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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!
Get Involved/Community-based Restoration
California: Students Work to Restore Cache Creek
Students from Yocha-De-He Wintun Academy and Esparto High School got their hands dirty planting native trees, shrubs and grasses to restore riparian habitat around the Yocha-De-He Golf Course - and they consider themselves lucky. As part of the Student and Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship Program of Winters-based nonprofit Center for Land-Based Learning, these students thought their hands-on environmental science field trip would be cancelled due to budget cuts. That is when the Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians stepped in.
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/southwest/41975157.html
California: Palo Alto Wetland Restoration - May 2
The wetland habitat at the mouth of San Francisquito Creek is a refuge for shorebirds and fish such as steelhead trout. To ensure the conservation of these native species, Save The Bay and the City of Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve are working together in ongoing wetland restoration projects. One Brick volunteers will remove non-natives like mustard and peppergrass to improve habitat at San Francisquito Creek for endangered wildlife. Other activities may include shoreline cleanups, watering and work in their on-site native plant nursery.
http://www.onebrick.org/eventdetails.asp?EventID=5793
Florida: Restoration Project Information Available
Residents are invited to learn about the ongoing effort to remove invasive species from Chicken Island today. The island in the Intracoastal Waterway is the focus of a restoration project by Volusia County Environmental Management and the Marine Discovery Center. The public can get information and participate in restoration efforts involving the island's surrounding oyster beds and mangroves to prevent island erosion, improve water quality and finfish habitat in the Indian River Lagoon.
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/EastVolusia/evlEAST05040409.htm
California: Students and Volunteers Help Aid Watershed
Students from Christian Brothers High School install a blue bird box Thursday in the watershed around Dry Creek near Winters. Other volunteers helped plant 1,200 native trees and shrubs and installed 20,000 feet of drip irrigation since the project began last fall. Thursday, several students from Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento volunteered to help restore the watershed around Dry Creek near Winters. The Dry Creek Restoration project provides educational opportunities to the students as they work to reestablish an ecological connection between the Dry Creek tributaries and the main channel of Putah Creek. Four miles of riparian buffer will be restored as volunteers remove exotic invasive plants and install native plants.
http://www.dailydemocrat.com/news/ci_12071451
Conferences & Workshops
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/ |
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People in the News
Brazilian Forest Conservationist Wins Norway Prize
Brazilian senator and former environment minister Marina Silva won Norway's $100,000 Sophie Prize for her work to protect the Amazon rainforest, the prize foundation announced on Wednesday. The Sophie Prize is awarded annually for environmental protection and sustainable development. It was set up in 1997 by Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder and is named after the main character of his book "Sophie's World." Silva, who was environment minister in 2003-2008, clamped down on illegal activity in the forest, the Sophie Foundation said in its citation.
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL1958729
Transition, Restoration
Native Connections in Three Rivers specializes in ecological restoration and native landscaping. The company grows and sells four species of native grass seed - big blue stem, little blue stem, switchgrass and Indiangrass, and offer consultations for those interested in establishing a native area such as a prairie or wetland. Twenty years ago, owner Jerry Stewart, an agronomist, became interested in using native plants to restore natural areas. One interest led to another, and for 10 years Stewart has been growing native grass seed locally. "This is the only firm in Michigan that produces the native grass seed that come from natural Michigan sources," Stewart said.
http://www.sturgisjournal.com/news/business/x1579115160/Transition-restoration |
| New Books & Articles
The Fragility of the World's Coral is Revealed through a Study of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
A new study by researchers from UC Santa Barbara's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) sheds light on how threats to the world's endangered coral reef ecosystems can be more effectively managed. In a recent issue of the journal Coral Reefs, lead authors Kimberly A. Selkoe and Benjamin S. Halpern, both of NCEAS, explain how their maps of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) -- a vast area stretching over 1,200 miles -- can be used to make informed decisions about protecting the world's fragile reefs.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-04/uoc--tfo040609.php |
| Restoring Natural Capital (RNC)
Shovel-ready Projects that Create Jobs
Planting trees, shrubs, grasses and flowers in well-planned ways also will increase real estate values and thus municipal tax collections, boost the morale of commuters and residents, clean the air and water and, according to academic research, reduce crime and even decrease healing time after surgery. It's the key to creating more walkable, sustainable urban and suburban spaces. As a solution to many problems, investing in ecological infrastructure is not only aesthetically elegant and ethically appropriate, but economically efficient. As stimulus goes, there couldn't be anything more "shovel ready."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/04/levy.trees/ |
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
A New Deal on Sacred Lands in Colombia
''From here on up, you are the ones in charge of protecting the environment,'' Uribe told the Arhuaco, Kogi and Wiwa Indians at the recent inauguration of the village, sweeping his hand toward the high mountain peaks. ``You are the best cultivators of the forests, the best protectors of the water.'' That's what they had been trying to tell a succession of governments for decades, repeatedly asking for financial and legal support to reoccupy the lowlands by buying off lands owned by peasants and coca leaf farmers. Private donors have been helping the four indigenous groups buy back almost 90,000 acres in an effort to protect the ecologically fragile midlands and highlands in an area these groups consider to be the heart of the world.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/986151.html?asset_id=986183&asset_type=gallery
Australia: Saltwater People
A new era of cultural unity has been ushered in at Saltwater National Park. Indigenous and non-indigenous leaders of the community have come together to celebrate a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) and the locally-based Saltwater Management Committee. The MOU will see the Saltwater Management Committee and the DECC-run National Parks and Wildlife Service enter a co-management agreement that will oversee the day-to-day running of Saltwater National Park and deal with any issues concerning its use.
