| Membership |
RESTORE is distributed to current SER members. Make sure you don't miss a single issue!
|
| Quick Links |
|
| |
|
|
 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. |
|
Get Involved / Community-Based Restoration
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: Volunteer Seeding Program Looks to Revitalize Ecology
This spring, the renewal of thousands of acres of prairie could begin in your backyard. A new program is seeking volunteers to grow rare native plants in their gardens, eventually harvesting the seeds for an ecological-restoration project under way in the Cook County Forest Preserve District.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-seeds-nzone-13-mar13,0,6443316.story
Australia: Oakeshott Moves to Secure Revised Green Corps Future
Independent MP for Lyne Robert Oakeshott is seeking government assurances over the future of an employment program with a strong record on environmental and economic outcomes for the Mid-North Coast. Green Corps is a federally funded program which provides young people aged 17-20 with the opportunity to participate in projects that conserve, preserve and restore Australia's environment and cultural heritage.
http://laurieton.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/oakeshott-moves-to-secure-revised-green-corps-future/1456133.aspx
California: Rheem Creek Project Revives Natural Habitat
Squirrels will no longer be the only creatures seen at the college, for, with the restoration of the creek in progress and soon to be finished, many animals will come to know this campus as home. The East Bay Conservation Corps, along with 30-40 Middle College High School and Contra Costa College students, continues to restore the Rheem Creek at CCC. These groups have worked together to remove the ivy and non-native plants that have grown, in order to allow creek-friendly plants to grow.
http://www.accentadvocate.com/campus_beat/rheem_creek_project_revives_natural_habitat-1.1603229
Conferences & Workshops
Symposium On Restoring Iowa's Wetlands Scheduled
A two-day symposium exploring the importance of wetland restoration and management will be held in Des Moines April 2nd and 3rd. "Wetlands have long been recognized for their value to wildlife, but it has only been in recent years that we've begun to understand the importance of wetlands in improving water quality for larger lakes and streams as well as reducing impacts from flooding," said Tom Hadden, executive director of Metro Waste Authority in Des Moines.
http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/41381897.html
SERCAL & CNGA 2009 Joint Conference April 29 - May 1, 2009
SERCAL is a non-profit membership based organization dedicated to the purpose of bringing about the recovery of damaged California ecosystems. To this end, the organization's activities are focused on the presentation of conferences, symposia, workshops, field trips and other educational activities dealing with the many different aspects involved in restoration of California native habitats.
http://www.sercal.org/
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/ |
|
People in the News
Video: Willie Smits: A 20-year Tale of Hope: How We Re-grew a Rainforest
By piecing together a complex ecological puzzle, biologist Willie Smits has found a way to re-grow clearcut rainforest in Borneo, saving local orangutans -- and creating a thrilling blueprint for restoring fragile ecosystems.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/willie_smits_restores_a_rainforest.html
Public Lands Project Receives Award
The Dolores Public Lands Office received a national conservation award from the U.S. Forest Service for its Glade Wetlands Restoration Project. The project is a multi-year program to recover and restore five large wetlands on the Glade, a semi-arid area north of Dolores. Glade Lake, the largest wetland on the San Juan National Forest at about 50 acres, is the centerpiece of the project. Since 2005, nearly 300 acres of wetland and upland habitat have been improved in the area.
http://durangoherald.com/sections/News/Earth/2009/03/12/Public_lands_project_receives_award/
Marstel-day, LLC Launches 'Vital Voices of the Environment'
Marstel-Day, LLC announces the launch of a new audio program on its Website titled, "Vital Voices of the Environment." This innovative series features interviews conducted by company President and CEO Rebecca R. Rubin with a variety of critical environmental thinkers and planners of our time, each of whom offers a perspective on a key issue for the environmental future of our planet.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/03/prweb2227094.htm |
| New Books & Articles
Reconstructing Historic Ecotones Using the Public Land Survey: The Lost Prairies of Redwood National Park
Restoration of natural systems depends, in part, on reconstructing historic landscapes to serve as reference ecosystems. The most effective historic landscape reconstruction relies on multiple lines of evidence at different temporal and spatial scales. This study analyzes original Public Land Survey (PLS) records and compares the results with previous work that relied on dendroecology and aerial photograph evidence of vegetation change. Notations in the land survey regarding the location of prairie-woody vegetation ecotones in the Bald Hills of Redwood National Park were transcribed into a geographic information system.
