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 RESTORE is a weekly e-bulletin, published by SER International, linking you to the latest, breaking news stories from around the world keeping you up-to-date on a wide variety of topics related to ecological restoration including the latest funding opportunities. RESTORE is free to SER International members and can be subscribed to for only $20/year by visiting: www.ser.org/content/restoration_network.asp. |
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Get Involved / Community-Based Restoration
Nevada: Lower Colorado River Basin Riparian Revegetation Workshop
The Southern Nevada Water Authority and Las Vegas Wash Coordination Committee (LVWCC) are hosting a workshop that will allow restoration practitioners and researchers to learn the latest information on doing revegetation projects in this challenging environment as well as take a tour of a very successful one. The workshop will include classroom sessions, hand-on exercises and field discussions. It will take place at the famous Las Vegas Springs Preserve in Las Vegas, NV. Pre-registration can be done by visiting the LVWCC's website: http://www.lvwash.org/help/events/riparian_reveg_workshop.html
Washington: Classes will Train Wetland Stewards for Port of Everett
The nonprofit group formed a partnership last year with the Port of Everett, which owns Jetty Island and a wetland on Union Slough that is available to the public. The city of Everett operates a popular program at Jetty Island each summer that will be expanded from five days to six this year. Last year, People for Puget Sound trained 27 volunteers to work on the port properties doing a wide range of activities, including pulling invasive weeds such as Scotch broom and blackberries, making trails, and planting native species.
http://heraldnet.com/article/20080314/NEWS01/278794407
Hawaii: Free Conservation Workshop on Maui for Landowners
DLNR believes there is a critical need to engage Hawai'i's private landowners as partners in the conservation and restoration of habitat for our native plants and animals," DLNR chairperson Laura H. Thielen said in a news release today. Added Thielen, "This workshop is a collaborative effort between multiple state and federal agencies to inform private landowners about several programs that can provide funding and technical assistance relating to land conservation and restoration."
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080312/BREAKING01/80312080/1001/BREAKING01
Seek Leads to Early Projects and Initiatives for History of Restoration
We are interested in documenting projects that represent early attempts at restoration, as defined by SER, or that are related to this form of land management in interesting ways. We are also interested in initiatives related to the development and application of restoration for environmental, educational or scientific purposes, or its use in landscaping, soil rehabilitation, hydrological management and the like. If you have suggestions, please contact me at newacademy@comcast.net, 815-337-6896; or George at George.Lubick@NAU.EDU; 928-523-6211.
Wetland Restoration and Wetland Delineation Short Courses
Professional wetland short courses for practicing engineers, planners, scientists, and resource managers at the Heffner Wetland Building at the Olentangy River Wetland Research Park, Columbus, Ohio. July 9-11, 2008 (3 days) CREATION AND RESTORATION OF WETLANDS with William J. Mitsch and Roy R. "Robin" Lewis, and August 11-15, 2008 (5 days) WETLAND DELINEATION with Ralph W. Tiner, Mark D. DeBrock, Frank Gibbs, and William J. Mitsch.
http://swamp.osu.edu/ShortCourses/index.html
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People in the News
Seven Wetland Stewards Win 2008 National Wetlands Awards
Seven citizens have been recognized nationally for their on-the-ground wetland conservation efforts and decades-long dedication to protecting these important natural resources. A diverse panel of wetland experts assembled at the Environmental Law Institute earlier this month to select the winners of the 2008 National Wetlands Awards. This year's award winners hail from all regions of the country and exemplify the extraordinary commitment and innovation that is so instrumental to conserving wetlands in the nation's communities.
