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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
Conferences & Workshops
IUFRO World Congress: Seoul, Republic of Korea, 23-28 August 2010
The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) will hold its 23rd World Congress in Seoul, Republic of Korea from August 23-28, 2010. The title of the Congress is "Forests for the Future: Sustaining Society and the Environment". The Congress Scientific Committee invites submission of technical session proposals until 15 January 2009. Session proposals are welcome from all organizations and individuals with an interest in the future of forests from all forest-related scientific disciplines. An open call for papers will be available in February 2009 and abstracts will be accepted from March through September 2009. For more information on the IUFRO World Congress, including the First Announcement, Congress Themes and Call for Session Proposals, please visit the Congress website at http://www.iufro2010.com or the IUFRO website at http://www.iufro.org.
New Mexico Forestry and Climate Change Workshop
The goal of the workshop is to provide foresters and other natural resource professionals with information about climate change's projected impacts on New Mexico's forests to incorporate into their management decision making. Forest managers, researchers, landowners, students, activists, and the general public are encouraged to attend.
http://crpgsa.unm.edu/2008/10/new-mexico-forestry-and-climate-change.html
Get Involved/Community-based Restoration
Oregon: Nature Conservancy Seeks Volunteers
The Nature Conservancy invites anyone interested in maintaining the Boardman Grasslands Conservation Area near Ione to volunteer for a work party Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 25 and 26. Workers and volunteers will be planting native wildflowers in a grassland restoration area and cleaning up around a corral that was burned in a recent wildfire.
http://www.eastoregonian.info/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=48&ArticleID=84157&TM=60572.95
Texas: Prairie Restoration Effort Needs Volunteers
The area's biggest native prairie restoration project needs volunteers for a day of planting. The Prairie Plant-a-thon hopes to bring together conservation-minded Texans with 2,000 native grass plants that need to get in the ground before winter. The effort is part of the ongoing coastal prairie restoration at Sheldon Lake State Park in northeast Harris County. The event is set for Saturday, Nov. 8 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
http://ourtribune.com/article.php?id=5494
North Dakota: Prairie Grasslands Seeks Comments on Forest Service Proposal
USDA Forest Service Dakota Prairie Grasslands officials are asking the public for input on developing an amendment to its Land and Resource Management Plan for the Elkhorn Ranchlands near Medora. In April 2007, the USDA Forest Service acquired the 5,200 acres of land where Theodore Roosevelt spent time ranching in the North Dakota badlands. About a year ago, an event was held in Medora to celebrate the acquisition of those lands.
http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/520073.html
Ohio: Western Wildlife Corridor to Complete Habitat Restoration
The Western Wildlife Corridor is hosting several outings to restore habitats at its preserves this fall. Upcoming projects are Oct. 25 at the Delshire Preserve and Nov. 8 at Sisters Hill. Participants meet at 9 a.m. and work until around noon, clearing honeysuckle on the hillsides. Those attending should wear work clothes and work shoes and bring work gloves, plenty of water and a Roundup squirter if they have one (WWC will provide the Roundup solution).
http://rodeo.cincinnati.com/getlocal/gpstory.aspx?id=100051&sid=137141
California: Big Bear Volunteers to Restore Forest Area
The Big Bear Greenthumbs will conduct a volunteer project Saturday to help restore a site once used for target shooting in the San Bernardino National Forest. It's the latest project for Greenthumbs, a volunteer group part of the San Bernardino National Forest Ecological Restoration program. The program was started by district botanist Dev Kopp 10 years ago and it mimics a program she led at the Cleveland National Forest in San Diego County.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_N_ngreenthumb17.496a9f4.html |
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People in the News
Montana: Phillips Seeks Second Term
Incumbent Rep. Mike Phillips, D-Bozeman, continues his work as a wildlife biologist with Ted Turner's Endangered Species Fund. Phillips moved to Bozeman in 1997 from Yellowstone National Park where he worked as a leader for the wolf restoration project. He has focused his career on restoration ecology, reintroducing red wolves in the southeast and studying grizzly bears in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in Russia, Poland and Canada.
