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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 or can be subscribed to for only $20/year by visiting: www.ser.org/content/restoration_network.asp. Please send your news stories and articles to the RESTORE editor at info@ser.org. |
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Get Involved / Community-Based Restoration
Attention SER Members
Huge Discount on Wiley-Blackwell Products
Wiley-Blackwell has extended a discount to SER members for a limited time. You can now can receive a 25% discount on all of their product lines by using the following code: SDP18. Please visit their web site at: www.wiley.com to start shopping!
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew - New Head of Restoration Ecology - Closes March 27, 2009
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is an internationally recognised and highly successful research institute and visitor attraction, with World Heritage status. We are seeking an exceptional individual to lead and drive Kew's groundbreaking activities in the discipline of restoration ecology. You will address the ecology of the restoration of plant communities and the repair and reconstruction of habitats damaged by human activities or natural phenomena.
http://www.kew.org/aboutus/jobs/ref-1335.htm
Get Involved/Community-based Restoration
Illinois: Rare Cranberry Lake Natural Area Takes on New Life
The couple researched options for three months to assemble a 100-page bid package. Through citizen efforts, a contract was negotiated with Native Restoration Services of Island Lake and a five-year restoration plan designed. More than 500 homeowners pay annually into a special service area for maintenance and other items involving the lake. The $64,000 contract is funded by a combination of that money and village funds.
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=276706&src=3
UK: Grant will Enable Wychwood Project to Draw in More Volunteers
A grant of £25,000 is being given to the Wychwood Project, which restores and conserves landscapes and habitats in West Oxfordshire. The funding is being provided by West Oxfordshire District Council, which has supported the project since 1997. Warwick Robinson, cabinet member for planning and economic development, said: "This funding will be very important to the local community.
http://www.witneygazette.co.uk/news/wgheadlines/4187337.Grant_will_enable_Wychwood_Project_to_draw_in_more_volunteers/
Alabama: High School Students get First-hand Experience in Coastal Conservation
Students at Gulf Shores High School got a first-hand lesson in caring for their coastal community on Thursday. Teens from Jill Santa Rossa's botany class, and a few extra volunteers, spent the day planting trees at Robinson Island in an effort to replenish the damaged ecosystem. The group planted 3,000 slash pine and 50 live oak seedlings.
http://www.baldwincountynow.com/articles/2009/03/07/school_news/doc49b172ff2235f849669069.txt
Washington: Volunteers Add Finishing Touches to Barker Creek Restoration Project
The 12-year-old Emerald Heights Elementary School student was part of a group of volunteers with the nonprofit People for Puget Sound planting shrubs to prevent erosion and enhance salmon habitat near the mouth of the creek. Supervising the planting were staff members from Mid-Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group, another nonprofit that has played a significant role in the Barker Creek restoration.
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2009/mar/07/volunteers-add-finishing-touches-to-barker-creek/
US: Environmental Studies Enrollment Soars
With his emphasis on renewable energy and green jobs, President Barack Obama has picked an issue that resonates with his core supporters - young people. At colleges around the country, students seem to be flocking to environmental studies. Iowa State University has seen the number of students enrolled in environmental studies and environmental science programs soar from 99 students in fall 2003 to more than 150 last fall.
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/environmental-studies-enrollments-soar/
UK: Planting Starts at Beauty Spot
Woodland officer, Gary Haley, who manages the site and will oversee its transformation, said: "It's really exciting to be planting some of the first trees with the local community and we hope that lots of local people will come out and help create their new wood. "Once complete the wood will become the Trust's biggest in the North of England and a truly significant natural area for people and wildlife." He added, to mark the beginning of the programme, about 50 saplings were planted two weeks ago by children from nearby Ludworth Junior School together, with members of some of the key funding bodies behind the project.
