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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
SER 2009 World Conference in Perth, Australia - Call for Proposals
A reminder that the SER International 2009 conference organising committee is seeking proposals for four session types (symposia, organized oral sessions, special sessions, and workshops). Sessions are to be organized by any interested individuals on a topic of their choice. The organising individual will also have the responsibility of seeking the speakers for their session. Session proposal submission deadline: 17 October 2008. Session proposal submission details: http://www.seri2009.com.au/pages/abstract.html The four session types will be in addition to the contributed oral and poster presentations, which will address the themes of the conference (see http://www.seri2009.com.au/pages/home.html). If interested, contributed oral and poster presentations will require submission of abstracts. Please note that abstracts are not due now - they will be called for at the end of the year.
NOAA Brings Conservation Internship Program to the Coasts
NOAA and the Student Conservation Association have signed an agreement that will pave the way for conservation interns to protect some of the most valued coastal natural resources, working with many of the nation's premier marine scientists. It is expected that the first round of internships will last six months and will involve marine habitat restoration and monitoring relevant scientific data to assist NOAA project managers.
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20081014_conservation.html
California: Truckee River Day Almost Here - Oct 19, 2008
Truckee River Days is billed as a fun-filled work day for volunteers for all ages. Volunteers participate in many different types of activities that provide benefits to the entire watershed. Examples of this year's projects include Davis Creek Restoration, Jones Valley Restoration, Legacy Trail Revegetation, Coldstream Ponds Wetlands, a Native Plant Garden, Martis Valley Boardwalk Construction, Martis Wildlife Area Trail Revegetation, Tahoe Donner Thinning, Legacy Trail Revegetation, Trout Creek Mulching and a Meadow Restoration.
http://www.tahoebonanza.com/article/20081010/NEWS/810099987/1051&title=Truckee%20River%20Day%20almost%20here
New Jersey: Whippany River Watershed Group Offers Volunteer Training - Oct 18, 2009
The Whippany River Watershed Action Committee is sponsoring two workshops to train volunteers in stream visual assessment, water sampling and the use of meters as part of a volunteer program in support of a grant recently approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection. For three years volunteers will provide periodic visual and sampling assessments at eight sites in the Whippany River watershed. The non-point source implementation grant will produce a watershed restoration and protection plan for the Whippany River from which future water quality improvement projects all along the river can be implemented.
http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081011/COMMUNITIES/810110326/1005/NEWS01
US: Local Groups Restoring the Great Lakes -- One Community at a Time
Community groups continue to work on small but critical Great Lakes restoration projects this year, not content to wait for Congress to authorize funding for a sweeping restoration plan put forth by Great Lakes experts and leaders nearly two years ago.
http://www.greatlakes.org/Page.aspx?pid=441 |
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People in the News
Timothy F. Brick Re-Elected Chairman of Metropolitan Water Board of Directors
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| Restoring Natural Capital (RNC)
Florida: An Acre of Seagrass is Worth About US$4,600 Per Year
What's the Indian River Lagoon worth? About $3.7 billion, a new study says. The one-year, $112,000 effort examined benefits of the 156-mile-long estuary that spans Volusia, Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties. An acre of seagrass -- the main money machine when it comes to supporting fish, crabs and other lagoon life -- is worth about $4,600 per year in the recreational and commercial fishing it supports, the study says.
http://teamseagrass.blogspot.com/2008/10/acre-of-seagrass-is-worth-about-us4600.html |
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
Audio: U.S. Sugar Tastes Sour to Everglades Tribe
In Southern Florida, there's a battle over a restoration plan for the Everglades. On one side: environmental groups, public officials, and sugar industry executives. On the other side: the Miccosukee, a small group of Native Americans that actually live there.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95557360&ft=1&f=1025 |
| Agro-Ecology
California: Farmers Work to Encourage Native Bee Habitat
With honeybee populations weakened by disease and the mysterious malady known as Colony Collapse Disorder, farmers place new focus on work to benefit native pollinators. Decisions by farmers and ranchers to replace bare ground along irrigation ditches and roadways with native plants, trees and grasses, in order to encourage beneficial insects and eliminate weeds, have evolved into a movement to bring native bees back to the farming landscape.
