Achieving Abundance Ecology requires a direct relationship between man and the land, Abundance Ecologist Michael Shaw said in a presentation to the Trans-Heritage Association annual meeting and conference in Alpine Texas in May 2003. Shaw speaks from experience. Shaw has received acclaim for creating an ecological oasis from a blighted 75-acre parcel o­n the central coast of California -- what he calls "Liberty Garden."

"To release the potential productivity and diversity of a landscape, an owner must be free to engage in rigorous disturbance, and free to pursue a reasoned and creative process of trial and error. This process would be suited to the choice of each individual and the uniqueness of each property," Shaw said.