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/local/northdurham/4172791.Planting_starts_at_beauty_spot/
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
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
Pachauri To Head New Climate and Energy Institute at Yale
Rajendra K. Pachauri will lead the newly established Yale Climate and Energy Institute (YCEI), University President Richard C. Levin has announced. Pachauri has chaired the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2002 and has been director general of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) since 2001. He will retain these positions while taking up his new half-time position at Yale. Pachauri has been an active leader in the global climate policy debate and played a major role in laying the groundwork for the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
http://opa.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=6482
Al Gore Says Domain .eco Logical
The former US vice president, Al Gore, is backing the creation of a new green .eco domain name. Dot Eco applied to create the domain which would then be used to host sites supporting environmental causes. "This is a truly exciting opportunity for the environmental movement and for the internet as a whole," said Mr Gore. Dot Eco plans to apply to ICANN - the regulatory body that oversees domain names - for the creation of .eco later in 2009.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7927812.stm |
| New Books & Articles
Conservationists Deciding Which Species to Survive
Would the animal have made it into the ark? That's the kind of question conservationists have been asking when it comes to the thorny issue of picking which threatened species to save. Kerstin Zander of the Charles Darwin University in Darwin, Australia, and her colleagues looked at conserving cattle - the species with the most number of breeds to have gone extinct. They turned to an approach first outlined by economist Martin Weitzman at Harvard University.
In the 1990s, Weitzman devised a formula for prioritising species for conservation. This considers the cost of saving a species, how useful or genetically diverse it is, and the increase in its chance of survival if chosen.
http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/39437
Evolution, Ecosystems may Buffer Some Species against Climate Change
Although ecologists expect many species will be harmed by climate change, some species could be buffered by their potential to evolve or by changes in their surrounding ecosystems. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Arizona are using a common agricultural insect pest to understand how ecological and evolutionary factors drive population shifts in the face of a changing environment. A study appearing March 6 in the journal Science shows that both ecological interactions within a food web and the potential for rapid evolutionary adaptation play critical roles in determining how populations of the legume-loving pea aphid fare during increasing bouts of hot weather, one aspect of predicted climate change.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-03/uow-eem022709.php
Green Neighborhood Design ala "Prefurbia"
After spending 25 years designing over 600 communities in 45 states and 10 countries, we wrote the book Prefurbia to make an awareness for those involved in the processes of land development about new ideas, techniques and methods that we had discovered relating to suburban site design. In addition to these new methods, the book explains problems with the current regulatory systems, mostly caused by our minimums based regulations, and ending with an example of a new type of "rewards based" ordinance.
http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/editor/guest/2009/02/12/green-neighborhood-design-ala-prefurbia/ |
| Restoring Natural Capital (RNC)
FAO: Forest Management Can Create New Jobs Worldwide
Investing in sustainable forest management may create 10 million new jobs, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Tuesday. "As more jobs are lost due to the current economic downturn, sustainable forest management could become a means of creating millions of green jobs, thus helping to reduce poverty and improve the environment," Jan Heino, assistant director-general of the FAO's forestry department, said. Since forests and trees are vital storehouses of carbon, such an investment could also make a major contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts, he said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/11/content_10990715.htm |
| Agro-Ecology
South Dakota: Restoring the Range
The Mortenson family has found another way of working with watersheds. They are among a growing number of farmers and ranchers across the country who acknowledge that their food production is part of an ecosystem, shared with other plants, animals, and insects. As the country looks to clean up its act, its climate, and its waterways, their work may be a first step toward a saner model of animal agriculture for the future.
http://yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=3329 |
| Biodiversity & Climate Change
Parks That Can Move When the Animals Do
When scientist Dee Boersma first arrived to Punta Tombo, Argentina, in the early 1980s, the colony of Magellanic penguins there was 300,000 breeding pairs strong. Since then, they've declined by more than 20 percent. Dr. Boersma faults competition from fishermen, pollution in the form of oil dumped at sea, and climate change for the decline. But while the Punta Tombo colony is shrinking, others farther north are growing. The penguins' shifting range underscores how climate change isn't always a drop-dead-from-the-heat affair. And it raises questions about how to protect threatened - and mobile - marine species as they adjust.