http://lakestewardship.blogspot.com/2008/03/seven-wetland-stewards-win-2008.html
Nature Education Effort must get Creative to Find Needed Funding
Last week I talked with Richard Louv, author of "Last Child in the Woods." His book energized individuals, organizations and agencies nationwide to work at reconnecting today's children with nature. Louv was in Olympia to join the celebration of Washington's effort to leave no child i nside, the focal point being the $1.5 million appropriated last year by the Legislature to fund nature education programs.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/adventure/columnists/story/307819.html
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| New Books & Articles
Asia's Odd-ball Antelope Faces Migration Crisis
The study, which appears in a recent issue of The Open Conservation Biology Journal, tracked saiga with GPS collars in Mongolia and discovered a "migration bottleneck" -- a narrow corridor of habitat that connects two populations. The authors say that the corridor, which spans just three miles wide, is threatened by herders with livestock, along with increased traffic from trucks and motorcycles.
http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/33209
Florida Panther Population Fell to Just Six
As bottlenecks go, they don't get much narrower. Florida panthers, nearly wiped out in the early 20th century, dropped to a population size of as little as six animals. A genetic analysis now shows this could have included just one female, meaning that the current population had just one ancestral mother. Melanie Culver of the University of Arizona and Philip Hedrick of Arizona State University compared DNA samples taken from museum specimens from the 19th century with samples from the 1980s. They found that the late 20th century cats had only a third of the genetic diversity of their 19th century ancestors.
http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn13490-florida-panther-population-fell-to-just-six.html
Fast-Growing Corals Key to Caribbean Reef
Two dominant coral species have built a good chunk of the Caribbean reef, and their ability to grow quickly may help the region's coral reefs keep pace with rising sea levels caused by global warming, researchers say. The endangered staghorn and elkhorn corals grow about 10 times faster than any other in the Caribbean and reproduce in part by breaking into bits for easy ocean spread. Ken Johnson, who led the study published in the journal Science, said researchers had found that the staghorn and elkhorn coral were not that important until about 1 million years ago, when half the Caribbean coral species went extinct.
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/47492/story.htm
Modern Myths of the Mekong
Critically questioning and unpacking these beliefs and practices scientifically, using diverse sources of information, is an important effort taken up by the recently published "Modern Myths of the Mekong". Bringing together scholars, scientists and social activists to present the latest research in a highly readable volume, the book focuses on a wide range of issues including contemporary EIA practice, gender mainstreaming in community fisheries, causes of river-bank erosion, perceptions of declines in Mekong fish catch, upstream and downstream tensions around dams, population and development questions, and viability of community resource-use organisations.
http://nationmultimedia.com/2008/03/13/national/national_30068006.php
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| Restoring Natural Capital (RNC)
Ecosystem for Sale
Given the uncertainty accruing to traditional investments in today's economy, here's a trend to consider: the monetizing of ecosystem services. One of the first public discussions of this, the Biodiversity & Ecosystem Finance Summit taking place in New York this weekend, aims to answer this question: how can financiers and corporations take a lead in biodiversity and ecosystem conservation? Welcome to the developing area of "biodiversity finance," which seeks to monetize biodiversity and ecosystem assets like wetlands, rainforests, reefs, and so forth so they can then be protected -- at a profit.
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/3/18/84752/1564
Audio: Tongass Forest Dwellers, Defenders and Developers Talk Openly about the Future
Can a conservation group and a foundation help chart a new economic agenda for Southeast Alaska? That's what some members would like to see out of a 2-year-old effort called the Tongass Futures Roundtable.
http://aprn.org/2008/03/12/tongass-forest-dwellers-defenders-and-developers-talk-openly-about-the-future/
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Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
IUCN: Indigenous Peoples Play Key Role in Coping with Climate Change
Indigenous peoples around the world will bear the brunt of climate change - but they are also armed with the traditional knowledge to survive its effects. That's the message from the first comprehensive analysis of the effects of climate change on indigenous peoples, which is released today by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).
http://yubanet.com/enviro/Indigenous-peoples-play-key-role-in-coping-with-climate-change---IUCN.php
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| Agro-Ecology
Florida: Martin County wants Harmony Ranch for Restoration
Martin County and the South Florida Water Management District want to buy a 1,900-acre section of Harmony Ranch as part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. The county and the district also want to purchase the Stanley-Overton 1,222-acre property near the Florida Power & Light power plant. That land is near the 547-acre Williamson Ranch, which the two government entities are also trying to buy.
