What’s the difference in these three things?

By John Potter

Conservation generally indicates responsible use of the land (or whatever the subject is) will be made. An example would be tightly controlled and limited logging of an area.

Preservation means to leave things alone.

Restoration means to attempt to restore something to it’s original condition. In a natural setting this might mean getting rid of invasive species and replanting what had previously been lost.

These three things cause great controversy in both natural areas and artifact care.

Case in point is an old museum curator joke: “We have the actual hatchet George Washington used to chop down the cherry tree with in our museum. The head has been replaced twice and the handle three times.”