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2008/10/22/news/40hd66.txt
A Man with a Plan
Visionaries are seldom practical. But don't tell that to Doug Smith. He's a man who has the practical wherewithal to transform vision into reality. Smith has developed a plan whereby rural landowners and farmers can earn money by improving and enhancing the natural resources on their property, especially waterways. Smith calls his initiative WREN, an acronym for Wildlife Restoration and Environmental Naturalization.
http://news.therecord.com/Life/article/431269
Florida: Canterbury School Students get their Green on in Native Garden
But with environmental concerns about pesticide use, water shortages, depletion of pollinators and ground water runoff into Tampa Bay, shouldn't more be done to prepare children to become good stewards of the earth? That's the thinking at Canterbury School of Florida in St. Petersburg, where middle school and high school students have created and maintained an 8,000-square-foot Florida native garden that's receiving accolades and more than $20,000 in funding from local and state organizations. The eco-minded youngsters researched, planned and wrote some of the grant proposals.
http://www.tampabay.com/features/homeandgarden/article858080.ece |
| New Books & Articles
SER's New Policy Position Statement on Ecosystem Fragmentation
The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) International maintains that even with the tremendous pressures that humans presently exert upon our ecosystems, fragmentation is neither inevitable nor irreversible. SER International advocates the integration of restoration projects, regardless of size, into regional and transnational landscape planning so as to protect biodiversity, increase connectivity, prevent further habitat loss, and foster sustainable development.
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Ecological_Restoration_As_A_Tool_For_Reversing_Ecosystem_Fragmentation_999.html
Crisis Shows Urgency of Going Organic
Indian physicist and environmental activist Vandana Shiva said the financial crisis showed it was high time for countries to rebuild local, diverse farms to become independent from global turmoil. "The lesson to be learned from the financial meltdown is that the world is at a tipping point," Shiva told Reuters at the Frankfurt Bookfair on Thursday, where she is promoting her new book "Soil not Oil".
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50637/story.htm
Maryland: Nonnative Oysters Seen as Key to Bid to Restore Fishery
A five-year project and study released this week for public review outlines the predicted effects of introducing a nonnative species of oysters into the Chesapeake Bay to restore the ecological role of the filter-feeders and the once thriving commercial fishery. The proposal is to introduce the Suminoe oyster from Asia while continuing efforts to restore the native oyster.
http://www.somdnews.com/stories/10152008/entetop202610_32330.shtml |
| Restoring Natural Capital (RNC)
Putting A Price On Nature Can Save Forests, Rivers
Putting a price on nature by creating tradable credits can the limit the loss of forests, wetlands and rivers from the expansion of agriculture, the head of an international forestry investment firm said on Monday. Carbon, water and biodiversity were emerging as the three main environmental market forces this century, said David Brand, managing director of New Forests, and his company was developing projects in all three areas to yield saleable credits.
"If the remaining ecosystems aren't priced then they are basically traded as free input to the expansion of agriculture," Brand said from Sydney.
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50680/story.htm |
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
AUS$26.7m Boost to Indigenous Environmental Work in Australia
Environment Minister Peter Garrett has announced $26.76 million to help Indigenous rangers fight the loss of biodiversity in remote Australia. The package under the Caring for our Country initiative includes: $21.65 million to boost the work of Indigenous rangers on Australia's 25 declared Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) over the next five years.
http://www.environmental-expert.com/resultEachPressRelease.aspx?cid=19956&codi=38697&idproducttype=8&level=0
Oslo says Forest Plan to Help Indigenous Peoples
Norway promised on Wednesday to promote indigenous peoples' rights as part of investments of almost $500 million a year in tropical nations to slow deforestation and combat global warming. But Environment Minister Erik Solheim rejected calls by some human rights groups for Oslo, the leading international donor on forests, to set stiff pre-conditions for governments to respect indigenous peoples' rights from the Amazon to the Congo basin.