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/mar/18/30gtmartin-wants-harmony-for-restoration/
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| Biodiversity & Climate Change
Arctic Climate Models Playing Key Role in Polar Bear Decision
The pending federal decision about whether to protect the polar bear as a threatened species is as much about climate science as it is about climate change. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is currently considering a proposal to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, a proposal largely based on anticipated habitat loss in a warming Arctic. Climate models - mathematical representations of the natural processes affecting climate - factored heavily in the scientific information requested by the FWS to guide its official recommendation, which was due Jan. 9. While scientists have used such models for decades, their use in this decision demonstrates the growing recognition of the value of modeling to predict future climate conditions and inform policymaking.
http://www.scitizen.com/screens/blogPage/viewBlog/sw_viewBlog.php?idTheme=13&idContribution=1689
Revealed: The Secrets of Successful Ecosystems
The study used a lab-based artificial ecosystem of communities of bacteria to examine what happens when the bacteria move around and evolve to live in different parts of the ecosystem over the course of hundreds of generations. The scientists measured the effect this dispersal of species has on the productivity and biodiversity of the ecosystem over all.
http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/32973
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Rwanda Conservation Effort To Link Isolated Chimps To Distant Forest
A group of some 15 chimpanzees isolated in a pocket of Rwandan rain forest will have a greater range -- and, thus, greater chances for survival -- thanks to one of Africa's most ambitious forest restoration and ecological research efforts ever. Organizers of the project, named the Rwandan National Conservation Park, said that a 30-mile (50km) tree corridor will be planted to connect the Gishwati Forest Reserve, the chimpanzees' home range, to Nyungwe National Park.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080318084337.htm
Wildlands CPR on the Forest Restoration Act of 2008
It would not be very difficult to rectify the primary shortcomings in this bill, by giving equal attention and consideration to storm damage issues as they relate to roads. It is imperative that the federal government protect and restore not just the forest structure, but the entire forest ecosystem. While this bill offers a better, and arguably broader, approach to forest health issues than those we've seen over the past few years, it still fails to fully address comprehensive watershed restoration. With a small number of changes, the Restoration Act could become an important tool for redirecting Forest Service management towards true restoration. Without those changes, this Act will become one more in a long line of bills that increases logging on the national forests under the guise of forest restoration.
http://www.wildlandscpr.org/article/forest-restoration-act-2008
New York Forests Regain Green Certified Status
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis announced today that state-owned forests have regained their status as "green certified" by internationally recognized standards, meaning they are managed with the highest sustainability requirements. The designation applies to all state-owned forestlands outside the Adirondack and Catskill parks - about 762,900 acres. This status has been awarded to only 10 percent of the world's forests and only a few American states.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2008/2008-03-12-095.asp
New Partnerships Bring Funding and Restoration to National Forest Watersheds
In December, Congress approved and the President signed the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2008. Tucked inside was a new allocation of $39.4 million for watershed restoration through road decommissioning and remediation on national forest lands - the Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative (LRRI). Securing this funding was one of Wildlands CPR's priority campaigns last year - and it is a huge, welcome victory!
http://www.wildlandscpr.org/article/new-partnerships-bring-funding-and-restoration-national-forest-watersheds
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| Wetland Restoration
Florida: Complaints Delay Island Restoration
Restoration of three small spoil islands to protect nesting birds in the Intracoastal Waterway off the northern end of Casey Key will take longer and cost more than anticipated. Work began last August on a 1,200-foot-long breakwater about 200 feet from the main channel. It will create a long, continuous wrap around the sides of each island that can resist erosion caused by strong waves from storms and boat wakes. The project was also planned to restore Palmer Point Park at the north end of the key to its origin as a wetland habitat. It had become overrun with non-native invasive plants.