http://westinstenv.org/histwl/2009/03/12/reconstructing-historic-ecotones-using-the-public-land-survey-the-lost-prairies-of-redwood-national-park/
Environmentally Biased Fragmentation of Oak Savanna Habitat on Southeastern Vancouver Island, Canada
Quantifying the degree to which natural or protected areas are representative of a specified baseline provides critical information to conservation prioritization schemes. We report results on southeastern Vancouver Island, Canada, where we compared environmental conditions represented across the entire landscape, in oak savanna habitats prior to European settlement (<1850), and in both protected and unprotected oak savannas in the present-day. In this region, oak savannas represent a rare habitat type, harboring many threatened species. Before European settlement, oak savannas occurred in a distinctly different subset of environmental conditions than they do today.
http://westinstenv.org/histwl/2009/03/12/environmentally-biased-fragmentation-of-oak-savanna-habitat-on-southeastern-vancouver-island-canada/ |
| Restoring Natural Capital (RNC)
New Bid to Improve the Environment
The African blackwood effort was one of 86 projects around the world up for 'sale' at the EU's first environmental auction in Brussels on 13 March. With budgets between €400 000 and €3m, they range from fighting desertification, climate change and deforestation to improving biodiversity and sustainable development. The commission considers them all worth financing but lacks the necessary funds itself. The event is not an auction in the traditional sense, rather a chance for potential donors - governments, foundations and companies - to learn about projects from the organisers and EU experts who reviewed them. About 400 participants signed up for the conference. Deals will be worked out directly between projects and donors, with the commission playing the role of matchmaker.
http://news.penki.lt/news.aspx?Element=News&TopicID=123&ArticleID=192517&IMAction=ViewArticle&Lang=EN
Everglades Restoration Could Create 3,000 Jobs
Potential federal projects in the Everglades could generate more than 3,000 jobs in the next few years, according to the South Florida Water Management District. Many jobs would be in construction and in related industries such as engineering and manufacturing. Nearly $200 million will be spent largely on projects aimed at helping heal the dying ecosystem. The vast wetlands and marshes have long suffered from encroaching development, and agriculture that contributes fertilizers and pollutants to the ecosystem.
http://www.employmentspectator.com/2009/03/everglades-restoration-could-create-3000-jobs/
http://www.srpressgazette.com/news/restoration_6445___article.html/eligible_flood.html |
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
Two Kinds of Knowledge and the Health of Human and Natural Systems
Traditional Ecological Knowledge, whether it is employed by a community that we would now call indigenous or not, must come from a community that has been in the same place, or the same kind of place, for a long time, long enough that empirical observations of the environment and how to manage it have become part of the received wisdom that is passed down from generation to generation, that has come to be assumed to be the way the natural world works. There are several important characteristics shared by systems of TEK the world over, and these characteristics are its common strength, at the same time they are its common limitation and the reason it cannot replace, but must be used alongside of, modern scientific knowledge.
http://sprig.wordpress.com/2009/03/13/two-kinds-of-knowledge-and-the-health-of-human-and-natural-systems/
Nigeria: Need for Innovation in Science and Technology
We should promote local knowledge, values and world views as tools to shape and achieve poverty eradication and environmental sustainability. We can build dialogue amongst traditional knowledge holders, natural and social scientists, resource managers and decision-makers to enhance biodiversity conservation and secure an active and equitable role for local communities in resource governance.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200903110591.html |
| Biodiversity & Climate Change
Maldives Vows To Be First Carbon-Neutral Nation
The Maldives will shift entirely to renewable energy over the next decade to become the first carbon-neutral nation and fight climate change that threatens the low-lying archipelago's existence, the president said on Sunday. President Mohamed Nasheed said the Indian Ocean islands would swap fossil fuels for wind and solar power, and buy and destroy EU carbon credits to offset emissions from tourists flying to visit its luxury vacation resorts.
http://planetark.org/wen/52034
If We Can't Stop Change, We Must Adapt
The restoration or rehabilitation of our environment is the forgotten front. It concerns the repair or reintroduction of eco-systems that have been destroyed by human activity. Without restoration there will be fewer eco-system services, such as water and clean air, to go around. It will also be much harder to halt biodiversity loss. If we continue to ignore restoration, the carrying capacity of our planet will fall further, and this will be exacerbated as human population and per capita consumption growth continues. Restoration has additional benefits, as it will also help to reduce emissions, as carbon is sequestered by recreated ecosystems. This is vital work, but is largely ignored and underfunded.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/mar/11/copenhagen-climate-change |
|
Costa Rica: Resurrecting Rain Forests
Ten years after the tree plantings, Cornell graduate student Jackeline Salazar counted the species of plants that took up residence in the shade of the new planted areas. She found remarkably high numbers of species - more than 100 in each plot. And many of the new arrivals were also to be found in nearby remnants of the original forests. Fully rescuing a rain forest may take hundreds of years, but Leopold, whose findings are published with Salazar in the March 2008 issue of Ecological Restoration, said the study's results are promising. "I'm surprised," he said. "We're getting impressive growth rates in the new forest trees."