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnLF597044.html |
| Agro-Ecology
Agrobiodiversity: A Tool for Climate Change Adaptation
Climate change will lead to major changes in agricultural production. Crops and crop varieties will need to be changed and disconnects may well develop between crops and the soil and associated biodiversity (e.g. pollinators) needed for sustainable production. As discussions on the current food crisis have emphasized, small-scale farmers will be particularly vulnerable. The seminar will explore the interface between climate change and agrobiodiversity in the context of improving sustainable food production in ways that meet livelihood concerns of small-scale farmers. Current gaps in our knowledge of how to maintain or enhance resilience and adaptability, and how to ensure continued availability of adapted materials will be identified.
http://www.agrobiodiversityplatform.org/climate_change/blog/?p=172 |
| Biodiversity & Climate Change
Wildlife Conservation: Congress Diary
More than 8,000 conservationists and policy makers are in Barcelona, Spain, for the IUCN World Conservation Congress. Held once every four years, the gathering is viewed as a landmark event where future conservation strategies are developed. In his daily diary, environment correspondent Richard Black reports on the topics beings discussed in the conference halls, and visits some of the fringe events.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7654721.stm
US: Forest Service Prepares for Climate Change
The research station includes 19 experimental forests, including Bent Creek, and 20 laboratories in 12 states that work on forest ecosystem restoration, management, forest health, forest watershed and natural resource monitoring. Research by scientists at the research station will help national forests and other landowners make decisions about their land, including what types of recreation will be allowed, how they can best manage fires and what they can do to protect endangered species.
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200881017005
Australia: Cross-breeding Coral Fights Extinction
Scientists have discovered rare corals breaking the traditional rules of nature and cross-breeding their way out of extinction. New research by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies suggests that a rare coral, faced with a dire shortage of mates of their own kind, has bred with other coral species.
http://news.theage.com.au/national/crossbreeding-coral-fights-extinction-20081021-55bx.html
Audio: Climate Change & Species Movement
As the world's climate changes, many species are being forced out of their old habitats. Robert Colwell, an evolutionary biology professor at the University of Connecticut, says that while some species are able to migrate to cooler territory, those in the tropics may have no where else to go.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95603499&ft=1&f=1025
David Suzuki: When mammals are threatened, we are threatened
We humans sometimes forget that we are animals. We're mammals, and like all mammals, and indeed all animals, we are connected to and dependent on the web of life. When part of that web is in danger, we are all in danger. And our mammal cousins are in danger. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, one quarter of the world's 5,487 known mammalian species face extinction in 30 years if we don't act now to protect them. This includes many of the planet's apes and monkeys; bears such as polar bears, sun bears, and pandas; and dozens of marine mammals, such as sei and fin whales.
http://www.straight.com/article-166093/david-suzuki-when-mammals-are-threatened-we-are-threatened |
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California: Removing Junipers makes Sense for Ecosystem and Wildlife
In fact, the sage steppe ecosystem restoration effort is one of the most proactive, collaborative projects California has seen. Federal, state and local agencies coordinated with private landowners to restore the local ecosystem. The benefits of this plan far outweigh the costs. The high-desert, sage steppe ecosystem depends on a balanced diversity of plant and animal species. There are many good reasons to remove certain stands of junipers in certain places, as part of a strategy to restore that balance and diversity.
http://www.cfbf.com/agalert/AgAlertStory.cfm?ID=1157&ck=A8240CB8235E9C493A0C30607586166C
Colorado: Pine Beetles Threaten 'Forgotten Forest'
While there may be fewer people to see the change than in the north central part of the state, the spread of the beetle will likely leave a large mark on the 1.8 million-acre national forest. Spruce/fir habitat makes up nearly 40 percent of the forest. "The landscape is going to change," Blakeman said. "We're seeing a very large scale disturbance in a short period of time." The results of that change may mean greater forage space for deer and elk and it may also mean increases in the water table and surface flows, Blakeman said. On the other hand, spruce beetle infestation may thin the cover needed by the showshoe hare, which is the main food source for the endangered Canada lynx that roams through much of the Rio Grande. But there is not a lot the Forest Service can do to stop the spread of the bug, because it doesn't have the funding to treat the large amounts of acreage likely to be infested.
http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2008/10/20/news/local/doc48fc1161cefe3757399462.txt |
| Wetland Restoration
Texas: A Conservation Project Aims to Restore 19,000 Acres of Wetlands
The keepers of a 19,000-acre swath along the banks of the upper Neches River, long coveted by dam builders and municipal planners, are moving forward with an ambitious project to restore the river's wetlands to their pristine state. The multimillion-dollar project of the Conservation Fund, which owns the former East Texas timber property, would be the largest of its kind in a state where virtually every major river is shackled by concrete and steel walls, straightened and channeled, and siphoned for use by distant cities.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6069366.html |
River & Watershed Restoration
Ohio: River Restoration is Goal of Dam Removal
Friends of Alum Creek & Tributaries (FACT) is in the process of removing a low-head dam located on Alum Creek between Academy Park and Wolfe Park in Columbus in an effort to help the environment. The removal effort began Monday, Oct. 6. The project, financed by a three-year $280,000 grant administered by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, also includes the demolition of a low-head dam near Nelson Park and environmental restoration in both areas.
http://www.snponline.com/articles/2008/10/13/multiple_papers/news/allbedam%201_20081013_0305pm_5.txt |
| Grassland Restoration
Iowa: The Nature Conservancy Celebrates at Broken Kettle Grasslands
The Nature Conservancy in Iowa will welcome a small herd of 30 bison to Broken Kettle Grassland Preserve in the globally rare Loess Hills early next week. This is the largest contiguous native prairie in the state. These bison are coming from the Conservancy's Lame Johnny Creek Ranch, in South Dakota. The herd originated from the Wind Cave National Park herd and is historically and genetically valuable. They have to date shown no evidence of cattle introgression or cattle genes as determined by current DNA testing techniques. This starter herd will be a maternal grouping - bison that have group dynamics figured out and stick together.
http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/iowa/press/press3738.html
UK: Save North Devon Grasslands
Devon Wildlife Trust is this month launching an appeal to raise £20,000 to help secure wildlife rich grasslands in North Devon. The appeal will help to fund the charity's new five year restoration project - Working Wetlands. The project is the charity's biggest and most ambitious project to date and covers an area of 65,000 hectares across northern Devon.
http://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/northdevongazette/news/story.aspx?brand=NDGOnline&category=news&tBrand=devon24&tCategory=newsndga&itemid=DEED17%20Oct%202008%2014%3A00%3A48%3A597
California: Ruminants Invade Lincoln Hills
Residents of Lincoln Hills are sharing their community with some unusual four-legged neighbors. The Sun City Lincoln Hills Community Association and Wildlife Heritage Foundation, in collaboration with Restoration Resources, has begun using goats to graze the preserved land around the Sun City Lincoln Hills community in Lincoln.
http://www.lincolnnewsmessenger.com/detail/95946.html
Oregon: Crews Set Park on Fire to Help Endangered Ecosystem
"Fires kept the landscape open, attracting game and encouraging the camas plant to flourish, a staple food harvested by the area's Kalapuya Indians," said Chris Orsinger, executive director of Friends of Buford Park. "This will be the ninth controlled burn since 1999 in this area of the park that have enhanced rare oak savanna, as well as upland and wetland prairies." Less than 2 percent of the native oak savanna in the Willamette Valley still exists. The 2,363-acre Buford Park, largest of Lane County's 55 parks, is home to what may be the largest remaining oak savanna in the Willamette Valley. Friends of Buford Park have a plan to preserve and restore the habitat in the park.
http://www.kval.com/news/local/31020804.html
UK: Conservation Group Gets £144,000 to Expand Heaths
Environmental charity The Greensand Trust has been awarded £144,140 in the latest round of Natural England grants. The cash is part of a £1 million handout to protect and preserve endangered wildlife and habitats and will be used to link pockets of heathland and acid grassland in Bedfordshire to create better conditions for reptiles and rare ground-nesting birds.
http://www.leightonbuzzardonline.co.uk/news/Conservation-group-gets-144000-to.4585816.jp
Traveling Ecosystem Exhibit to Visit Missouri City
In conjunction with its planned restoration of native forest and prairie vegetation in Buffalo Run Park, Missouri City is hosting a traveling exhibit about the ecosystems found in the area. Beginning Tuesday, Oct. 21 and running through Tuesday, Nov. 4, Houston Wilderness will bring a display highlighting the ten eco-regions of the area to Missouri City. The display will be open to the pubic in the lobbies of Missouri City's municipal court, 3846 Cartwright Road and at city hall, 1522 Texas Parkway. http://www.fortbendnow.com/pages/full_story?page_label=home&id=313646&article-Traveling-Ecosystem-Exhibit-To-Visit-Missouri-City%20=&widget=push&instance=home_news_bullets&open=& |
| Lake Restoration
China: From Remarkable Rescue to Restoration of Lost Habitat
Southwest China's alpine lakes have lost many of their native species. Researchers may have found a way to reboot the ecosystem.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/322/5899/184
Michigan: Restoring Great Lakes Won't be Cheap
The Great Lakes, and rivers that feed them, could be the world's supreme freshwater resource if cleansed of lingering toxins and protected from future invasions by foreign species, according to a new state plan. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has drafted a Great Lakes restoration plan that calls for cleaning up 14 toxic hot spots, reducing pollution from industries, cities and farms and closing the door on invasive species entering the lakes via transoceanic freighters.
http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2008/10/for_monday_restoring_great_lak.html |
| Coastal & Marine Restoration
California: Restoration Offers more Questions than Answers
Now comes the hard part. Pond SF2 and its 240 acres offers a sense of what lies ahead. The first thing you'll see from the Dumbarton Bridge will be bulldozers churning up mud, forming an outer berm while shaping 30 artificial islands within. Half will be hairbrush-shaped, the other half squarish. Once the new landscape is in place, new culverts will be opened - partly - to let bay tides pass through. Sediment will gather. Tidal plants such as native cordgrass will settle in. Scientists will watch which species of birds prefer which islands, and which ones build nests. Researchers also will monitor the newcomers' impact on the western half of SF2 - an arid-looking plateau that is favored by the western snowy plover, a threatened species.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/20/DDG113JJAJ.DTL
Coastal Experts Warn of Cost of Environmental Neglect
For the first time this year, environmentalists in Canada were happy to see a federal election fought over environmental issues, particularly a carbon tax to combat global warming. But then the financial crisis hit. And this week, the Liberal party and its environmental program were defeated. Eric Higgs, a Canadian scientist, told hundreds of fellow scientists and coastal professionals in Providence, R.I. this week that once again the economy has failed to understand the value of social and ecological capital, and that could lead to even more economic losses in the future. Higgs, director of the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria, and Michael Grunwald, author of the award-winning book, "The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida and the Politics of Paradise," gave closing presentations to a national coastal and estuary restoration conference that attracted more than 900 people to Providence in October.
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/37192
Rhode Island: Saving Gooseneck Cove
Now help is on the way. Twelve years after scientists first took note, a project to restore this scenic saltmarsh has finally gone out to bid. Possibly as early as this winter, work will begin to restore the marsh. By the spring, environmentalists will no longer be speaking of Gooseneck Cove in finite terms. "This has been a long process, but it's been a good process," said Mr. Bartlett, director of the city's redevelopment agency. "We hope to have bids in by the end of the fall and have work begin sometime this winter, depending on the weather."
http://www.eastbayri.com/detail/78785.html
New Zealand: Volunteers Help Restore Whitebait Habitat
Whitebait (or inanga) are in decline around New Zealand but a restoration project on Lower Hutt's Opahu Stream is about restoring habitat for the little fish to lay eggs. Amongst the conditions set under the resource consent for Greater Wellington Regional Council's Ewen to Ava flood protection works were requirements for a number of environmental enhancement projects once all the engineering and earthmoving work is done.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/dominionpost/4727059a25482.html
California: Hamilton Wetlands Could Accelerate with Bay Hole Proposal
Construction of a huge hole to store sediment at the bottom of San Pablo Bay would allow work to speed up by eight years and save $200 million on the Hamilton wetlands restoration project, according to a report issued Friday. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and state Coastal Conservancy released an environmental impact study of alternatives for transporting dredged material to restore more than 2,500 acres of wetlands at Hamilton Field and Bel Marin Keys. Restoration work has been going for the past 10 months, with barges taking sediment from the Port of Oakland - where shipping channels are being deepened - to an off-loader in the bay. From there the sediment is piped to Hamilton, where it is used to cover dried land to create wetlands, which attract shorebirds and other wildlife.
http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_10749877
Texas: New Canal Aids Wetlands
Who knew a little flooding could provide a home? "Flood it and they will come," Vicki Muller, manager at the Myrtle Foester-Whitmire Unit, said as she opened the water gate from a newly-constructed freshwater canal to flood 50 acres on Thursday. Now she waits for natural vegetation to grow. The wetlands will cover 750 acres between Foester Lake and Powderhorn Lake in Calhoun County by the time it's complete, just in time for the wintering whooping cranes and waterfowl.
http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/local/story/339206.html |
Wildlife Restoration
California: Five Years Later, Project Improves Wildlife Habitat on Gaviota Coast
In June 2003, the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County secured a grant from the California Coastal Conservancy to study and design a project to enhance steelhead passage through the highway culvert at the bottom of Arroyo Hondo Creek. After four years of consulting, designing, planning, permitting, grant writing, negotiating, lawyering and bidding, followed by a year of animal monitoring, relocation, construction, native plant restoration and more than $1 million in expenses, the project is complete.
http://www.noozhawk.com/local_news/article/101608_five_years_later_project_improves_wildlife_habitat_on_gaviota_coast/
Texas: TPWD, Partners Expanding Bighorn Sheep Restoration Efforts
Expanded conservation efforts are in the offing for the desert bighorn sheep, an iconic symbol of wilderness in West Texas, with plans to extend bighorn restocking efforts into Big Bend Ranch State Park and elsewhere in the region as part of a comprehensive Desert Bighorn Sheep Restoration Plan. One benefit of the broad-based initiative to restore the native ecology in key areas of the Trans Pecos region is that, by providing suitable habitat and travel corridors for desert bighorn sheep, many other native wildlife species will also benefit.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20081017c
California: Arcata to Begin Construction and Restoration Projects
Arcata has begun enhancements on seasonal wetlands and resumed work on McDaniel Slough, west of the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary. The Baylands project, which will enhance three seasonal wetlands to provide better wildlife habitat, is under way adjacent to the California Highway Patrol office, south of Samoa Boulevard.
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_10744056 |
| Extractive Industries
Canada: Biggest Customer Has Second Thoughts
As Canada's tar sands extraction expands full steam ahead, a perfect storm of internal and external opposition could derail some of the voracious growth at the world's largest energy project. Together, skyrocketing construction costs, falling crude prices, increasingly vocal opposition from some native groups, and a little known section of the 2007 U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act all threaten growth projections in northern Alberta.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44354 |
| Invasive Species
New Mexico: Invasive Rock Snot in Pecos River
The Department of Game and Fish is urging anglers and others who visit the Pecos River Canyon to take measures to prevent the spread of an invasive species of algae that could present many problems for the Pecos River and other state waters. The New Mexico Environment Department confirmed a bloom of Didymosphenia geminata in the Pecos River near Cowles in August. Commonly called "didymo," the single-celled alga's large, ugly growths on stream gravels have earned it the descriptive name, "rock snot." It is an aquatic nuisance species known to be transferred around the world on boats, fishing equipment and footwear.
http://outdoornewsdaily.com/index.php/archives/5328
New Zealand: Biodiversity Funds to Aid Six Projects
About $84,000 of new funding announced Tuesday will help protect Nelson's threatened species and enhance the environment. Six projects in the region have benefited from the latest round of Biodiversity Funds, announced by Environment Minister Trevor Mallard in Nelson. "These projects are a great example of collaboration and partnerships between regional and local councils, central government, private landowners and local communities," he said. The largest grant of $30,000 will go towards a restoration and a protection project at the Wakapuaka Block, assisting with seed collection, weed control and fencing.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelsonmail/4734818a6007.html
India: Trees of Death
High elevation grasslands are characterised by grasses, long and short, meadows dotted with wild flowers, occasional rhododendron trees, water pools and marshlands. Through the wet months, thick clouds of mist gather and swirl in incredible patterns interspersed sometimes by saaral or thin rain. Decades ago, demarcated high mountain grasslands of south India were converted into exotic wattle (Acacia mearnsii), Pinus and Eucalyptus plantation crops to provide cheap and local sources of pulp and tannins for Indian paper and pulp industries, and fuel wood. This 'wasteland' was dug out, burnt and replanted.
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main40.asp?filename=Op251008Change.asp
New Zealand: Unleashed Threat
Dogs on the loose and rare birds don't mix at a special Swanson reserve. Look after the birds and the forest will flourish. If the forest flourishes then the birds will flourish. That's the philosophy behind West Auckland's Ark in the Park. But native birds and dogs don't mix and, unless doggie walkers start obeying the rules, they may be banned from the wildlife sanctuary.
http://www.theaucklander.co.nz/news/story.cfm?storyID=3787992
New York: Habitat Restoration Project at Ann Lee Pond Nature and Historic Preserve
Albany County will begin a habitat restoration project to remove invasive black locust trees from the Ann Lee Pond Nature and Historic Preserve in Colonie this week. Black locust is an aggressive, non-native invasive tree species that can cause serious ecological problems in the areas it inhabits because it forms a dense monotypic stand of mature trees that spreads rapidly throughout an area. It can completely replace an existing plant community, and thus the animal species that the community supports.
http://www.empirestatenews.net/News/20081020-5.html |
| Urban Restoration
Georgia: Atlanta Airport Opens Bird Sanctuary
The world's busiest airport has taken time to transform a dried lake bed into a serene 56.5-acre sanctuary nestled 15 miles south of the bustle. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport quietly opened the Sams Lake Bird Sanctuary park this month in Fayette County with the help of the Southern Conservation Trust.
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2008-10-15-atlanta-bird-sanctuary_N.htm |
| Recreation & Tourism
Wetland Restoration and Poverty Reduction through Ecotourism
Long before there was a wide spread concern about the environment, the population of what is now Diawling National Park, lived as part of their environment; protecting and utilizing it and the surrounding areas. However, over the last 20 years the park's ecosystem has been greatly damaged by large exterior infrastructural projects and compounded by interior exploitation. The implementation of ecotourism in the park can solve these problems by giving both monetary value and dignity to the indigenous population's traditional activities.
http://www.greentomarrow.com/2008/10/14/wetland-restoration-and-poverty-reduction-through-ecotourism/
Seychelles: Denis Island Turns a Corner
These developments are the fruit of 10 years of work and investment by Denis Island and show that man can work to restore island ecosystems and furthermore do so within the context of tourism and landscape production activities. This progress demonstrates that development and conservation can be undertaken side-by-side and indeed in the case of Denis can be considered interdependent. After all it is the revenue from the tourism development and landscape production activities that subsidises the rehabilitation and conservation programmes. Now these programmes have in turn resulted in a healthy and more productive ecosystem and an enriched ecotourism product for the resort.
http://denisisland.blogspot.com/2008/10/denis-island-turns-corner.html |
| Funding Opportunities
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
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
Australia: Funding for Areas of High Conservation Value - Closes November 14, 2008
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 | |
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