Parks Stewardship Forum

Drawing on the case of parks and marginal spaces in Chicago, considered as novel ecosystems, this essay works to unpack some of the costs and limitations of how conservation value has been defined by conservationists. Namely, conservation value tends to center pristine, historical ecosystems like tallgrass prairie over the small pockets where many native species continue to survive and form new ecological relationships. By engaging queer and trans theories and thinkers who argue that fixation on the past can limit evaluations of the present, I argue for a wider vision of conservation value that is more open to creative possibilities for survival into the future.