http://taree.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/saltwater-people/1480299.aspx |
| Agro-Ecology
India: Farmers' Wisdom must be on Paper in Era of Patents
At a time when fast food reigns, one hardly thinks of cherishing a local Indian delicacy and conserving a local plant variety. M P Nayar, former director of the Botanical Survey of India who currently heads the government Task Force on Agro-biodiversity Hotspots recently completed mapping these hotspots.
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20090415&filename=inv&sec_id=14&sid=1 |
| Biodiversity & Climate Change
Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Agriculture
Agricultural lands occupy 37% of the Earth's land surface. Agriculture accounts for 52% and 84% of global anthropogenic methane and nitrous oxide emissions Agricultural soils may also act as a sink or source for carbon dioxide (CO2), but the net flux is small. Many agricultural practices can potentially mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the most prominent of which are improved cropland and grazing land management and restoration of degraded lands and cultivated organic soils.
http://www.earthportal.org/?page_id=70
Historical Ecologists Map a Changing Landscape
Grossinger is a historical ecologist, merging history and ecology to figure out the environments of our great, and great-great-great grandparents. When he compares those landscapes with the present, he turns up surprise after surprise - streams that weren't streams, wetlands where there used to be beaches, thick groves of trees where there used to be plains and plains where there used to be thick groves of trees.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/26/DD2Q1619AU.DTL
Prairie Dogs and Dust Storms: Managing Novel Ecosystems
We are entering an era of unprecedented change. Rapid change has happened before, but not during a time when humans were capable of causing or documenting such changes. Current environmental conditions are reorganizing communities into entities that are sufficiently different in their biotic composition from any that existed during the last millennium. Because of these changes, we can no longer passively conserve or preserve our natural areas. A more forward-looking, proactive management approach is warranted. http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/apr/05/guest-commentary-prairie-dogs-and-dust-storms/ |
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Canada: Controlled Burns as Part of Kootenay Ecosystem Restoration
Residents of the East Kootenay can expect to see some prescribed fires in several locations in the region in the month of April. Weather conditions permitting, there will be prescribed burns for ecosystem restoration purposes at sites in the areas of Jaffray (Waldo Range Unit - Clear Lake Pasture), Fort Steele (Big Hill Pature) and Canal Flats (Findlay Basin Range Unit - Stinky Pasture). BJ Randall Harris, Ecosystem Restoration Team Leader, says two of the burns come at the tail end of the ecosystem restoration project. In Waldo and Big Hill, the area has previously been slashed to meet target stand numbers and create an open forest structure. The burns at Stinky Pasture come in follow up to a wildfire that went through the area in 1985.
http://www.bclocalnews.com/lifestyles/42442732.html |
| Wetland Restoration
Wetlands Restoration Helps Dwindling Bird Species Thrive
Conservation efforts are helping stem dwindling numbers of some bird species, according to report based on 40 years of data analysed by official US agencies. The report shows such efforts have protected 30 million acres of wetlands and contributed to thriving populations of hunted waterfowl, herons, egrets and other birds, according to the US State of the Birds report. On the whole, 39 species of hunted waterfowl have increased by more than 100 percent during the past 40 years. Successful waterfowl conservation is a model for widespread habitat protection.
http://www.waterconserve.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=122872
Australia: Water for Drought Ravaged Wetlands
Drought-stricken Australian wetlands are to be given a "much needed drink" with a billion litre watering programme, the country's government has announced. The first water release began last Tuesday (March 25) and will deliver more than a billion litres to four wetland sites in the Murray-Darling Basin, South Australia in coming weeks. Senator Penny Wong, minister for climate change and water, said: "These are the first in a number of environmental watering actions planned by the Commonwealth to give priority drought-affected wetlands a much-needed drink."