http://www.venicegondolier.com/Newsstory.cfm?pubdate=031408&story=tp2vn4.htm&folder=NewsArchive3
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River & Watershed Restoration
Maine: River Restoration a Must for Fisheries
In December, I wrote a letter of strong support to the Penobscot River Restoration Trust in which I thanked them for taking on the enormous task of securing the future of our Gulf of Maine economy and ecology by starting the process of restoring the sea-run fisheries of the Penobscot River. Our collective efforts will be vital to Maine's economic future for generations to come through best practices in our Marine fisheries and the opening of the river arteries that flow into the Gulf of Maine.
http://bangornews.com/news/t/viewpoints.aspx?articleid=161674&zoneid=35
Chile: Campaign Against Dams - and Against the Clock
On the International Day of Action for Rivers, Chilean environmental groups delivered an open letter Friday to President Michelle Bachelet describing the serious environmental, social and cultural impacts that they say are caused by large hydroelectric dams. In the three-page letter that marked Mar. 14, formerly the International Day of Action Against Dams: For Rivers, Water, and Life, the groups also asked the president to live up to her commitment to ensure that all investment projects are assessed with a view to the concept of integrated river basin management.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41600
Kansas: Sand Creek Project Begins
Along with bank restoration, the project will include a 35-acre wetland west of the wastewater treatment plant and two hardwood tree plantings along the creek south of the dam and upstream of the Union Pacific Railroad trestle in Centennial Park. More than 450 trees and almost 800 shrubs will be planted throughout the project, with native grasses along the creek. The project also will restore pathways in several areas and build new path along the east side of the creek from Fifth Street to 12th Street.
http://www.thekansan.com/stories/031308/topstories_20080313035.shtml
Montana: Rivers to be Redirected
Milltown Superfund workers will start redirecting the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers into the project's bypass channel Tuesday, the final step before allowing the rivers to flow freely for the first time in a century. The next two weeks will be a hectic period during which engineers, construction workers and scientists will undertake the complicated task of unleashing millions of gallons of water while trying to minimize environmental damage and avoid flooding.
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/03/17/news/local/news02.txt
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| Grassland Restoration
Illinois: DuPage Plans to Turn Naperville Grassland Back into Wetland
The 33 acres of dry grassland in the Springbrook Prairie Forest Preserve in Naperville are getting a makeover. DuPage County officials plan to restore the tract to a wetland, with ponds of standing water bordered by arrowhead grass and bulrushes, peppered with sedge grasses on the perimeter. Forest preserve commissioners voted Tuesday to authorize the county to seek bids for the project, expected to cost about $2.6 million.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-duforest_19mar19,1,1824801.story
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| Desertification & Arid Land Restoration
Ghana's Land under Threat of Desertification
The Deputy Minister of Agriculture In-Charge of Crops,Clement Eledi, has noted about 70 per cent of Ghana's land is under serious threat of desertification caused by soil erosion. Referring to statistics contained in a report by the Environmental Protection Agency, Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research of University of Ghana (ISSER) and the British Department for International Development, the Deputy Minister said unsustainable agriculture and land management practices are costing the country about two per cent of the Gross Domestic Product per annum.
http://gbcghana.com/news/19020detail.html
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| Coastal & Marine Restoration
Hawaii: Koheo Wetland Student Dune Restoration Damaged
Elementary school students were saddened when they saw that ATV use at the Koheo wetland had wiped out two years of their hard work planting native akulikuli (Sesuvium portulacastrum). The plants were grown in the classrooms as part of a second through fourth grade project focusing on the protection of wetlands. Over the weekend of March 8, someone entered Koheo wetland via the Kapaakea beach on an ATV and "made donuts" on the sand dune that the students were working on restoring: dozens of native plants were either damaged or totally destroyed. A pair of nesting endangered Hawaiian Stilts banded for research were also disturbed.