http://www.cfbf.com/agalert/AgAlertStory.cfm?ID=1147&ck=A1D50185E7426CBB0ACAD1E6CA74B9AA
Australia: Green Milk Hits the Spot
Over the past 16 years, the Loughridges have been involved in riparian restoration that involved fencing off 4.5km of creeks and streams and planting more than 20,000 trees on their Poowong farm. "Fencing off our creeks has made our business more efficient and more profitable and the landscape more appealing," Bill said.
http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2008/10/15/15341_on-farm.html |
| Biodiversity & Climate Change
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Kenya: Project to Restore Mau Forest Starts Next Year
UNEP's executive director Achim Steiner said restoration of degraded ecosystems of Mau Forest in Kenya and Lake Faguibine in Mali were country projects to be undertaken jointly with respective governments. He said the two were part of large-scale projects to rehabilitate nature-based assets in five countries before the Convention on Biological Diversity meeting to be held in 2010 in Nagoya, Japan.
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/479062/-/tkykg7/-/
Hawaii: Puuwaawaa Restoration Gets $2.5M
Sweat equity combined with designation as a forest reserve has resulted in $2.5 million in grants and contributions for the restoration of Puuwaawaa. Officially set aside in October 2007 as a unit of the Forest Reserve System, Puuwaawaa is now able to tap special funds for restoration efforts of the dryland forest.
http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2008/10/09/local/local06.txt
UK: Business Stream, Reforesting Scotland
Business Stream, Scotland's top non-domestic water and waste water supplier, has announced a partnership with Reforesting Scotland (RS), which is to become its charity of the year. As well as raising awareness of the charity among its 100,000 Scottish customers, Business Stream will fundraise for RS at internal events and release employees to get them involved in a wide range of projects.
http://business.scotsman.com/energyutilities/Business-Stream-Reforesting-Scotland.4573394.jp |
| Wetland Restoration
Canada: Southern Ontario Farmers Eligible for Wetland Funding
Ontario's natural resources ministry (MNR) and Ducks Unlimited Canada will put up $1 million over two years for a plan to help rural southern Ontario landowners with protection and upkeep of wetland habitats.
http://www.albertafarmexpress.ca/issues/ISArticle.asp?id=90711&PC=FBC&issue=10102008
US: Conservation Incentives Will Aid Farmers and Wetlands
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced a new package of conservation incentives on Oct. 3 for wetlands restoration under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). The incentives are designed to support restoration of wetlands, both in floodplains and in other areas, and restoration of duck nesting habitat. The funding is also aimed at restoring bottomland timber forests in the floodplains of some of America's major rivers and tributaries.
http://www.eponline.com/articles/68340/
California: Skaggs Island Wetlands Closer, But Not a Deal
Lifelong Sonoma Valley rancher Jim Haire and the United States Navy have shared Skaggs Island and a common boundary for decades in the tidelands at the southern entrance to the Valley. If a bill authored by Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, and passed by Congress, is signed into law by President Bush, they both may be forced to do business with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which seeks to make the island the crown jewel of its efforts to return North Bay wetlands to their natural state.
http://www.sonomanews.com/articles/2008/10/09/news/doc48e56e760d1f1069309684.txt |
River & Watershed Restoration
Wisconsin: More Than 6,000 Freshwater Mussels Saved from the Maws of Excavation
The technique used to do the habitat restoration on the South Fork Flambeau River utilizes heavy equipment. An excavator digs within the existing channel than uses the excavated material to build new banks which results in a narrower/deeper channel. Mussels live within that excavated material. That's where the South Fork Flambeau River Watershed Association (SFFRWA) came to the rescue. Over the last two summers the SFFRWA spent more than two days kneeling in the river digging up mussels and moving them to suitable areas directly upstream and downstream of the project areas.
