Blog Entry #15

Over the past few weeks I interviewed with a Yellowstone wildlife watcher and started reading a book on urban soil. Yellowstone’s wildlife is a big attraction. Wolf watchers alone bring millions of dollars to the park. Ecotourism around the country is growing fast. How cool would it be if an American city did such a good job integrating nature and development that it became a tourist attraction? Singapore has already accomplished this, I wonder if more cities will follow. A big problem with Yellowstone’s wildlife is human habituation. So far, this has not been a huge problem in cities, bobcats and coyotes are still very much afraid of humans. I will research what causes wildlife to become habituated.

Soil is very fragile. Construction compacts it, making it more difficult for plants to grow, and the only solution to compaction is time. Over the course of years, organisms will gradually return the soil to its natural state. The best way is to preserve the soil. Construction companies are learning to avoid interference, and to preserve soil as an expensive natural resource. Future development needs to focus on the soil as much as it does other aspects of construction in order to allow plants to continue to thrive in a changed environment.