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/03/04/parks-that-can-move-when-the-animals-do/
Volunteers Needed to Track Seasonal Signs of Climate Change
Volunteers across the nation are being recruited to get outdoors and help track the effects of climate on seasonal changes in plant and animal behavior. The USA-National Phenology Network (USA-NPN), a consortium of government, academic and citizen-scientists, is launching a new national program built on volunteer observations of flowering, fruiting and other seasonal events. Scientists and resource managers will use these observations to track effects of climate change on the Earth's life-support systems.
http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2151
UK Turning into 'Ecological Desert' Warns Natural England
The UK is in danger of becoming an "ecological desert" except for small pockets of protected areas in national parks or nature reserves, according to the woman in charge of protecting the country's landscape. Helen Phillips, Chief Executive of Natural England, said the country is already at risk of losing hundreds of different species because of development, intensive farming and climate change. But rather than try to protect animals and plants by just creating more national parks and reserves, she said the whole country must be managed as a "national parkland". http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/4957872/UK-turning-into-ecological-desert-warns-Natural-England.html |
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Indonesia Applies for World Bank Forest CO2 Scheme
Indonesia has applied to join a World Bank programme that supports developing nations' efforts to fight deforestation and help them earn cash through the sale of tradeable carbon credits. The Bank's $350 million Forest Carbon Partnership Facility aims to support developing states design and create projects under a U.N.-backed scheme that could eventually earn poorer nations billions of dollars a year by protecting their forests.
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSP394051
Vermont: Long Term Forest Resiliency is Threatened by Chainsaws
Loggers can accelerate the restoration of mature diverse forests while making money selling logs right? Wrong! These "restoration" forester's failing bias is that they are trying to speed up a process of tree / structural diversity growth in the short term without recognizing the amount of resiliency they are removing from the forest stand in the long term.
http://forestpolicy.posterous.com/vermont-long-term-forest-resil |
| Wetland Restoration
India: Madhya Pradesh Restoration of Upper Lake
Real need is to engage dredging machinery for desilting the central section of the lake, opines Deipica Bagchi. All the digging, desilting being undertaken through citizen participation, and the work being launched by the Army's Sudarshan Chakra Corps in the catchment area, undoubtedly, are a welcome effort in restoration of the Upper Lake. But the question remains whether these steps are adequate in addressing the larger goal of restoring this Wetland of international importance to a healthy, if not, to its original state.
http://www.centralchronicle.com/viewnews.asp?articleID=1744
Michigan Torpedoes Its Own Great Lakes Restoration Plan
Just days after Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm unveiled an ambitious plan to restore the Great Lakes, she moved to knock out one of its main planks - the state's own wetlands protection program, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Even the small savings Gov. Granholm hopes to achieve by repealing the state wetlands law would be lost in higher storm and flood damage, concludes a new white paper by state experts.
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/03/10-9 |
River & Watershed Restoration
North Carolina: Groundbreaking Takes Place For Stream Restoration Project
A massive earth-moving project started to take shape in Lenoir County Monday. It covers 10,000 feet and 40 acres with an end game of controlling flooding and pollution around the Neuse River Basin. It's cleanup work that requires a lot of digging. You could also call it a down and dirty watershed moment. "The project is gonna cleanup all of those types of things and pollutants and just trash that's in there," said Bill Gilmore, North Carolina Ecosystem Enhancement Program Director. That would be the Adkin Branch Stream in Kinston.
http://www.wnct.com/nct/news/local/article/groundbreaking_takes_place_for_stream_restoration_project/33299/
Korea's New Strategy River Restoration Core of 'Green New Deal'
For the past 10 years, investment in river restoration was only a 10th of the spending on building roads. Between 1999 and 2008, around 8.8 trillion won ($5.7 billion) was invested in river restoration. This is only 11 percent of the 77.9 trillion won used to build roads, and 24 percent of the 36.4 trillion won injected to construct railways during the same period. In this regard, restoration of the four major rivers is not a matter of choice, but an essential project directly linked to our survival. President Lee Myung-bak stressed the significance of the project by saying it was for the rebirth of our rivers.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2009/03/06/200903060009.asp
North Carolina: Stream Restoration under Way on Robinson Creek
RiverLink has started construction on its stream restoration project on Robinson Creek, a tributary of the Cane Creek Watershed. A portion of the stream was straightened during previous development and this 3,400 linear feet stretch will be restored to create a natural channel. The project will also improve aquatic habitat by re-establishing a natural pool and riffle structure, reducing stream bank erosion and re-vegetating the riparian buffer with native plant species.
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009903090323
Missouri: Springfield Receives Help to Restore Ecosystems
The City of Springfield, Mo. and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are partnering in a feasibility study of the Jordan Creek watershed for the purpose of flood damage reduction and ecosystem restoration. Jordan Creek has flooded many times. In 2000, flooding caused an estimated $1.85 million in damage, including the interruption of traffic on main thoroughfares and rail lines. Jordan Creek's existing channels and covered conduits are inadequate to carry a flow that has increased significantly with growing development in the Jordan Creek watershed.
