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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
Australasia Top 25 Restoration Projects Now Online
The Society for Restoration International and the Ecological Management and Restoration journal conducted an 18-month search for the top projects and an expert panel, including the journal's editor, selected the winners. The top 25 projects have been posted on a website that enables restoration scientists and managers to exchange information about their work.
http://www.globalrestorationnetwork.org/countries/australianew-zealand/
Setbacks and Surprises: Contributions Invited
The journal Restoration Ecology has initiated a new category of paper: "Setbacks and Surprises." This section aims to provide the opportunity to report the results of restoration projects that did not go as planned, projects that failed to meet the original goals or did not meet the goals without considerable changes to the original plans. If you have any queries contact the Managing Editor, Dr Susan Yates (restoration.ecology@uwa.edu.au).
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!
Discount on Island Press/SER Book Series
The discount code for SER members is 2SER.
http://www.islandpress.org/ser/index.html
Get Involved/Community-based Restoration
California: Forest Service Seeks Comments on High Meadows Restoration
The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) is seeking comment on a proposal to restore the High Meadows area above Pioneer Trail in South Lake Tahoe. The proposal includes stream channel and meadow restoration, removal of dead and dying conifers and prescribed fire underburn to restore forest health and help regenerate aspen stands, and implementation of a roads and trails system that is sustainable, reduces erosion and contributes to improved water quality.
http://yubanet.com/regional/Forest-Service-Seeks-Comments-on-High-Meadows-Restoration.php
Top 5 Environmental Volunteer Opportunities for June in the Twin Cities
Summer volunteer programs are popular with Minnesotans. Last year, almost 35,000 people volunteered for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), alone, with state parks and enforcement projects as the most popular. According to volunteermatch.org, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN is #1 for volunteering among large cities.
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-10728-Twin-Cities-Water-Examiner~y2009m5d27-Top-10-environmental-volunteer-opportunities-for-summer-enrichment-in-the-Twin-Cities
Georgia: Striped Bass Habitat in Flint to be Restored
Thanks to the combined actions of concerned community groups, non-profit organizations, local watershed groups, Native American tribes and state and federal agencies, these waters are being improved by planting stream-side vegetation, removing structures blocking fish from habitat and protecting bodies of water from the effects of industrial processes, agriculture and livestock.
http://www.thepostsearchlight.com/news/2009/may/29/striped-bass-habitat-flint-be-restored/
Canada: Students Play Key Role in Habitat Restoration
Twenty-nine Tillsonburg students had a chance to get their hands dirty on a chilly Monday morning. "We're planting trees," said Liberty Taylor, 12. "It's very good for the Earth. I wish that everybody did it." The Forests for Life program is designed to increase the involvement of local students and residents in the process of growing native trees to be used in habitat enhancement projects. The project is a collaboration of Oxford, Elgin and Middlesex stewardship councils and was started in 2004, under the name Trees for Tomorrow.
http://woodstocksentinelreview.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1594321
Wisconsin: Goose Lake Restoration Project
Officials estimated that between 10,000 and 20,000 cubic yards of muck and silt would need to be removed from the lake, possibly linking the larger and smaller bodies of water at Goose Lake Park. The village board said it would take action to create a Goose Lake Project Fund and help spearhead a community project to raise donations and spark interest in fundraising events. Action taken now might lead to a core group with more avid volunteer interest in saving the lake and seeking potential grant funding to help pay for future dredging ideas, officials said.
http://www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2009/05/31/news/05goose31.txt
Conferences & Workshops
Restoration Institute 2009: Ecological Restoration & Climate Change
Advanced Training in Ecological Restoration: Where Theory Meets Practice
The School of Environmental Studies and the Division of Continuing Studies at the University of Victoria invite you to participate in the 2009 Restoration Institute. It is scheduled for June 17 - 21, 2009 at the University of Victoria in Victoria, BC.
http://www.uvcs.uvic.ca/eco/
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
With Green Home Venture, Sierra Club Mixes Profits with Passion
It's not unusual these days for big green groups to get in bed with business, but one of the oldest and most-respected environmental organization-the Sierra Club-is going them one better by getting into business itself. The San Francisco-based environmental organization has launched a for-profit online venture called Sierra Club Green Home as a one-stop shop for information and services to green up your lifestyle and decarbonize your abode.
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-06-01-sierra-club-green-home/
Sustainability: Don't Even Wait For The Rest Of Management
I sat down with Mark Tercek recently to discuss the practicalities of pursuing sustainability in a difficult business environment. He became CEO of the Conservancy nine months ago. Before that he was a top leader at Goldman Sachs, so he has a businessperson's penchant for getting things done--which fits well with the culture and history of the Nature Conservancy.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/29/sustainability-environment-green-leadership-citizenship-tercek.html
Back to Nature
My port of entry to Madison was a frozen field of tallgrass, an echelon of dark pines and a patch of oak woods. As my brother and I drove into town along the south Beltline, searching for the Seminole Highway exit, I looked around and marveled: Hey, this is all right.... There's a forest in the middle of the city!
http://www.isthmus.com/isthmus/article.php?article=26006 |
| New Books & Articles
Fire Key in Invasive Plant Management
Fire is a useful tool to reduce the number of invasive plant seeds and help restore damaged ecosystem, according to a new report published in Weed Science. According to the report, previous efforts to manage invasive plants focused on eradicating them individually through various means. The report also said that it was believed fires were harmful to plant communities and had to be suppressed.
