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During the last Ice Age, high productive grazing ecosystems dominated most of the planet. High animal density, which can now be seen only in a few national parks in Africa (like Serengeti), were on every continent. The largest of all these ecosystems was the Mammoth steppe which spanned from Spain to Canada and from Arctic Islands to China. Millions of mammoths, bison, horses, reindeer, wolves and tigers maintained the grasslands.
It is hard to believe that primitive humans could kill all big herbivores in the high Siberian Arctic. However… Millions of square kilometers of high productive grasslands with fertile soils disappeared… big herbivores like the Mammoth or Woolly Rhinoceros simply could not find enough forage to survive through the cold winters.
OUR VISION
The idea of Pleistocene Park is to reverse the ecosystem shift which occurred 10 thousand years ago… artificially introducing herbivores to the Arctic and maintaining their existence will promote grass establishment and allow reviving of a sustainable high productive ecosystem, similar to Northern Serengeti.
The main difference between modern Arctic ecosystems and grazing ecosystems are the rates of the biological cycle.. In the grazing ecosystems decomposition of organic matter happen in the stomachs of herbivores, and nutrient are quickly returned back to the system. This allows grazing ecosystems to produce much higher harvest and maintain much higher density of animals comparing with any modern Arctic ecosystem.
BENEFITS
Restoration of pasture ecosystems in the Arctic can have a cooling effect on the climate...
CARBON SEQUESTRATION
Unlike modern vegetation, grasses form a deep root system. This is essentially the process of absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it in the form of roots in the cold Arctic soils.
Establishment of high productive grasslands on the big territory can be a long term sustainable mechanism for absorption of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. In the Arctic soils has a much higher potential to store carbon comparing with above ground biomass (tree stems). Plus carbon in the soil is not subject to forest fires.
ALBEDO EFFECT
Grassland are lighter than shrublands or larch forest. Lighter surfaces reflect higher portion of sun back to space, keeping surface cooler. This effect is especially pronounced during April/May when sun in the Arctic is already active and dark tree stems absorb sun heat, while pastures are still covered with white snow and reflect most of the energy back to space.