http://www.neatorama.com/2009/03/14/resurrecting-rain-forests/
Georgia: Half-million Trees Planted with Funds Provided by the Arbor Day Foundation
The Georgia Forestry Commission has planted more than half a million trees in wildfire-ravaged south Georgia with funds provided by the Arbor Day Foundation. As part of a wildfire restoration project in Dixon Memorial State Forest, 509,555 pine trees have been planted on a 4,500-acre tract of upland pine habitat that was destroyed by the historic spring wildfires of 2007. Both longleaf and slash pine trees are being reinstated. The project enhances the restoration of Georgia's native longleaf pines, which have declined by 80 percent since 1955. Less than a half million acres of longleaf pine habitat remain throughout the state.
http://georgiafrontpage.blogspot.com/2009/03/half-million-trees-planted-in-georgia.html
Mayas and Scientists Protect Guatemala's Model Forest
The Ecoregion Lachuá is a tropical RAMSAR Wetland of International Importance located in the northwestern area of Alta Verapaz and is currently the only Model Forest in the country. It is one of the most biodiversity-rich regions of Guatemala and provides habitat to many species of endangered fauna, such as jaguar, puma, ocelot, Baird´s tapir, spider monkey, black howler monkey, white-lipped peccary, neotropical river otter, great curassow, parrots, among others.
http://www.guatemala-times.com/environment/895-mayas-and-scientists-protect-guatemalas-model-forest-lachua-part-1.html |
River & Watershed Restoration
Kentucky: Major Stream Restoration Engineering Project Awarded
AMEC, the international engineering and project management company, has been awarded a $3.2 million stream-restoration design project, the largest ever awarded by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR). The project will involve the restoration and enhancement of sections of Puncheon Creek and Fishing Creek and their tributaries in central Kentucky. The site was selected because bank erosion and flow migration are causing landslides and water-quality degradation.
http://www.expertclick.com/NewsReleaseWire/default.cfm?Action=ReleaseDetail&ID=25935
Washington: Mayor Accused of Reneging on Creek Repair
A coalition of environmentalists, neighborhood groups and others is accusing Mayor Greg Nickels of going back on a deal to repair damage to a South Seattle creek to help make up for the city's illegal destruction of wetlands next door. The Mayor's Office maintains that the work on the creek wouldn't be very valuable environmentally. It says the $400,000 earmarked for the project by the City Council in 2007 is now badly needed for other city services because of the budget crisis that developed late last year.
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/403718_wetlands16.html
India: Himalayas Hydro-electric Dam Project Stopped
Work on a major hydro-electric dam in the Himalayas has been stopped after one of India's most eminent scientists came close to dying on the 38th day of a fast, in protest against the harnessing of a tributary of the sacred river Ganges. Professor AD Agarwal, 77, former dean of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi at Kanpur, last week called off his second fast in a year against Himalayan dam projects, after the Indian government agreed to speed up its inquiry into how electricity could be generated without the flow of the water being impeded. The free-running of the river is a crucial element of its sacred status.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/13/himalaya-dams
Virginia: Stream Restoration Continues
While nobody wants to see trees cut down, "we have to look beyond our noses," said Carolyn Badila, noting that the long-term effects of not having the work done would outweigh the loss of trees now. Badila, a member of the environmental committee that advises the Reston Association, also went along on the walk. "It's not just restoring a stream," she said. "It's going to restore ecosystems. So we're on the 'yay' team."
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=326626&paper=71&cat=104 |
| Grassland Restoration
Mississippi: Handbook for Landowners Available
Wildlife Mississippi is pleased to announce the availability of the handbook "Restoring and Managing Native Prairies: A Handbook for Mississippi Landowners." The handbook was written by Jeanne Jones with Mississippi State University, with assistance from Daniel Coggin of Wildlife Mississippi. The handbook is just another in a long line of educational tools that Wildlife Mississippi has developed to help educate Mississippi's private landowners about the proper ways of enhancing, managing and protecting the natural resources found on their lands.
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20090316/NEWS01/903160309/1002 |
| Coastal & Marine Restoration
Washington: Bellingham Wants to Protect Fragile Salt-marsh Habitat
Aiming to protect what remains, the city is embarking on a project to restore the salt-marsh habitat near Mud Bay, which is part of Bellingham Bay. The price tag for what is being called the Chuckanut Village Marsh Restoration Project will be at least $139,852, with most of that coming from a Centennial Clean Water Fund grant from the state Department of Ecology.