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=16211&channel=0&title=Water+for+drought-ravaged+Australia+wetlands
Alabama: Publix Project Official Enters Two Guilty Pleas
"The point of that ruling was to ensure full compliance (with the city's ordinances)," Snedeker said Thursday. "By withholding adjudication, I wanted something to hang over Sunbelt's head to ensure full compliance." The city's land disturbance and wetlands ordinances authorize fines of up to $500 and six months in jail or both. The wetlands ordinance adopted by the City Council last year also authorizes the city to order restoration of the wetland area, and if not done, to perform the restoration itself and charge the defendant for the costs.
http://www.baldwincountynow.com/articles/2009/04/04/local_news/doc49d65098b2517910823401.txt |
River & Watershed Restoration
US: Environmental Group Names 10 Rivers Facing Imminent Threats
The Pascagoula River was named one of the nation's 10 most endangered rivers for 2009 by the American Rivers environmental group. The group's annual report highlights rivers facing imminent threats. Alabama's Cahaba River, along with the Tallapoosa and the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa basin, have been listed as endangered by the group in previous years. Mississippi's Pearl River was listed in 2008. The Pascagoula River is recognized as the last large, free-flowing river in the continental United States. For that reason alone, it is considered unique and precious.
http://www.gulflive.com/news/mississippipress/news.ssf?/base/news/123909931095000.xml&coll=5
Australia: Noel Pearson Attacks New 'Wild Rivers' Declarations
The Queensland Government's decision to provide special protection for a number of Cape York rivers has angered Aboriginal leader, Noel Pearson. He says declaring them "wild rivers" is a stupid move and it tears at the heart of encouraging Indigenous communities to engage in business. He says the legislation prevents further generations from setting up enterprises such as aquaculture or fishing lodges. He's also accused the Queensland Government of pandering to conservationists by agreeing to their demands before the election but holding off the announcement of the decision for electoral purposes.
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2008/s2535576.htm
Delaware: Millville By The Sea Completes Stream Restoration Plan
Millville by the Sea has begun a stream restoration plan that will eventually affect much of the 2-miles of Beaver Dam stream along and within its buffers. The first 1,000 feet of this restoration project has been completed on a ditch near the Beaver Dam stream. This ditch had been allowed to grow fetid and choked with non-native plants. The nutrients from the runoff added stress on the bay and increased the frequency of algae near the point of discharge. Its main environmental feature will be a trail and stream system that follows the Beaver Dam stream for over two miles.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/environment/delaware/prweb2295964.htm
California: Negro Canyon Restoration Plan Presented to the Public April 14
The Truckee River Watershed Council, Integrated Environmental Services, and River Run Consulting will co-host an in-depth presentation describing the results of the recently completed Negro Canyon Assessment and Restoration Project Plan. The presentation will be held from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 14, 2009, at the Truckee Donner Public Utility District's Board Room, 11570 Donner Pass Road. Negro Canyon is a major tributary to Donner Lake. The watershed has a long history of disturbance and is located on naturally erosive volcanic soils. In order to complete effective restoration work, an understanding of hydrologic and geomorphic processes in the canyon is necessary.
http://www.sierrasun.com/article/20090406/NEWS/904069975/1066&ParentProfile=1051 |
| Grassland Restoration
Washington: Restoring a Great Natural Place
San Juan Island National Historical Park, of which American Camp is part, wants to restore the American Camp prairie, in keeping with the 1966 law establishing the national park. That law calls for "interpreting and preserving the sites of American and English camps on the island and commemorating the historic events that occurred in connection with the final settlement of the Oregon Territory boundary dispute, including the so-called Pig War of 1859." Restoration is important for many good reasons. The American Camp prairie is a sacred place, an ancestral home, to which many Coast Salish people have ties. The prairie is a source of life, sustaining a diverse population of animal, insect and plant species. It is home to the Island Marble butterfly, which was believed extinct before being discovered here in 1998; the Island Marble exists nowhere else in the world.
http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/sanjuans/jsj/opinion/42190952.html
Minnesota: Priorities for Prairie, Wetlands
The Lessard proposal's impact on this region is focused on wetland and prairie habitat. The language used in the bill is "protect, enhance, restore," which in practice means adding new land and making sure existing habitat is flourishing. Minnesota has lost 99 percent of its original prairie landscape, according to the Lessard proposal, causing drastic declines in the numbers of American badgers and birds including the bobolink, grasshopper sparrow and Eastern meadowlark.
http://www.mankatofreepress.com/local/local_story_095010632.html |
| Lake Restoration
Michigan: Shoreline Restoration Plan Endorsed
Environmental restoration could become short-term economic development for Muskegon as a Muskegon Lake environmental group looks to secure federal stimulus dollars. The Muskegon Lake Watershed Partnership already is working on a $3.4 million shoreline restoration project, but now the group is seeking an additional $10 million to $12 million in environmental funds from the stimulus package. The local environmental partnership last week received the public support of both the Muskegon City Commission and the Muskegon County Board of Commissioners. The new stimulus grant money is being sought through the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes habitat restoration program.