http://www.themolokaidispatch.com/node/1797
Florida: Construction Begins on New Oyster 'Community'
Visitors and fishing enthusiasts who stop by Weedon Island Preserve in St. Petersburg will see some unusual activity going on thanks to Tampa Bay Watch and Tampa Bay community volunteers. "We're working with many community volunteers to build a new oyster community on the southwest shoreline of the preserve to bolster the mangrove fringe from erosion," said Serra Herndon, environmental scientist for Tampa Bay Watch, a nonprofit environmental restoration program based in Tierra Verde.
http://www.tbnweekly.com/editorial/outdoors/content_articles/031308_out-03.txt
California: Too Much Sediment Collecting, Which Could Threaten Habitat
Batiquitos Lagoon looks healthy today, 10 years after a $57 million restoration project. Water birds wheel over its clear blue waters and grasses teem on its muddy shore. But lagoon watchers are concerned that the lagoon's natural beauty is hiding an ecological time bomb and they want to defuse it before it goes off.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20080314-9999-1mc14lagoon.html
Recycling on Half the Shell
If you've ever wondered where your oyster shells go after polishing off a plate at a restaurant, the answer might surprise you. Instead of piling up in a landfill, some oysters make their way to fishery habitats along the East Coast where they're used to reinvigorate the ecosystem. Restaurants and locals along the coastline donate the empty shells. In South Carolina, between 2004 and 2005, more than 10,000 bushels of oysters were collected.
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/washington/news.aspx?id=83745
California: Threat of Closing Jolts Fishing Industry
The grim prospect of a total shutdown of ocean salmon fishing in California and Oregon is forcing anglers, merchants and food servers who rely on the once-thriving fishery to reassess their lives and futures. So few fall-run chinook came back to spawn in the Sacramento River and its tributaries last fall that the Pacific Fishery Management Council said Tuesday it would have to ban all salmon fishing unless a request is made for an emergency exception.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/13/MN7EVIMQO.DTL
Florida: Winter Park High Students Join Reef Restoration Effort
Students from Winter Park High School are scheduled to start work on restoring the ecologically fragile oyster reefs at Canaveral National Seashore. Teacher Samantha Fischer received a grant from the Florida Association of Science Teachers to allow 90 students to work on restoring the reefs, which provide sanctuary to juvenile fish. The reefs produce food for crabs and other members of the intracoastal food chain.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-orskulbriefs1608mar16,0,4574003.story
Connecticut: Governor Rell Announces $804,000 for Tidal Wetlands Restoration
Governor M. Jodi Rell announced today that $804,000 in federal funding has been awarded to the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for a program to restore sensitive tidal wetlands in the state. The funding from the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service's (NRCS) Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) will be used by the DEP to restore 726 acres of tidal wetlands degraded by the invasive exotic plant Phragmites at three Wildlife Management Areas along the lower Connecticut River and at two state parks on Connecticut's coast.
http://outdoornewsdaily.com/index.php/archives/3110
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WILDLIFE RESTORATION
Rhinos on the Rise: WWF Seeks to Extend Conservation Success
Pongola Game Reserve, a privately owned reserve in northern KwaZulu Natal province where relocated black rhinos are thriving, was the scene of a rhino survival celebration Friday. After bringing Africa's black rhinos back from the brink of extinction, the global conservation organization WWF celebrated the first decade of its African Rhino Program by inviting more countries to become involved.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2008/2008-03-17-05.asp
California: Grant Goes to Wildlife Habitat Restoration Projects
A $1 million wetlands conservation grant from the federal government will fund wildlife habitat restoration projects at Sears Point and at the new Tolay Lake regional park. Sonoma Land Trust's Sears Point project, a 2,327-acre project that ranks as one of the largest tidal wetlands restoration efforts in the nation, will get $750,000 of the grant coming from the North American Wetlands Conservation Act. The rest goes to Sonoma County Regional Parks Department for creek habitat restoration at the Tolay Lake Park.