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/828749.html
Florida: Breakers Reef Restoration Complete
After months of hard work, restoration work at the Breakers Reef is complete. It's a world famous reef right off our coast, that was cut in half. Now this badly damaged part of the Breakers Reef is nursing back to health, thanks to the efforts of many hard working volunteers and environmental experts. Pictures recently taken of the reef show incredible improvement especially with a lot of the hard coral once damaged and torn off the sea floor, and now getting healthier. This, after something damaged a large swath of the reef.
http://www.cbs12.com/news/reef_4715561___article.html/coral_damaged.html |
Wildlife Restoration
South America Needs Elephants
In what sounds like a page from a Michael Crichton novel, an Australian ecologist has called for the introduction of elephants into South America and the creation of Pleistocene parks across the world. Professor Chris Johnson, of James Cook University, Far North Queensland, says the re-introduction of large herbivores to the Americas would help restore ecosystems and save threatened native species.
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2009/03/18/2518652.htm?site=science&topic=latest
California: $1 Million Grants will Restore Wetlands
Wetlands in the Suisun Marsh near Benicia and the Yolo Bypass south of Davis will be restored and enhanced thanks to two $1 million federal grants awarded to California Waterfowl. The grants are the most recent step in an effort to enhance wildlife habitat in Northern California, with both public and private lands benefiting from the money during the next two years.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_11923506?nclick_check=1
Canada: Hydro Funds Seven Restoration Projects
The BC Hydro Bridge Coastal Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program (BCRP) has announced $382,000 in funding towards seven fish projects within the Campbell River System Hydroelectric Facilties watershed. The project work and research will take place in 2009.
http://www.canada.com/Hydro+funds+seven+restoration+projects/1377250/story.html |
| Extractive Industries
Ecuadorian Government Shuts Down Leading Environmental Group
Last Monday, environmentalists were shocked to learn that the Ecuadorian government had shut down Acción Ecológica (Environmental Action), withdrawing the legal status of one of South America's best-known environmental groups. Acción Ecológica has in recent months supported indigenous-led, mass protests and highway blockades against President Rafael Correa's support for large-scale mining.
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2009/3/16/112310/145 |
| Invasive Species
New Mexico: Salt Cedar Removal At Bosque Refuge Is Done
Thanks to a new piece of equipment called a Slashbuster and assistance from volunteer groups and a New Mexico State Forestry Inmate Work Camp crew, a seven-year effort to remove unsightly salt cedar from a five-mile strip along the Highway 1 approaching the visitor center at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge has been completed. With the removal, new vistas west to the Chupadera Mountains have been opened. A fledgling cottonwood spinney has been planted west of the highway opposite the tour loop entrance, where the invasive plant formerly formed an impenetrable wall.
http://www.mymountainmail.com/stories/socsaltcedar20090312.php
Wild Neighbors: Habitat for Harriers and the Restoration Paradox
Tinkering with the natural world often invites unintended consequences. Replacing exotic weeds with native vegetation is usually a laudable goal. But what if a sensitive species has its own plans for the weeds? That situation arose last month at the Berkeley Meadow, the parcel of land across University Avenue from the Seabreeze Market. It's part of the East Shore State Park, managed jointly with the East Bay Regional Park District. For years the former landfill was covered with ruderal vegetation, plants like fennel, pampas grass, Himalayan blackberry. My dictionary defines "ruderal" as "growing in rubbish, poor land, or waste places."
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2009-03-12/article/32460?headline=Wild-Neighbors-Habitat-for-Harriers-and-the-Restoration-Paradox
Canada: Vegetation Restoration on Reef Island
Since 1997, the Research Group on Introduced Species (RGIS), a consortium of researchers including Dr. Jean-Louis Martin, from Montpellier, France and Dr. Tony Gaston of Environment Canada, has been studying changes in Haida Gwaii forest vegetation and native animals that depend on it. These changes are a mainly a result of the introduction of deer a century ago. Part of their experimental research strategy has included reducing deer numbers on remote Reef Island in Laskeek Bay to observe the recovery of the vegetation. Over the past decade the density of deer on the island has been maintained at less than 25-percent of pre-cull level. The result of this reduction is a remarkable recovery both in forest understorey plants and in vegetation of the shoreline.
http://www.qciobserver.com/Article.aspx?Id=3755 |
| Funding Opportunities
Louisiana: Wetlands Reserve Program - Closes March 25, 2009
Through the Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) Louisiana landowners interested in restoring or enhancing wetlands can receive funding for doing so. Landowners interested in signing-up for WRP should have their applications into their local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Field Office by close of business on March 25, according to a news release. USDA's NRCS administers WRP and has field offices throughout the state to help landowners with the application process.
http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20090313/BUSINESS/90312015
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 | |
|
|
|
|
|