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/34574/ |
| Grassland Restoration
Wisconsin: Restoration Project to Re-establish Oak Savanna near Willow Creek
A three-year ecological restoration project in the Lakeshore Nature Preserve that will re-establish an oak savanna near Willow Creek is set to begin in the next few weeks. Invasive shrubs and undesirable trees will be removed from the 1.25-acre site, just east of Willow Creek and north of the Natatorium. White oaks, bur oaks and shagbark hickory trees will remain. The goal of the project, which is supported by gift funds, is to create an open grassland with native plants beneath a broadly spaced canopy of oaks and hickories.
http://www.news.wisc.edu/16332
Mexicans Visit to See Benefits of Fire
Cantu came from Monterrey to learn how to use prescribed burning as a tool for ecosystem restoration, especially when invasive grasses and brush continue to take over land in Nuevo Leon. The Mexican government passed legislation a couple months ago allowing its use. He hopes to change how Mexicans view fire, which currently is a hazard. Ejidos, communal land worked by the people who live on it, could also benefit, he said.
http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/900/story/424820.html
Missouri: Seed Harvests to Benefit Native Prairie Restoration
The Nature Conservancy has announced record harvests of native seed for a prairie restoration project at the Dunn Ranch in northern Harrison County. More than 10,000 pounds of seed with more than 80 species of prairie grasses and wildflowers was harvested throughout Northwest Missouri. Much of this will be used to seed 480 acres at Dunn Ranch within the Grand River Grasslands, a 70,000-acre grassland landscape that straddles the Missouri-Iowa border.
http://www.stjoenews.net/news/2009/mar/07/seed-harvests-benefit-native-prairie-restoration/?local
New Mexico: BLM Grassland Restoration Treatments to Begin
Starting this week and continuing into February, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and other partners will begin herbicide treatments of creosote at several locations in Hidalgo, Sierra, and Otero Counties. About 22,000 acres of federal, state, and private lands will be treated as part of the BLM's Restore New Mexico initiative, with funding or in-kind services provided by BLM, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and other cooperators in partnership with the New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts.
http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/info/newsroom/2009/january/BLM_Grassland_Restoration_Treatments_to_Begin_in_Southern_New_Mexico__1-26-09_.html |
| Desertification & Arid Land Restoration
Arizona: State of the Desert
The Sonoran Desert, one of the four great American deserts, covers more than 100,000 square miles. Because its geography is so varied, and its plant and animal life so diverse, it's tough to find a good definition of what the Sonoran Desert really is. It slops across parts of four states in two nations and even encloses part of an ocean. Its vegetation is relatively lush compared to other deserts.
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=122800 |
| Lake Restoration
Canada: Marcy's Woods - A Commitment to Restoration, Preservation, & Education
Marcy's Woods, 285 acres of intact Carolinian forest, is located on the north shore of Lake Erie and is considered one of Canada's most unique biodiversities. This uniqueness stems from the vast array of flora and fauna that call Marcy's Woods home. Despite the uniqueness of Marcy's Woods the area has not always been protected. In 2003 the DiCienzo family of Niagara Falls purchased Marcy's Woods with a commitment to restoring, preserving and adequately managing the sensitive sand dunes, fragile habitats and species. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/03/prweb2198294.htm
Peru: Planting One Million Trees for Life
The Trees for Life project began in January with the planting of 4,000 native trees around Laguna Acopia Lake, and in the surrounding villages of Acopia and Santo Domingo. Laguna Acopia is, along with Pomacanchi, Mosoqllacta and Pampamarca Lakes, the focus of the related Circuit of Four Lakes project which aims to restore and conserve these sacred bodies of water (which are the sources that feed into the Peruvian Amazon River). The next step in February included the planting of 2,000 more trees by local school children from the villages.