http://newsofthenorth.net/article.cfm?articleID=24283
Florida: Unique Collaboration Built Plan to Restore St. Johns River
On Sept. 15, the Total Maximum Daily Load Executive Committee, an unprecedented and diverse working group, reached an apex of years of work and voted, unanimously, to endorse its work product, the Basin Management Action Plan, for the Lower St. Johns River Basin. This detailed plan, developed under the coordination of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in partnership with local industries, cities, counties, the St. Johns River Water Management District, environmental groups and many other stakeholders, is a comprehensive road map for restoring and protecting water quality in the Lower St. Johns River.
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/101208/opl_342555779.shtml
Oregon: Groups Work for Fish Habitat
Industry, agency and nonprofit groups are cooperating in a large-scale stream enhancement project in the Coquille River Watershed, southeast of Coos Bay. The work on 11 miles of stream habitat is one of the largest restoration efforts to date in Oregon. It will improve habitat for coho and Chinook salmon, searun and resident cutthroat trout, steelhead trout and other fish and aquatic species.
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2008/10/10/news/doc48ef8ac1e828d485553155.txt |
| Grassland Restoration
Illinois: Seed Collection at Afton Helps Restore Prairie to its Natural State
About 40 volunteers - including families, college clubs and frequent visitors to the preserve - plucked the heads off about six species of plants that are native to Illinois, and collected them in paper bags. In the spring, the seeds will be separated from their casing in a "seed stomp" and redistributed over the prairie to continue restoring the land to its natural state, said Al Roloff, a natural resource manager for the DeKalb County Forest Preserve District.
http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/2008/10/12/news/local/doc48f192d51849a231933004.txt
Oregon: A Project Aims to Restore Some of the Willamette Valley's Oak Savannah
"It's almost like an archaeological excavation, unearthing these trees after so many years of fire suppression," said Darin Stringer of Integrated Resource Management, part of the team working on the 60-acre demonstration project in the Lane County park. The demonstration - part restoration, part education - is designed to help people see what the Willamette Valley looked like before farming and cities and towns took over here. http://www.registerguard.com/web/news/550714//story.csp |
| Coastal & Marine Restoration
Denmark: LIFE's First Artificial Reef
This summer, the project Bluereef rebuilt the existing marine reef off the Danish coast at Lęsų Trindel, 12 km north-east of the Island of Lęsų, using over 100,600 tonnes of boulders. BlueReef is the first large marine LIFE Nature reef restoration project in Europe.
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/news/newsarchive2008/october/#reef
Massachusetts: Restoration Brings Clams Back to Mill Pond in Riverdale
A collaboration of non-profit organizations are working together to restore the salt marsh. Researchers from the Salem Sound Coastwatch, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management, Massachusetts Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership and the city are working together in the research efforts that will stretch over the next three years. This week the groups went out to the marsh and collected evidence, in the form of clams, that the restoration efforts are working.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/gloucester/fun/x1452592785/Restoration-brings-clams-back-to-Mill-Pond-in-Riverdale |
Wildlife Restoration
New Mexico: Otters Released In Rio Grande
Five river otters were released today in the waters of the Rio Pueblo De Taos on Taos Pueblo. The wild otters were trapped and transported from Washington by USDA Wildlife Services and Taos Pueblo as part of a larger otter reintroduction program organized by Taos Pueblo, The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and the New Mexico Friends of River Otters, a coalition of citizens, agencies and conservation organizations dedicated to restoring otters to the state.
http://outdoornewsdaily.com/index.php/archives/5356#more-5356 |
| Urban Restoration
Washington: Orchard Street Ravine Dedication: A Day Years in the Making
About 40 neighbors, city officials, and media turned out today at Orchard Street Ravine for a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Mayor Greg Nickels. The event was intended to celebrate years of ongoing volunteer efforts to reclaim a forgotten ravine where Orchard Street dead-ends, transforming it into a small sanctuary for neighbors, wildlife and native plant species.
http://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=11151
Alaska: If Chester Creek Restoration is Too Successful, Then What?
