Don't we hear explanations like that all the time? Here in Oregon we have a problem with people dredging for gold in rivers on public land. It's legal according to a law enacted in the 1870's. The people dredging are defending their messy activity by saying that by stirring up the sand and gravel they are actually improving the river habitat.
"There is no time in modern agriculture for a farmer to write a poem or compose a song" --Masanobu Fukuoka onestrawrevolution.net