Resilient ecological restoration in the future must account for the influence of cultural landscapes on ecosystem properties

Ecological restoration is conducted in an increasingly damaged world suffering from habitat destruction, biodiversity loss, and declines in ecosystem structure, function, and services. This is accompanied by accelerating rates of climate change. Ecological restoration was originally concerned with returning ecosystems to a more natural, pre‐disturbance state and did not account for the influence of early humans or extant indigenous peoples on ecosystems. Almost any place on earth inhabited by humans has been modified by their activities. Early humans had, and indigenous people have, profound effects on their ecosystems via the use of fire and selective hunting and gathering. Almost all ecosystems are part of cultural landscapes that have existed for thousands of years. The development of resilient, future‐oriented ecological restorations that preserve as much native biodiversity, ecosystem structure, function, and services as possible depends upon recognizing the extent of past cultural practices in forming those ecosystems and ensuring those cultural practices are utilized to maintain them. This paper uses indigenous management of grasslands in North America as a case study, but the conclusions made here should be applicable globally.