STATEMENT OF CLAIM: "Torreya taxifolia was once a common sight along the Apalachicola, plentiful enough to be cut for Christmas trees, its rot-resistant wood perfect for fence posts. But at some point in the middle of the last century—no one is quite sure when—the trees began to die. Beset by a mysterious disease, overabundant deer, feral hogs, drought, and perhaps a stressful climate, the adult trees were reduced to a handful of mossy trunks, rotting in riverside ravines."
SUBCLAIMS
Controlled fires can be used to maintain the enviornments of these species
Assisted migration could allow these species to thrive in enviornments that are able to support them
We can restore and preserve the orginal homes of these species and help them to live in their natural habitat
SUPPORT
“'If I can get fire across the landscape acting in its natural role, I’ve done my job; I’m home,” says Printiss as he drives the soft, sandy roads on the flat preserve uplands. “I’m not saying fire is the answer, but I suspect it’s a large part of the answer.” Restoring fire to the uplands, he says, thins out the overgrown hardwood trees, makes room for the restoration of longleaf pine stands and native grasslands, and brings some filtered sunlight back to the steep ravines where the Florida torreya once grew."
"Look, we need to start thinking about transplanting organisms around these barriers of agricultural land or urban land, and getting them to the next possible suitable habitat as the climate changes"
"With enough space, money, and knowledge, we can protect natural places and, in many cases, restore them by stitching them back together."
WARRANTS:
People care enough about trees to spend money on any of these ideas or to read this article in the first place
People know about the general effects of moving plants to locations to which they are not indigenous
People know about the effects of climate change
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