
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[edit] History of natural landscape
As Earth evolved over billions of years, it was exclusively natural. However, since the dawn of human culture, tens of thousands of years ago, people have altered landscape to such an extent that there are few, if any, places on earth which remain pristine. Being pristine, though, is not a criterion for natural landscape designation. Once abandoned by human influences, the landscape immediately is, prima facie, again under the control of nature.
[edit] Examples of cultural forces
Cultural forces are those which, either intentionally or unintentionally, influence the landscape [3]. Cultural landscapes are places or artifacts currently maintained by people whether directly or indirectly. Examples of cultural disruptions are: fences, roads, trails, species under human management, invasive species introduced by people, extraction or removal of species and objects, vegetation alteration, alterations of animal populations, natural landscaping, buildings of any kind, agricultural areas, pollution, paved areas. Some areas which might be confused with natural landscape are parks used by people, agricultural areas, orchards, maintained views (use of aesthetic judgments), artificial lakes, maintained forests, golf courses, nature center trails, back yards, or flower beds.
[edit] The conflict between cultural forces and the natural landscape
In order for a place to return to the natural landscape, all cultural artifacts attracting people must be removed. Natural landscape is the equilibrium which existed prior to significant human impact. The time necessary for an area to return to the natural landscape depends upon the environment, and it may be termed the “period of neglect.” Neglect, in this context, means the absence of any management whatsoever. Most people can easily recognize a neglected landscape. Human impact may be linked with episodes of extinction of native species, either locally or totally. It also leads to episodes of stalled equilibrium or putrification. Putrification results from an imbalance in the natural, biological, geological or atmospheric equilibrium.
The case for returning land to the natural landscape has been championed by those who recognize the harm resulting from people’s actions on this planet. It has been opposed by those who wish to modify the natural landscape for educational purposes or simply to demonstrate that the natural landscape has some practical value.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ What is a natural landscape?
- ^ Fire, Native Peoples, and the Natural Landscape by geographer Thomas R. Vale, Chapter 1, PP. 1 - 8, Island Press, 2002
- ^ Nature and Culture Together Blog (2007) Technology vs Nature