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/global/40849657.html
Michigan: Muskegon Lake Restoration Could Benefit from Stimulus Package
Plans to remove toxic mud from the bottom of Muskegon Lake and restore five miles of the lake's shoreline could get a financial boost from the federal economic stimulus package. Officials with the Muskegon Lake Watershed Partnership believe President Obama's $787 billion stimulus package could pump considerably more money into the Muskegon Lake restoration projects.
http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2009/03/muskegon_lake_restoration_coul.html |
| Coastal & Marine Restoration
California: Crane Tips Over During Dredging
A crane tipped over, spilling hazardous material into the sand near the mouth of the Santa Ana River this morning. The crane spilled hydraulic fluid and possibly diesel fuel into the sand, halting a dredging project south of Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach. The equipment was being used in an effort to open a channel for fresh ocean water to enter the wetlands at Brookhurst Street and Pacific Coast Highway, said Huntington Beach State Park officer Kevin Pearsall.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/crane-wetlands-huntington-2326857-project-beach |
Wildlife Restoration
UK: Forest Turns Over New Leaf
"As non-native tree species are gradually removed through our ancient and native woodland restoration programme, a combination of natural regeneration of native broadleaved trees and replanting will maintain cover." The operation is designed to improve the only Island stronghold of a rare butterfly, the pearl-bordered fritillary. The commission said some red squirrels would have to move to other parts of the forest temporarily but its design plan included several areas designed as feeding reserves.
http://www.iwcp.co.uk/news/news/forest-turns-over-new-leaf-25025.aspx |
| Invasive Species
Hawaii Island Community Leaders Launch Restoration and Energy Project
On Friday, February 20th, I was honored to attend a very special ceremony along with 100 other community, business and policy officials that traveled to Humuula, on Hawaii island. We witnessed the groundbreaking of an exciting energy and land restoration project, led by community leaders, everyday makaainana, that know every curve of the Humuula lands. On the slopes of Mauna Kea, gorse, an invasive plant has covered more than 12,000 acres of landscape choking-out native species and grasses, has rendered once productive ranch and agriculture lands idle. If the saying, locals know best, means anything, certainly the project about to begin is the perfect example.
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?8416a393-5f0c-4eff-ace6-798f60e197a3 |
| Urban Restoration
Georgia: Sandy Springs Cut Too Much at River
At first it was going to be a dog park. On a prime piece of riverfront property, Sandy Springs decided to build a 5-acre park for dogs to romp without their leashes. Once the wisteria and bamboo were cleared to reveal a stunning view of the Chattahoochee River, the city's leaders decided the grandeur of the park was more on the human scale. But the way Sandy Springs cleared the land that close to the river is illegal. Now the dog owners are ticked, the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper is outraged, and Sandy Springs has to restore at least some of the vegetation it removed.
http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/03/09/riverpark0309.html
Illinois: Sparks Fly Over Chicago's 'Last Urban Forests'
Every year, Northwest Side residents and conservation advocates protest the Cook County Forest Preserve District's "land management" fires on the 3,690 acres it manages within Chicago city limits. At the district's controlled burn last Sunday at Bunker Hill Forest Preserve, conservation advocates arrived with protest signs reading "leave nature alone" and "big cities need big old trees," despite snow and strong winds. The 90-plus acre preserve borders the Edgebrook neighborhood.
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=119903 |
| Recreation & Tourism
Illinois: Restoration Program Brings in $146 Million
Picture the perfect ecosystem. A self-sustaining circle of life where all biotic factors function in unison with the non-living physical factors in the environment. It's the sum of all parts working together. Sportsmen have been participating in their own version of an ecosystem since the 1930s in the form of the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act. This year the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program will return $146 million to states in the Midwest.
http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/2009/03/04/10383033/index.xml |
| Funding Opportunities
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
World Bank Grant - Closes April 6, 2009
The Development Marketplace is a competitive grant program administered by the World Bank. The 2009 global competition is funded by various partners and it aims to identify 20 to 25 innovative, early-stage projects addressing climate adaptation. The DM is a unique opportunity to turn your idea into reality; if selected your project could receive up to US$200,000 in grant funding for implementation over two years.
http://pgpblog.worldbank.org/development-marketplace-grant-competition-2009-climate-adaptation
New Jersey: Assistance Available for Wetland Restoration - Closes June 1, 2009
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has announced that applications will be accepted through Monday, June 1 for 2009 funding of wetland restoration projects on active or previously-farmed lands in New Jersey.
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20090221/NEWS/90219061/1010/newsfront
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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