Ecological Restoration, Genetics, Genomics, and Environmental Governance

Ecological restoration increasingly relies on genetic tools and technologies to identify distinct populations, monitor populations, and even modify organisms to improve fitness. In this article, we review the role of genetic and genomic technologies in restoration and conservation, using the restoration of cutthroat trout in the Western United States as one example. Reducing restoration and conservation directives to the molecular scale often relies on a view of genes as discrete bits of information that produce controllable and predictable traits. This leads to life-and-death decisions about wildlife populations, even as measures of “pure” genes for organisms are constantly changing. We review the implications of a reductionistic approach centered on genetic composition of organisms and consider the broader relevance of these issues to the future of ecological restoration.