Ten years ago, nobody much worried about a salmon-filled creek drawing grizzlies into Midtown. But this year, a 731-pound grizzly, apparently prospecting the creek for fish, was struck and killed near the heavily used Sullivan Arena. Put more salmon in the creek, he said, and the bears are likely to follow the fish down toward civilization.
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/553681.html |
| Recreation & Tourism
Ecuador: Tourism Curbed in Bid to Save Galapagos Haven
Record numbers of tourist developments have threatened endangered plant and animal species and prompted Unesco, the United Nations' cultural agency, to place the Galįpagos on its 'in danger list'. Now illegal migrant workers in spin-off industries are being expelled to save the archipelago's ecology.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/oct/12/galapagosislands-travelnews |
| Funding Opportunities
Australia: Funding for Areas of High Conservation Value
The Western Catchment Management Authority (CMA) has $400,000 available for people willing to manage areas of high conservation value for 15 years. They include culturally significant sites, uncommon vegetation types or landscapes, including artesian mound springs, native animal habitat, wetlands and riverine corridors. The deadline for applications is November 14 and works funded through the program need to be completed by the end of May 2009.
http://theland.farmonline.com.au/news/state/agribusiness-and-general/general/funding-for-areas-of-high-conservation-value/1333259.aspx
MS/PhD Graduate Student Opportunities in Biogeographic Aspects of Land-Use Change and Terrestrial Biogeochemistry
One to two graduate assistantships are available to prospective students interested in global change impacts on biogeochemical cycling and biodiversity in the Department of Geography at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, starting Fall 2009. Students with interests in the following are encouraged to apply: land-use/land-cover and climatic change effects on biogeochemical cycling, mechanisms of soil organic matter stabilization, restoration of ecosystem goods and services, legacies of human disturbance on tropical forest structure and species composition, and physical and human dimensions of land-use and land-cover change. Opportunities exist for fieldwork in tropical as well as local and regional ecosystems. For more information on the
graduate programs, please visit:
http://www.geography.wisc.edu/admissions/index.htm
Washington: Nearshore Restoration Projects - Closes October 17, 2008
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is accepting proposals from organizations seeking state funds for projects that would protect and restore natural shorelines and estuaries in Puget Sound. Applications and additional information about submitting proposals are available at http://www.pugetsoundnearshore.org/esrp.htm or by contacting Jenna Norman at 360-902-2658 or ESRP@dfw.wa.gov. http://outdoornewsdaily.com/index.php/archives/5075
Oregon: Grants Available for Watershed Restoration - October 20, 2008
The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board is accepting grant proposals for what it calls "on-the-ground restoration projects that approach natural resources management from a whole-watershed perspective." The organization will continue to accept proposals until Oct. 20. Interested landowners can contact the Umatilla County Soil and Water Conservation District at 276-8131. Project examples include weed control, native plant reseeding, streambank planting to slow erosion, off-stream livestock watering facilities or fencing stream areas to restore riparian function, restoring or enhancing natural wetlands, improving fish habitat and culvert removal or replacement.
http://www.eastoregonian.info/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=48&ArticleID=82634&TM=72801.63
Oregon: Watershed Restoration Funding Announcement - Closes October 24, 2008
NOAA Restoration Center funding is available to support community-based habitat restoration through our funding partner, Ecotrust, and the Whole Watershed Restoration Initiative (WWRI). In partnership with NOAA, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB), and the Pacific Northwest Region of the U.S. Forest Service, Ecotrust is currently accepting proposals for funding through the 2009 cycle of the WWRI.
http://jcmrc.blogspot.com/2008/09/watershed-restoration-funding.html | |
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