In this crowded dining room it is difficult to realize the professional isolation of people working in land reclamation even 15 years ago.
It is salutary to recognize that the first reclamation meeting was as late as 1969. This was a short course on the rehabilitation of drastically disturbed land, held at Pennsylvania State University. The intent was to bring together the world's reclamationists. It extended over three weeks and was fully funded by NATO. The organizers searched the world literature and brought together everyone who had written anything on the subject in the previous ten years. They came up with a grand total of 36 names! We were billed by the University as the meeting of disturbed people.
Some academics need to be reminded occasionally that a high proportion of the work of a successful
reclamationist, as indeed of any land manager, while firmly founded on an understanding of natural processes, is not based on fully researched scientific orthodoxy. Observation and serendipity have major roles to play, and above all, the successful reclamationist requires the husbandman's instinctive feel for plants and soil.