Florida: Paynes Prairie Receives $23 Million for Restoration of Wetlands

After years of being a repository for wastewater of nearby suburbs, Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park could soon return to the conditions of a century ago. A $23 million project aims to create 1,300 acres of new wetlands and improve those that have become tangled and overgrown.

http://www.alligator.org/articles/2008/09/09/news/local/080908_prairie.txt

 

UN Seeks World Heritage Status for Iraqi Marshes

The United Nations launched a plan to have an ancient wetland in southeast Iraq, thought to be the Biblical Garden of Eden, listed as a World Heritage Site. The U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) said the Marshlands were of cultural and ecological significance but had been almost completely drained in the 1990s during Saddam Hussein's rule. Iraqi Environment Minister Nermeen Othman said in a statement issued by Nairobi-based UNEP.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Developmental_Issues/UN_seeks_World_Heritage_status_for_Iraqi_marshes/articleshow/3455137.cms

 

Tennessee: LTWA Project Restores Wetlands

Macon County's Little Tennessee Watershed Association has completed a wetlands restoration project at Tessentee Farm near Otto. This project should restore an estimated half-acre of wetland to the condition present prior to the creation of the manmade pond there, according to Jenny Sanders, executive director of the Watershed Association. The endeavor is a collaboration between the Watershed Association and the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee.

http://www.thefranklinpress.com/articles/2008/09/04/news/02news.txt

 

New Zealand: Projects Breathe New Life into Wetlands

Co-operation and hard work is bringing the wetland areas around Young Nicks Head back to life. A second working bee planted native trees at Sisterson's Lagoon, continuing a group effort. Gisborne Environment Centre chairman Murray Palmer has been monitoring the lagoon for several years. He has overseen the project, alongside project co-ordinator Tui Foster, who completed a research paper on the wetland through the University of Waikato. This led to an application to the Biodiversity Condition Fund, which is funding the project.

http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/Default.aspx?s=3&s1=2&id=5124

 

California: Restoration Project Aims To Revitalize Local Wetlands

There's a big project underway along Interstate 5 in Del Mar, but it's not your typical construction job. Workers are reshaping more than 400 acres of land around the San Dieguito River in hopes of revitalizing the wetlands. Just add water and watch it grow. We're not just talking about flowers here, it's the Del Mar Wetlands Restoration Project.

http://www.cbs8.com/features/earth8/story.php?id=139361

 

Vermont: Richford Farm Owners Fined over Wetlands Fill

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the owners of a Richford farm will be fined and ordered to make amends for illegally converting 40 acres of wetlands into hay fields. Mark and Amanda St. Pierre, owners of Pleasant Valley Farm, filled in the wetlands without obtaining permits or environmental reviews. The two say they've now settled with the EPA to avoid a legal fight, but that they didn't knowingly violate regulations. They've agreed to spend more than $100,000 on mitigation and fines, including restoration of 29 acres of wetland.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2008/09/05/richford_farm_owners_fined_over_wetlands_fill/

China: Battle Goes on to Save Bayanbulak Grasslands

The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region is continuing with efforts to save the Bayanbulak Grasslands, China's second biggest. "The project will be completed within three years. More than 6,000 people and 1.39 million sheep will eventually be moved out," Huo Chuangong, deputy director of the agricultural administration bureau of Beyinguoleng Mongolian autonomous prefecture, told China Daily yesterday. Bayanbulak has been hit by drought, excessive sheep grazing and locust plagues, he said.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/09/content_9871913.htm

 

Texas: State Park Controlled Burn Restores Grasslands

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's written mission includes restoration and preservation of the fragments of historical environments in state parks. One such site Galveston Island State Park, where more than 1,000 acres originally were coastal prairie grasslands. With the assistance of Friends of Galveston Island State Park, the parks department is engaged in a program for restoring and maintaining this grasslands site. The program has three phases: 1) physically and chemical eradicating invasive plant species; 2) periodic mowing to enhance grass growth and to deter other plant growth; and 3) periodic controlled burning to eliminate woody and grassy invasives without harming prairie grass growth.

http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=5e9c9739883b8b75&-session=TheDailyNews:42F941281625401208ISv15B925D

 

Wyoming: Wildflowers Anchor Watershed

The benefits of restoration could be significant. Increasing organic matter by 5 percent on the ground can allow the meadows to hold seven times as much water per square foot, says retired Forest Service ecologist Alma Winward. 'That's what they were made for,' he says, explaining how the fluffy, black topsoil absorbs water like a sponge. When functioning properly, the meadow captures moisture from rain and snowmelt and filters out sediment, thus preventing soil from washing down slope and, ultimately, downstream to cutthroat trout spawning beds. When too much sediment settles in the spawning gravel where native trout lay their eggs, the sediment suffocates the eggs and young fish fry.

http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2008/09/08/news/wyoming/567bd617e8ed3e13872574bd0020fb1f.txt

Natural Coastline Defense: Mangrove Forests in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia's scientists, researchers, and political figures are emphasizing the importance of restoring mangrove forests, one of nature's strongest defenses against natural disasters. Mangrove forests offer a vast array of ecosystem services, or benefits to people, in tropical and subtropical coastline ecosystems. The massive root systems of mangrove forests mitigate the effect of strong surge storms on low-lying coastal communities by decreasing wave and wind velocity.

http://www.wri.org/stories/2008/09/natural-coastline-defense-mangrove-forests-southeast-asia

 

UK: Scope of Plans for Wallasea Island Revealed

Plans for Britain's biggest coastal wetland restoration are set to take a step forward this autumn.

The Wallasea Island 'Wild Coast Project' will see three-quarters of this island in south Essex restored by the RSPB to saltmarsh, creeks and mudflats, building a haven for wildlife and a wonderful place for people to connect with the Essex coastal landscape. The RSPB has just given its developing ideas for the project to Essex County Council in a new 'Scoping Study'. This sets out the scope of the Society's plans, giving the County Council and other regulators, including Rochford District Council, the Environment Agency and Natural England, the chance to raise points and check the project meets their needs.

http://blog.southendrspb.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/9/5/3869550.html

 

California: Lagoon Restoration Project Shows Marked Improvement

In fact, the researchers believe there are millions of fish, snails and more in a lagoon that, just 8 months ago, was devoid of life. Eight months ago, an excavator opened a channel to the sea as part of an $80-million restoration project to offset environmental damage caused by San Onofre. But this is a far better return than most had hoped for. "Once you get the food, the base of the web established, then you can support higher level of consumers,' larger fish and birds and so forth, so it's very encouraging to us," said UCSD Marine Biologist, Mark Page.

http://www.10news.com/news/17425440/detail.html

Friendly Invaders

Today, 22,000 non-native plants grow in New Zealand. Most of them can survive only with the loving care of gardeners and farmers. But 2,069 have become naturalized: they have spread out across the islands on their own. There are more naturalized invasive plant species in New Zealand than native species. It sounds like the makings of an ecological disaster: an epidemic of invasive species that wipes out the delicate native species in its path. But in a paper published in August in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dov Sax, an ecologist at Brown University, and Steven D. Gaines, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, point out that the invasion has not led to a mass extinction of native plants. The number of documented extinctions of native New Zealand plant species is a grand total of three.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/science/09inva.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin