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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
Australia: Moonee Beach Landcare Keeps Green Bluff Beautiful
For the past 18 years local resident Sandy Van Veluwen has enjoyed the view from Green Bluff at Moonee Beach almost every day. Now Sandy, who is a member of the Stingray Creek Bushcare Group, can rest assured that she will continue to enjoy the beauty of the area for years to come. Green Bluff at Moonee Beach has been awarded a Community Coastcare grant through the Caring for our Country initiative which provides assistance to help local communities protect there precious coastal environment. A Vegetation Restoration Plan will be developed including site assessment, mapping, recommendations for strategic restoration works and monitoring and evaluation.
http://www.coffscoastadvocate.com.au/story/2009/01/30/moonee-beach-landcare-keeps-green-bluff-beautiful/
Volunteer Land Stewards Project at the rare Charitable Research Reserve
If you have a basic knowledge of flora and fauna and desire to learn more while spending time in a beautiful outdoor environment, you might want to get down to the rare charitable Research Reserve. Thanks to funding from Environment Canada's Eco Action Community Funding Program and the hiring of a Land Steward, Josh Shea, the Volunteer Land Stewards Project is ready to launch. This program, like many of the programs occurring at rare, will forge new partnerships between community members, local experts, and dedicated volunteers to build rare's capacity to do work in restoration ecology, habitat conservation and community education.
http://www.exchangemagazine.com/morningpost/2009/week5/Thursday/012907.htm
Washington: February Event to be Held on Saturday, February 7th
Join Puget Sound ASHRAE and have fun potting plants and learning about native trees and shrubs with the Mountains-to-Sound Greenway! These plants are used in forest restoration projects all across the Greenway. But first, they must grow big and strong enough to survive. Come join us in potting seedlings with the Mountain to Sound Greenway nursery at lake Samamish State Park in Issaquah!
http://pugetsoundashrae.blogspot.com/2009/01/february-volunteer-opportunity.html
Conferences & Workshops
Awards Nominations for SER World Conference in Perth
There is no finer moment at an SER conference than its tribute to individuals and organizations whose exemplary work lead the Restoration movement forward to higher levels of achievement and cultural prominence. The SER Board of Directors, the SER Awards Committee, led by chair Al Unwin, and the SER staff will again be saluting 2009's recipients of the various awards during our Awards Banquet dinner on.... Please join us for a celebration of the excellent work these years recipients have undertaken. Deadline is April 21, 2009.
http://www.ser.org/content/nominations_process.asp
4th Annual SER Mid-Atlantic Chapter Conference is Coming Soon!
To offer a broader program and many more opportunities for meeting and learning from each other, our 2009 Conference will be held jointly with the Ecological Society of America Mid-Atlantic Chapter entitled Bridging the Gap: Connecting Ecological Research and Restoration Practice on March 13 & 14, 2009 at The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ.
http://www.ser.org/midatl/conference.asp
9th Land Ethics Symposium: Creative Approaches for Ecological Landscaping
Thursday, February 19, 2009, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m at Sheraton Bucks County Hotel, Langhorne, PA. This Symposium features timely presentations by national and regional experts who will focus on innovative ways to create economic and ecologically balanced landscapes using native plants and restoration techniques. Participants will have opportunities to develop contacts and share resources. A selection of topical books will be available for purchase.
http://www.bhwp.org/educational/Symposium.htm
SER World Conference in Perth Australia: Call for Abstracts
For individuals interested in presenting a contributed oral or poster presentation, abstracts are now being called. Abstracts will need to address the themes listed on the conference website - please visit http://www.seri2009.com.au/pages/home.html. On-line abstract submission guidelines and the form can be located under the abstract submission link on the conference website - http://www.seri2009.com.au/pages/abstract.html. Please follow the guidelines carefully, and follow the link to the abstract on-line form. Deadline for abstract submission is 4 March 2009.
For a complete listing of conferences related to ecological restoration, please visit:
http://www.globalrestorationnetwork.org/conferences/ |
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People in the News
Sesuit Creek Project in Dennis Wins National Honor
A wetlands restoration project in Dennis has won a national award. The leaders of the project to restore 65 acres of Sesuit Creek salt marsh were awarded the 2008 Coastal America Partnership Award for outstanding efforts to restore and protect the coastal environment. The project, completed in the spring, is expected to make Sesuit Creek more resilient to changes in sea level and stronger storms that are expected to result from climate change.
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090203/NEWS/902030315/-1/NEWSMAP
Budget Crisis Strains Local Restoration Firm
With 33 percent of its funding frozen by the state, Chico-based restoration group River Partners is facing tough times that will undoubtedly affect local conservation efforts. The nonprofit corporation, founded by President John Carlon, has been a victim of California's budget crisis. Local restoration projects are standing still until state legislators take action.
http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_11606783
Profit Trumps Preservation for Boy Scout Councils Nationwide
For nearly a century, the Boy Scouts have worn a self-adorned badge as campsite conservationists and good stewards of the land. "The Boy Scouts were green before it was cool to be green," said the organization's national spokesman, Deron Smith. But for decades, local Boy Scouts of America administrations across the country have clearcut or otherwise conducted high-impact logging on tens of thousands of acres of forestland, often for the love of a different kind of green: cash.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/specials/scoutslogging/397864_loggingmain29.html?source=mypi
Florida Resident Pushes Uzita Reserve
Gus Muench contributed to the tens of thousands of propeller scars that pock the seagrass beds in Cockroach Bay. He readily admits guilt. As a blue crabber in the area for 32 years, the guilt finally got to him in 2006, he said. He hung up his traps and built himself a bully pulpit. These days, he's a lone voice on the shoreline pushing for a new designation for the stretch of brackish water between the Manatee County line to the south and the Little Manatee River to the north. He wants to call it the Uzita Reserve, after an Indian village that once flanked the sands there. Doing so, he believes, could bring awareness to the bay and grant money to educate people about how to keep it healthy.
http://southshore2.tbo.com/content/2009/jan/28/ss-resident-pushes-uzita-reserve/
State Tree Program Turns 50
In 2009, a program that has introduced 310 million genetically improved trees into Tennessee forests marks its 50th anniversary. The UT Tree Improvement Program took root in 1959 and has flourished into a wide-ranging research and education effort that operates in cooperation with the Tennessee Division of Forestry. Tennessee consistently ranks among the top five hardwood states, and the UT Tree Improvement Program ensures the highest quality seedlings, the most ideally suited to the state's growing conditions, are planted in the state's forests, where they will contribute to tree improvement for generations to come.
http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20090131/COLUMNISTS03/901310316 |
| New Books & Articles
The Little REDD Book
Can we learn from a review of proposals and positions for developing a global system of payments for maintaining and increasing forests. The case for investing in forest conservation is compelling. Forests have traditionally been valued for a variety of economic, cultural and environmental reasons. They are repositories of timber and non-timber produce, they regulate water flow, are habitat to animals and have recreational value as well. But in recent years, forests have been catapulted into policy-making rooms for another reason: they absorb carbon. http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20090215&filename=news&sec_id=15&sid=30
Ecologists Report Quantifiable Measures of Nature's Services to Humans
Ecosystem services key to future conservation efforts, researchers say. The idea of ecosystem services is a promising conservation concept but has been rarely put into practice. In a special issue of the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, researchers use novel tools to report some of the first quantifiable results that place values on nature's services to humans. "The idea of 'ecosystem services' - identifying and quantifying the resources and processes that nature provides for people - gives us a framework to measure nature's contribution to human well-being," write authors Peter Kareiva, guest editor for this issue and the chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy, and Susan Ruffo, director of ecosystem services programs at TNC, in an editorial in the issue. "It provides a credible way to link nature and people that goes beyond emotional arguments and points us toward practical solutions."
http://www.frontiersinecology.org/
IUCN Releases Two New Reports
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has published two reports on sustainable bioenergy production and on linkages between energy, ecosystems and livelihoods. The first report, entitled "Implementing Sustainable Bioenergy Production: A Compilation of Tools and Approaches," provides a compilation of principles, frameworks and existing tools that may be applied to bioenergy production to identify and reduce environmental and socioeconomic risks, and promote opportunities. The second report, entitled "Energy, Ecosystems and Livelihoods: Understanding Linkages in the Face of Climate Change Impacts," was prepared by IUCN in cooperation with HELIO International, an independent network of energy analysts.
http://www.climate-l.org/2009/02/iucn-releases-reports-on-sustainable-bioenergy-production-and-linkages-between-energy-ecosystems-and.html
Ten Steps to Better Management of Our Soils
Lal synthesized years of scientific literature on soil degradation and the positive impacts of restoration and developed 10 basic principles of sustainable soil management. The principles, published in the January/February 2009 issue of Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, as well as the journal Agronomy for Sustainable Development, are meant to encourage policymakers to support soil amendment practices. "I'd like to see policymakers implement policies which will encourage the adoption of such practices as conservation agriculture, integrated nutrient management, crop rotation, agroforestry--techniques that the scientific community knows would sustain soils and agricultural practices," said Lal.
http://www.agriculture.com/ag/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/ag/story/data/1233333917830.xml |
| Restoring Natural Capital (RNC)
Wildlife Refuges can Provide Shovel-ready Green Jobs
Restoring the ability of the National Wildlife Refuge System and other public lands to protect America's wildlife and habitats would also help President-elect Barack Obama create good jobs and boost the economy, conservation groups said in a press call today. The groups outlined how the Obama administration can both jumpstart the faltering economy by creating green jobs on wildlife refuges and other environmentally sensitive lands while also helping to address global warming.
http://www.defenders.org/newsroom/press_releases_folder/2009/01_14_2009_wildlife_refuges_can_provide_shovel-ready_green_jobs.php
India: Himachal Pradesh to Go 'Herbal' with Massive Plantation Drive
Himachal Pradesh is going in for massive plantation of indigenous species, especially medicinal plants, to not just boost its depleting green cover but also transform the hill state into a herbal one. The state authorities planted more than 1.5 million saplings on a single day August 3 last year. The government plans to plant around 12 million saplings of medicinal species this year by encouraging the people to take to the drive. Saplings of more than 55 indigenous species like neem, banyan, jamun and peepal would be planted during the special drives, starting with the onset of monsoon, an official said. "The aim of the plantation drive is not only to make the hill state herbal but is also an initiative to combat climate change," Forest Minister J.P. Nadda told IANS.
http://www.ecoearth.info/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=116687 |
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
What does Ecuador's "21st Century Socialism" Mean
Clearly, the implications of Correa´s "21st Century Socialism" for Amazonian indigenous communities and the natural habitats they live in remain unclear. The question of whether or not Ecuador is able to break with its history of promoting destructive oil exploitation in the Amazon and move towards a low carbon economy is largely dependent upon the international community's will to recognize its own responsibilities, and is prepared to assist in this process.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0901/S00575.htm
Northerners Search for 'Third Way' on Polar Bear Conservation
The workshop comes two weeks after federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice hosted 70 delegates for a national roundtable on the same subject, in the hopes of bridging a divide between scientific opinion that says polar bears are threatened and Inuit beliefs that bear populations are rising. "We need to all do a better job at integrating all the knowledge that everyone possesses: scientists, elders, hunters on the land," event organizer Doug Clark, the college's scholar-in-residence, told CBC News.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/01/30/yukon-pbear.html |
| Agro-Ecology
Honduras: Pico Bonito Forest Restoration
The project will assist small-scale farmers in the Pico Bonito National Park buffer zone to introduce agroforestry production techniques. It will cover a total of 2,600 ha and benefit 20 villages living in this zone. The Park is home to many endangered and threatened species, and provides essential connectivity for the Meso-American Biological Corridor. Its natural resources have been seriously degraded due to marginal agriculture and cattle grazing.
http://www.forestcarbonportal.com/inventory_project.php?item=83
Don Curlee Commentary on San Joaquin River Restoration
The fishermen and hunters I know don't always get their game, but they seem to know where to find it. Oregon and Alaska are popular destinations to find salmon. Makes me wonder why some folks propose spending millions to bring salmon to the fishermen of the San Joaquin Valley. What kind of convoluted reasoning supports spending hundreds of millions in federal tax money and stealing millions of acre feet of agricultural water to restore a river that has been dry for 60 years just so salmon can frolic in the stream?
http://aquafornia.com/archives/6724 |
| Biodiversity & Climate Change
Video: Ecological Restoration in Canada
The beauty of Canada is truly breath taking. Our natural and cultural heritage is admired around the globe and the environment has always been an integral part of the lives of Canadians. At the same time, some of our ecosystems, even in our national parks and other protected areas, are not as healthy as they could be. Ecological restoration attempts to stop and reverse the harm that has been done to an ecosystem. Canadian protected areas agencies are working with partners to implement three key principles of good ecological restoration. It should be ecologically effective, efficient, and also engaging for people.
http://www.pc.gc.ca/docs/pc/guide/resteco/video_e.asp
California: Keeping Sierra Lands Wild
The 982-acre meadow northwest of Truckee is an integral piece of an unusual land grant made almost 150 years ago that left pristine forests, rivers and valuable wildlife habitat in the northern Sierra in a checkerboard pattern of alternating public and private ownership. Bisected by a meandering section of the Little Truckee River, the remote, snow-covered meadow was in imminent danger of being sold to developers or parceled out for vacation homes until a conservation coalition purchased it and two other private properties from Siller Brothers Inc. for $6 million.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/02/MN9015FKLA.DTL |
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New Jungles Prompt a Debate on Rain Forests
These new "secondary" forests are emerging in Latin America, Asia and other tropical regions at such a fast pace that the trend has set off a serious debate about whether saving primeval rain forest - an iconic environmental cause - may be less urgent than once thought. By one estimate, for every acre of rain forest cut down each year, more than 50 acres of new forest are growing in the tropics on land that was once farmed, logged or ravaged by natural disaster.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/science/earth/30forest.html?_r=1
Hawaii: Farmland Could Revert to Native Flora
The state and federal governments announced a partnership Wednesday to convert marginal pastureland and cropland into native forests and wetlands. The project, led by the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will pay landowners to convert land to native trees, shrubs, grasses and other vegetation or to carry out wetland restoration measures, DLNR officials said.
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20090202_farmland_could_revert_to_native_flora.html
Malaysia: Snags in the Plan
Plans to fight global warming through reforestation has raised concerns among forest-dependent communities. The approach appears to be simple and straightforward: countries that ensure forests are kept as carbon sink in the global fight against global warming will be rewarded. Developing countries in the tropical region led by Indonesia and Brazil had pushed successfully for forests to be recognised as the next viable solution to combat the scourge at the annual United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference in Bali in 2007.
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2009/2/3/lifefocus/2945646&sec=lifefocus
Unilever Blocking Deforestation for Palm Oil
Greenpeace and Unilever hope their new coalition will eventually limit the expansion of palm oil plantations to already degraded and abandoned agricultural lands, forestalling the need to clear additional forest. "Even the most optimistic forecasts of global demand could be met from existing land under cultivation," said Vis. Although many conservationists have applauded Unilever's pledge to purchase 100 percent sustainable palm oil by 2015, some question the company's motives in an industry rife with competition.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/31/MN1314RC34.DTL |
| Wetland Restoration
Cuba: Environmental Protection Actions Promoted in Major Wetland
Actions for the protection of wetlands and to raise locals' awareness on the importance of those ecosystems are being promoted in the Zapata Swamp through a scientific and cultural program underway until February 10. Some 80 experts from national and local institutions on environmental conservation and protection are participating in the Zapata 2009 Workshop, taking place in the largest wetland of the Caribbean, located 112 miles to the southeast off Havana.
http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/8076/
New York: City's Smaller Wetlands Remain Unprotected
It's hard to image standing in midtown Manhattan, but wetlands do exist within New York City, and they both protect the city and need protection themselves, according to a report released Friday by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "Many New Yorkers don't realize there are thousands of acres of wetlands in the five boroughs," said Mayor Bloomberg. "Wetlands are robust ecosystems that perform crucial environmental functions like trapping pollutants, capturing stormwater runoff, sequestering carbon dioxide, and moderating storm surges." Today, the city has only one percent of its historic freshwater wetlands and 10 percent of its historic tidal wetlands. These tidal remaining wetlands are concentrated in Brooklyn around Jamaica Bay, in Queens, and in Staten Island, which also has freshwater wetlands. Freshwater wetlands smaller than 12.4 acres are not protected by state law and are vulnerable to determinations that they are outside of the scope of federal protection.
http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=117211
World Wetlands Day: An Australian Wetland in Crisis
Today, Australia's Labor government used the occasion of World Wetlands Day to slam the former Liberal government for its treatment of the country's 65 wetlands that are officially designated under the Ramsar treaty. World Wetlands Day marks the date of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands on February 2, 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. "A snapshot report into the management of Australia's Ramsar wetlands up to the end of 2007 paints a damning picture of poor administration and inaction under the previous government," said Environment Minister Peter Garrett, who is part of the government of Premier Kevin Rudd, which took office in December 2007.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2009/2009-02-02-04.asp |
River & Watershed Restoration
Virginia: Harrisonburg's Black's Run to Be Restored
The effort to help a small stream shows a big commitment to the Shenandoah Valley's water quality. Decades old dredging, channeling and pollution have left Black's Run a troubled waterway in Harrisonburg. But city leaders joined with several non-profits Thursday to announce the start of a major restoration.
http://www.nbc29.com/Global/story.asp?S=9755430
Maryland: Oyster Restoration Project Begins in Local Creeks
The Dominion Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Dominion Resources, has awarded a $25,000 grant to the Coastal Conservation Association Maryland (CCA MD) to expand its oyster restoration project in the Patuxent River. This is the largest single project grant in the 14-year history of CCA MD, a non-profit organization of 1,800-plus recreational anglers and other conservation-minded citizens. The $25,000 grant will be used to establish a spat-on-shell restoration project in two Calvert County creeks that feed into the Patuxent River, according to Scott McGuire, president, CCA MD Patuxent River Chapter.
http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index.cfm/fa/viewstory/story_ID/11823
U.S. and New York Claim Damages to Buffalo River
The federal government and New York State have notified some of the nation's largest companies that they indend to pursue a claim for natural resource damages caused by a history of contamination of the Buffalo River. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, together as trustees of the natural resources of the Buffalo River, say they have studied the river's resources, concluded that "significant harm has occurred" and determined that further assessment is needed to decide what restoration is necessary.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2009/2009-01-28-092.asp
California: Battle Creek Project Report Finished
Don Glaser, Mid-Pacific regional director with the Bureau of Reclamation, signed the Record of Decision for the Battle Creek Salmon and Steelhead Restoration Project, completing the Federal environmental documentation process recently. Reclamation can begin implementing the project as early as summer of 2009, once the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issues a determination on the Pacific Gas and Electric Company license amendment application. This restoration project will be among the largest cold water anadromous fish restoration efforts in North America, restoring about 42 miles of habitat in Battle Creek, a tributary to the Sacramento River, and an additional 6 miles of habitat in tributaries to Battle Creek.
http://www.redbluffdailynews.com/news/ci_11590806 |
| Grassland Restoration
Grass is Good: Restoring Prairie
Any hope of helping grasslands ecology recover some of its former glory will require large scale restoration of prairie ecotypes in a patchy diversity. No one has the science to restore grassland to the fully functioning regime that greeted settlers when they first put it to the plow, but the more researchers and parks managers try to restore native grassland the more they learn about how to create a facsimile of the original.
http://trevorherriot.blogspot.com/2009/02/grass-is-good-restoring-prairie.html
Missouri: Restoration Activity Accelerates in Key Prairie Landscapes
The Nature Conservancy announces record harvests of native seed for restoration planting in native prairie projects. This accelerates prairie restoration in two priority sites for the Conservancy, Dunn Ranch and Wah'Kon-Tah Prairie. More than 10,000 pounds of seed with more than 80 species of prairie grasses and wildflowers was harvested recently in remnant and restored prairies throughout northwest Missouri.
http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/missouri/press/press3876.html
The Nature Conservancy Launches Floodplain Restoration Project in Lower Cedar Valley
The Nature Conservancy in Iowa is launching an 80-acre floodplain restoration project at the Conservancy's Swamp White Oak savanna, a globally threatened and biologically diverse woodland community. The restoration work will be based on recent Conservancy-funded research by Connie Dettman Rose. Her research included extensive study of pre-settlement survey records and inventorying current plant species, which serves as the basis for the restoration plan for this unique, poorly understood and diverse area.
http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/iowa/press/press3875.html |
| Lake Restoration
Britain's Ponds to Double to 1 Million
This artificially created small patch of water by a kink of the Thames near Oxford is now one of the richest ponds in the country, says Biggs. It is home to one-fifth of pond species in Britain, and new plants, insects, crustaceans, amphibians and other animals turn up every season. So successful has the Pinkhill site been that it is to become a model for an ambitious plan to double the number of ponds in England and Wales from 500,000 to 1m.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/30/million-ponds-wildlife |
| Coastal & Marine Restoration
Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative Creates Two New Reefs
Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative (MARI) partners including the Ocean City Reef Foundation, MTA New York City Transit, the Town of Ocean City, CCA MD and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), placed 44 retired New York City subway cars off Maryland's Atlantic coast for creation of two new artificial reefs, the Research Reef and the Isle of Wight Reef. This is the third deployment of subway cars on permitted reef sites off Maryland's coast since May, 2008 when Maryland joined several other Atlantic coastal states in a habitat enhancement plan which recycles decommissioned New York City Transit Authority subway cars to improve benthic habitats off the Atlantic coast.
http://outdoornewsdaily.com/index.php/archives/6108 |
Wildlife Restoration
Reviving New England's Cottontail Rabbits
Stepping in to assist state-level conservation efforts, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation just awarded more than a quarter-million dollars to fund projects aimed at reviving the New England cottontail in New Hampshire and Maine. In 2006, the cottontail was formally added to the national list of candidate species under the Endangered Species Act, a status that meets the criteria for federal protection but is too far down on the list to receive it.
http://www.wirenh.com/Outside/Outside_-_general/reviving_New_England%92s_cottontail_rabbits_200901293380.html
A Low-Tech Treatment for Bee Plague
Admittedly, there are costs of this rather low-tech solution to our pollination crisis: the opportunity cost of not cultivating those patches of land; the investment in restoration of habitat; the extra care required in applying insecticides close to established habitat. But restoring bee habitat provides many offsetting benefits.
http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/guest-column-a-low-tech-treatment-for-bee-plague/?ref=opinion
Canada: Hard Work Turns Sheep Paddock into Fish Habitat
An area of Colony Farm Regional Park that was once home to sheep is now a spawning channel and nursery for juvenile salmon after the second phase of a habitat restoration project was recently completed. Known as Sheep Paddock Slough, the habitat provides a home for wildlife, including juvenile salmon, which use a spawning channel as a sanctuary to adapt to salt water during their migration to the ocean from the Coquitlam River.
http://www.bclocalnews.com/tri_city_maple_ridge/tricitynews/news/38503369.html
Wildly Ambitious - Debating the Species to be Reintroduced to Britain
It's been over 400 years since a wild beaver roamed an English river, but freedom will probably be short-lived for the lone male still at large after escaping - along with two rapidly recaptured females - a few weeks ago from an enclosure in Devon. Unlike some parts of Europe, where beavers have been reintroduced by being chucked out of the back of a van, the return of once-extinct wild animals to the British countryside is treated with Byzantine feasibility studies, public consultations, legal wrangling, interminable arguments and meticulous planning. For example, it has taken since 1994 to reach acceptance on beaver reintroduction to Knapdale Forest, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, with the first releases due this spring.
http://islesproject.com/2009/01/31/2009-wildly-ambitious-debating-the-species-to-be-reintroduced-to-britain/ |
| Invasive Species
California: Animals are Clearing Brush to Prepare Land for Planting of Native Grass
Light ocean breezes, azure-tinged views of Catalina Island and plenty of sunshine: Does life get any better for a farm animal? Add a nearly unlimited supply of dried weeds and you've got goat heaven. As of this week, that caprine paradise is at the Three Sisters Reserve in Rancho Palos Verdes, where about 240 goats are grazing non-native plants in preparation for a 21-acre habitat restoration project. "This is goat retirement," said herdsman George Gonzalez, looking out on his collection of white and brown goats
http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_11587728?nclick_check=1
UC Berkeley's Eucalyptus Removal Plan Stalled
"Those trees are beautiful, they smell good, they're habitats for raptors, they prevent landslides," said Dan Grassetti, member of the Hills Conservation Network. "What this comes down to is that there are people who, for aesthetic reasons, just don't like eucalyptus trees." The controversy started in 2005, when UC Berkeley applied for a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to remove about 12,000 non-native trees from Strawberry and Claremont canyons
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/31/BAJE15JR5B.DTL |
| Urban Restoration
New Zealand: City May Go Bush for Study
Restoration ecologist Bruce Clarkson and research manager Gary Whitehouse, both of Waikato University, yesterday asked for the New Plymouth District Council's co-operation in a nationwide study they are proposing. Simply put, the pair want to look into ways of increasing the amount of native forest and bush in New Zealand's cities and the value to the community of doing so.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4836027a6554.html
Milwaukie Man Saves People, Then Trees
Humans are "plowing up the forest to create an anti-forest, a desert," Platter said, so he and his friend "decided to start a non-profit to create a forest where humans are." Thus was born soundforest.org, an organization devoted to planting trees and working with businesses and community volunteers to "allow other living things to grow on this planet."
http://www.clackamasreview.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=123324813145311400
Ohio: Liberty Township Will See Both Forest, Trees
A massive nature preserve in Liberty Township could bring thousands of new trees to southern Delaware County. The plan is to reforest about 32 acres of land in the northern part of the township, near the Olentangy Falls subdivision. The project will be undertaken by Preservation Parks and paid for by Columbia Gas parent company NiSource. "We're going to get 15,000 trees planted on 32 acres later this spring with Preservation Parks and our good friends at NiSource are footing the bill," said Township Administrator Dave Anderson.
http://www.snponline.com/articles/2009/01/28/multiple_papers/news/allovnatur_20090127_0524pm_6.txt |
| Recreation & Tourism
Michigan: Ruth Mott Foundation Grant for Flint River Trail
Flint's scenic green belt just got a little longer, thanks to a $65,000 grant from the Ruth Mott Foundation to the city of Flint to build a new section of the Flint River Trail. The Gilkey Creek Trail Extension will run along the newly restored creek from the southeast corner of Charles Stewart Mott's 34-acre Applewood Estate alongside the Mott Community College campus to connect to the Flint River Trail. It's one of the finishing touches in a massive environmental restoration begun in 2007, to daylight a long-buried portion of Gilkey Creek, one-fifth of a mile long, that had for decades run underground in a buried culvert.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2009/01/ruth_mott_foundation_grant_to.html |
| Funding Opportunities
Pennsylvania: Sinnemahoning Creek Watershed Restoration Grant Program - Closes
February 14, 2009
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) has announced that approximately $3.6 million is available to develop and implement projects that benefit fishing, boating, and aquatic resources in Cameron, Elk, Potter and McKean counties, with primary emphasis on projects within the Sinnemahoning Creek Watershed upstream from the confluence of the First Fork of Sinnemahoning Creek.
http://www.fish.state.pa.us/promo/grants/sinn/00sinn.htm
National Ecosystem Services Research Partnership Opportunity - Closes February 15, 2009
Ecosystem services are vital for public health and the well-being of human communities. Improved understanding of ecosystem services across institutional, spatial, and temporal scales is crucial for designing management strategies and institutional and governmental policies intended to increase and sustain the value of ecosystem services. The ESRP is focused on understanding the present and future ecological dynamics of ecosystem services to create a solid scientific foundation for environmental decision-making. Approximately 200 EPA scientists with an annual in-house budget of $62 million are associated with this program and will participate in the Partnership; EPA funding will primarily support this in-house research effort. http://www.epa.gov/ord/esrp/pdfs/ESRP-CRADA-Brochure.pdf
NSF Postdoctoral Scholar in Tropical Ecosystem & Global Change Science - Closes February 15, 2009
The NSF-funded Partnership for International Research and Education (PIRE) at the University of Arizona invites applications for the Amazon-PIRE Postdoctoral Scholar in tropical ecosystem and global change science. We seek outstanding candidates interested in investigating tropical ecosystem structure, physiology, and biogeochemistry, how these respond to climatic variability and change, or how such responses scale from individual to landscape to region. Candidate backgrounds within a broad range of scientific disciplines, including ecology, plant physiology, remote sensing, hydrology, atmospheric science, geosciences, meteorology or climate dynamics, or an interdisciplinary combination of these, are welcome.
http://www.b2science.org/
Maine: Pollution Fine to Fund Gulf of Maine Restoration - Closes February 15, 2009
Funding for environmental restoration projects along the Maine coast will be awarded on a competitive basis, with individual grants expected to range between $35,000 and $300,000. The deadline for applications is Feb. 15, and the first grants are to be awarded this summer, according to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a nonprofit organization created by Congress to distribute such grants.
http://news.mainetoday.com/updates/036926.html
US: Five Star Restoration Program - Closes February 16, 2009
The Five Star Restoration Program seeks to develop community capacity to sustain local natural resources for future generations by providing modest financial assistance to diverse local partnerships for wetland, riparian, and coastal habitat restoration. The National Association of Counties, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), the Wildlife Habitat Council, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Southern Company, and our newest partner Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), are pleased to solicit applications for the Five Star Restoration Program.
http://www.nfwf.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=10936
Restoration Ecology and Conservation Biology Paid Internships - Closes February 17, 2009
The Institute for Applied Ecology will be hiring up to nine interns this summer for field work and related activities. Our paid positions are intended to provide field experience to individuals considering conservation biology or restoration ecology as a career. Internships are partially supported by the Native Plant Society of Oregon, and interns are encouraged to write short articles for the NPSO Bulletin. We encourage you to visit our website, www.appliedeco.org for more information on these projects.
New Mexico: Collaborative Forest Restoration Program - Closes March 2, 2009
The Community Forest Restoration Act of 2000 (Title VI, Public Law 106-393) established a cooperative forest restoration program in New Mexico to provide cost-share grants to stakeholders for forest restoration projects on public land to be designed through a collaborative process (the Collaborative Forest Restoration Program). Projects must include a diversity of stakeholders in their design and implementation, and address specified objectives, including: wildfire threat reduction; ecosystem restoration, including non-native tree species reduction; reestablishment of historic fire regimes; reforestation; preservation of old and large trees; increased utilization of small diameter trees; and the creation of forest- related local employment.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/spf/cfrp/rfp/index.shtml
Gloria Barron Wilderness Society Scholarship - Closes March 31, 2009
The Wilderness Society is now accepting applications for the 2009 Gloria Barron Wilderness Society Scholarship. This $10,000 scholarship is awarded annually to a graduate student in natural resources management, law or policy programs. The scholarship seeks to encourage individuals who have the potential to make a significant positive difference in the long-term protection of wilderness in North America.
http://wilderness.org/content/gloria-barron-scholarship-guidelines
National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program - Closes June 26, 2009
The National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program provides States with a means of protecting and restoring these valuable resources. Projects can include (1) acquisition of a real property interest (e.g., easement or fee title) in coastal lands or waters from willing sellers or partners (coastal wetlands ecosystems) for long-term conservation or (2) restoration, enhancement, or management of coastal wetlands ecosystems for long-term conservation.
http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do?mode=VIEW&flag2006=false&oppId=44928 | |
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