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080317/NEWS/621579568/1033/NEWS&template=kart
UK: Water Vole is Handed Lifeline
The water vole will now enjoy a better future as a protected species after new proposals announced last month by DEFRA. This comes a century after The Wind in the Willows was first published and six years after a change in the law was recommended in a review of the Wildlife and Countryside Act in 2002.
http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/ruralfocus/display.var.2116423.0.water_vole_is_handed_lifeline.php
Australia: Grant to Preserve Threatened Wildlife
The Australian Ecosystems Foundation (AEF) has been awarded a $30,000 grant to restore and rehabilitate the Newnes Plateau Conservation Reserve member for Bathurst Gerard Martin has announced. "The $30,000 grant was awarded to the AEF under the Environmental Trust, Restoration and Rehabilitation grant program," Mr Martin said.
http://lithgow.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/grant-to-preserve-threatened-wildlife/1201869.html
UK: Attenborough Launches Project to Stem Butterfly Decline
Natural history broadcaster Sir David Attenborough yesterday launched a new £25m conservation project aimed at reversing has been described as the "silent natural disaster" that is threatening butterfly species in the UK. Sir David joined founders, trustees and naturalists to unveil the plans for Butterfly World, a visitor attraction that will also act as a conservation vehicle to fund research and community project to save endangered butterfly species.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/mar/13/conservation.wildlife1
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| Extractive Industries
Montana: Land near Yellowstone Safe from Mining under Deal
A conservation group said Monday it has an agreement to protect nearly 1,500 acres of private mining claims northeast of Yellowstone National Park. The plan calls for the Trust for Public Land to use $8 million in federal money to buy the claims and convey them to the U.S. Forest Service, ending the fight over the proposed New World Mine near Cooke City.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-yellowstone18mar18,1,1605480.story
Arizona: Lawsuit Seeks to Block Uranium Mining at Grand Canyon
One of the great natural wonders of the world - the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River - is threatened by uranium exploration.Three conservation groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging the approval of up to 39 new uranium drilling sites within a few miles of Grand Canyon National Park. In December, the Kaibab National Forest granted British firm Vane Minerals approval to conduct exploratory uranium drilling on national forest lands along the park's southern boundary with no public hearing and no environmental review. It is the first of five such projects slated for the area.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2008/2008-03-13-01.asp
US: Senate Closer to Program for Old Mines
Senators moved a step closer to creating a cleanup program for abandoned hard-rock mines on Wednesday as part of a major rewriting of mining law that has not been updated since 1872. Fees charged to coal companies have long been used for a program to clean up old coal mines, and Congress may move this year to establish a similar program for hard-rock mines. It would be paid for by charging royalties for the first time on minerals such as gold, silver, copper and uranium mined on federal lands.
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/03/13/news/state/27-oldmines.txt
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| Invasive Species
Everyone Needs to Work Together on Invasive Species
Those working in agriculture are no strangers to the impacts of invasive species. Non-native weeds, plant diseases and insect pests have challenged producers for millennia. Only in recent years have those working in another field, that of natural resource protection and habitat restoration, begun to recognize the full extent to which invasive species impact their work as well. Invasive species are now acknowledged as a top threat to biodiversity, second only to outright habitat destruction. For lands that have been protected from development, invasives are the No. 1 threat.
http://www.cfbf.com/agalert/AgAlertStory.cfm?ID=1007&ck=D7322ED717DEDF1EB4E6E52A37EA7BCD
Iowa: Non-native Pest on Iowa's Doorstep
State forestry officials are preparing for another year of monitoring for the presence of the emerald ash borer, the small green insect that attacks and kills ash trees. So far, there is no evidence that the destructive insect native to eastern Asia has entered the Hawkeye State.
Emerald ash borer has been found in Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and in Ontario, Canada.
http://outdoornewsdaily.com/index.php/archives/3159
Illinois: Invasive Trees Axed at Elgin's Fitchie Creek
A two-week woodland restoration project began March 7 at Fitchie Creek Forest Preserve, near Bowes and Nesler roads in Elgin. Invasive buckthorn and honeysuckle will be cleared, along with some dense stands of aggressive, native trees such as black cherry. "Controlling non-native species is vital, since oak and hickory seedlings cannot thrive under the deep shade typically created by thickets of buckthorn and honeysuckle," said Drew Ullberg, director of natural resources for the forest preserve district. The cut-up trees and brush will be ground into mulch and left behind to decompose, thereby returning nutrients to the soil.