http://news.greatlakesboating.com/2009/04/shoreline-restoration-plan-endorsed.html |
| Coastal & Marine Restoration
Maryland: Plans for Non-native Oysters in Chesapeake Bay Dropped
Proposals to use a foreign species to restore the Chesapeake Bay's depleted oyster population were essentially scrapped Monday as state and federal governments agreed to focus on bringing back the native oyster. Maryland, Virginia and federal agencies announced they remain "fully committed" to using only native oysters, even in trying to help rebuild the bay's seafood industry. Using non-native oysters poses "unacceptable ecological risks," officials said.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bay_environment/bal-oysters-bay0406,0,3395590.story
Alaska: $2.8 Million Awarded to Restore Seabirds and Otters after Oil Spills
State and federal agencies have been awarded $2.8 million to restore natural resources injured by the Luckenbach oil spills and other mystery spills in the Gulf of the Farallones. The funding will be used to implement five restoration projects. Additional funds associated with these same spills may be forthcoming in the next few months. The five restoration projects, designed to address the injuries to a variety of seabird species and sea otters, have been subject to public review and comment. In order to provide the greatest benefit to the injured bird species, each of the bird projects is located at the breeding grounds for the various species. For some of the long-distance migratory seabirds, the breeding grounds and restoration projects are located in Alaska and at lakes in interior northern California.
http://yubanet.com/california/2-8-million-awarded-to-restore-seabirds-and-otters-after-oil-spills.php
New Zealand: North Groups 'Over the Moon' after $105,000 Boost for Plant Restoration
The Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society is counting its blessings after receiving the lion's share of community conservation funds in New Zealand. The Department of Conservation grant funds native plant restoration projects on public land but requires groups to provide ongoing support. Three Northland groups have been given over $105,00 in total by DOC. Bream Bay Coastal Care and Bream Head Conservation Trust were also on the receiving end. The Mangawhai group was given $89,000 to assist with a 1.5km-long windbreak fence and the planting of native spinifex and pingao on sand dunes.
http://www.northernadvocate.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3796802&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=
Texas: Plans Underway for Wetlands Restoration; Funding Still Uncertain
When Jim Sutherlin headed out into the marshes south of Port Arthur on Friday, he was pleased by what he saw. Rain from the past few weeks appeared to be helping the wetlands that had been burned brown by saltwater intrusion from Hurricane Ike, said Sutherlin, manager of the J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area. But more drastic measures are needed to save wetlands further to the west. Dean Bossert, manager of McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge said recovery there was slow. The coastal marshes and wetlands that characterize the upper Texas Gulf Coast are important to the region in various ways - one crucial service they provide is acting as a buffer to hurricane surges.
http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/plans_underway_for_wetlands_restoration_in_southeast_texas__funding_still_uncertain_04-03-2009.html |
Wildlife Restoration
Project Hopes to Spawn Oregon Spotted Frog Revival
The small, elegantly colored frogs raised in a humid backroom at the Oregon Zoo have already defied the odds. On Thursday, they will try to defy a grim fate. About 120 rare Oregon spotted frogs, raised from eggs and overwintered to grow as large as possible, will be released into a wetland near Olympia. If they survive, the frogs could be the first wave in restoration of threatened native frogs that have been losing their battles for survival.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/project_hopes_to_spawn_oregon.html |
| Extractive Industries
Oil Sands Could Threaten Millions of Migratory Birds
An anonymous tip last April alerted Canadian officials to the fact that 500 ducks had mistaken an oil sands company's pollutant-filled reservoir in Alberta as a safe place to land. To the public's dismay, only three birds survived. Hundreds of decomposed ducks have since risen to the surface, leading Syncrude Canada to clarify last week that its lake-sized reservoir, known as a tailings pond, in fact killed an estimated 1,606 birds, mostly mallards. Tailings ponds hold a watery mix of clay, sand, hydrocarbons, and heavy metals that remains after the oil extraction process.
http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/39596 |
| Funding Opportunities
Washington: Watershed Mini-Grants - Closes April 10, 2009
The Kitsap County Department of Community Development announced this week the availability of the Watershed Mini-Grant Program for 2009. This year, the Watershed Mini-Grant program will offer grants up to $1,500 to local groups for local environmental education, habitat restoration and monitoring projects. A total of $6,000 is available for 2009.
http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/kitsap/ckr/news/41693022.html
West Virginia: Wetlands-Grasslands Program Offered
West Virginia landowners interested in restoring, protecting or creating wetlands and grasslands on their properties can sign up for federal funding. The U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Farm Service Agency are accepting applications for funding this year. The deadline is May 1.
http://www.dailymail.com/ap/ApTopStories/200904030217
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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