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=153159&src=
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| Urban Restoration
Lessons from an Urban Lakeshore Restoration Project in New York City
Wetlands, uplands and turtle habitat were targets for a 1995 restoration of 488 m of a lakeshore in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in New York City. Approximately 25,000 plants (native species of grasses, herbs, shrubs, and trees) were introduced and intensively monitored through 1997 and monitored periodically until 2003.
http://er.uwpress.org/cgi/content/abstract/25/2/123
Connecticut: Silver Sands Salt Marshes Being Restored
The salt marshes behind the Silver Sands neighborhood will get a $156,000 restoration later this year that will reduce the risk of wildfires and increase the beauty of the area. The program to remove 75 acres of highly flammable phragmites and replace them with spartina grass is part of an overall $804,000 grant to the state Department of Environmental Protection from the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service.
http://connecticuthuntingtoday.com/blog/index.php/2008/03/17/silver-sands-salt-marshes-being-restored/
Canada: Spring Lake Group Receives Habitat Restoration Grant
Spring Lake Project received more than $1,800 in grant money from the Jimmy F. New Foundation, of Walerton, Ind., for habitat restoration at the 37-acre park northwest of Streator. The money is earmarked for restoration of native grasses and flowers in an acre between the creeks at Spring Lake Park. The grant also supports the planting of 350 native trees in areas where erosion has occurred. The new trees will complement those planted near the park's entrance last year after being donated by Danchris Nursery and Three Trees Nursery.
http://mywebtimes.com/ottnews/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=35524
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| Recreation & Tourism
Volunteers are Eradicating Invasive Plants that are Suffocating Forest Park
Enemy aliens are attacking the city's oldest and most popular park. The exotic life forms have names like Hedera helix L., Rubus discolor and Cytisus scoparius. They are strangling the life out of Douglas fir and alder trees, stealing sunlight from native plants and weakening the ecosystem.
http://heraldnet.com/article/20080316/NEWS01/659962709
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| Funding Opportunities
Louisiana: Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program Closes March 28, 2008
North Louisiana landowners, seeking to environmentally enhance their property, have just over a week to apply for some available USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service funds through the group's Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program. Although it's unclear just how much money is available, applications for WHIP will be taken at all NRCS field offices throughout Louisiana with the deadline set at March 28.
http://www.la.nrcs.usda.gov/
Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act Closes March 28, 2008
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is seeking pre-proposals for projects to restore Great Lakes fish and wildlife resources through its Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Grants Program. The program provides Federal grants on a competitive basis to states, tribes and other interested entities to encourage cooperative conservation, restoration and management of fish and wildlife resources and their habitats in the Great Lakes basin. Projects are funded under authority of the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act of 2006.
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Fisheries/glfwra-grants.html
American Rivers Seeks Proposals for River Restoration Projects Closes April 1, 2008
American Rivers is seeking proposals for projects that aim for restoration of diadromous fish through dam removal projects. Projects in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Northwest and California are eligible to apply for this funding made possible through the NOAA's Open Rivers Initiative.
http://www.hydroreform.org/news/2008/02/25/american-rivers-seeks-proposals-for-river-restoration-projects
Fulbright Scholar Program for US Faculty and Professionals Closes August 1, 2008
The Fulbright Scholar Program is offering 109 lecturing, research or combined lecturing/research awards in environmental science during the 2009-2010 academic year. Awards range from two months to an academic year. Faculty and professionals in environmental science may apply for awards specifically in their field or for one of the many "All Discipline" awards open to any field. The application deadline for Fulbright traditional lecturing and research grants worldwide is August 1, 2008. U.S. citizenship is required. For other eligibility requirements, detailed award descriptions, and an application, visit our website at www.cies.org, or send a request for materials to apprequest@cies.iie.org.
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