http://www.theindependent.com/articles/2009/05/30/news/ag/doc4a21fec9b8be6132884336.txt
Polluted or Damaged Environments can be Restored
Of the 240 studies the Yale researchers analyzed, 83 found that all systems studied had recovered while 90 found a mixture of recoveries and non-recoveries. The remaining 67 reported no recovery. Of these, 36 of the ecosystems appeared truly beyond it, Jones said. In most of the other cases, the studies ended before it was clear whether the ecosystem in question would eventually recover. Bill Jordan III, a founder of the Society for Ecosystem Restoration who reviewed the study for McClatchy, questioned its definition of recovery. That depends, as it probably must, on the admittedly varied definitions of the original researchers, Schmitz and Jones write.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/story/1069056.html
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0005653
Brazil: Rebuilding a Rainforest
In the June issue of the journal Biological Conservation, devoted to the Atlantic Forest, a new study reveals that some 80% of the remaining ecosystem exists in fragments of less than half a square kilometer, and nearly half of it is less than 100m from the forest edge, leaving it highly vulnerable to pressures from the surrounding areas such as invasive alien plant species.
http://www.timhirsch.org/2009/05/rebuilding-rainforest.html |
| Agro-Ecology
Experts to Help Irish Food Producers become Worlds Greenest
The Dublin-based Institute of International and European Affairs has brought together leading experts to prepare a strategy to reduce the carbon footprint of Irish agriculture in the coming decade. Senior figures from Irish agriculture, food processing and retail will work with scientists and economists to identify a package of measures to reduce the environmental impact at every stage of food production 'from farm to fork'. Their findings will be submitted to the Government later in the year.
http://www.farminguk.com/news/Experts-to-help-Irish-food-producers-become-worlds-greenest16337.asp |
| Biodiversity & Climate Change
Scientists Build a Macroscope of Life on Earth
Imagine looking at a Google Maps-like satellite image of the Amazon forest and with a mouse click find out what lives in that bit of forest - what tree and plant species are there, what animals, birds and insects. You could even look at the DNA of the microbes that live on those insects in this amazing, futuristic online "macroscope of life" on planet Earth. The information about these Amazonian species, their habitats and even their DNA already exists in most cases. But it is scattered like dry leaves all over the world in dusty museum basements, science labs, libraries and hundreds of electronic databases.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47067
Africa's 'Green Corridors' Can Save Climate-Stressed Birds
A network of wildlife conservation areas across Africa will be vital in helping to save up to 90 percent of bird species on the African continent affected by climate change, according to new research released today. Led by biologists at Durham University, the computer modeling study probed the effects of "moderate" climate change on 815 bird species of conservation concern in sub-Saharan Africa and on the network of sites designated for them, known as Important Bird Areas.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2009/2009-06-02-01.asp
A Global Responsibility to Help Vulnerable Communities Adapt
For one international community - the 165,000 strong Inuit community dispersed across the Arctic coastline in small, remote coastal settlements in Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Siberia - it is already too late to prevent some of the negative effects of climate change. James D. Ford from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, is today, Thursday, 28 May, presenting a paper published in IOP Publishing's Environmental Research Letters, "Dangerous climate change and the importance of adaptation for the Arctic's Inuit population," at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences annual conference.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-05/iop-agr052609.php |
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Costa Rica: Restoration of a Tropical Rain Forest Ecosystem Successful
Half a century after most of Costa Rica's rain forests were cut down, researchers from the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Sciences (BTI) on the Cornell campus are attempting what many thought was impossible -- restoring a tropical rain forest ecosystem. When the researchers planted worn-out cattle pastures in Costa Rica with a sampling of local trees in the early 1990s, Native species of plants began to move in and flourish, raising the hope that destroyed rain forests could one day be replaced.
http://pm-news-science.blogspot.com/2009/05/restoration-of-tropical-rain-forest.html
Forest Recovery Programs in Madagascar
While rampant deforestation continues in some parts of the island, elsewhere inspiring reforestation initiatives are being carried out, which tourists can visit and get involved with. What better way could there be of - quite literally - putting something back into a country than planting an endemic tree in its natural range? Such gratifying experiences, which allow tourists to make meaningful connections with the environment rather than simply being an observer, are offered by forest recovery projects that are being developed in various habitat types throughout Madagascar.
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0601-moses_schiirman_madagascar.html |
| Wetland Restoration
Eight Wetland Restoration Grants Through Five Star Program
This year, Southern Company provided $198,928 in grants and, combined with partner matching funds, a total of nearly $580,000 to restore more than 81 wetland acres and 12,500 feet of riparian buffer across 8 projects in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi. Since 2006, Southern Company has contributed $820,210 through 41 grants, which will result in an on-the-ground conservation impact of $2.7 million to restore more than 10,000 acres of wetlands and nearly 46,000 feet of riparian buffer in the Southeast.
http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-28-2009/0005033856&EDATE=
Canada: Eyes on the Wetlands
A new educational and environmental program has been launched at Spruce Meadows.
Grade 4 students from Midnapore Elementary were the first to experience the Eyes on the Wetlands program. The new initiative includes classroom studies run by Ducks Unlimited for Grade 4 to Grade 6 students.
http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090529/CGY_Wetlands_SpruceMeadows_090529/20090529/?hub=CalgaryHome
California: Struggling to Find Mitigation as Roads Replace Wetlands
The river's banks are a perfect site for preserving and restoring wetlands, the reason why the San Diego Association of Governments spent $4.7 million for the site's 130 acres. Sandag plans to use the land to mitigate impacts of widening the nearby Highway 76 from two lanes to four, a project that will destroy wetlands to build a bridge over the San Luis Rey River. To offset the damage, Sandag and CalTrans will remove weeds on the mitigation site and plant native species that provide better habitat and serve as a more robust food source. In all, 83 acres will be restored.
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2009/06/01/environment/844wetlands053109.txt |
River & Watershed Restoration
India: Swift Flowing Rivers Causing Threat to Environment in West Bengal
Swift flowing rivers that change their course frequently and result in massive soil erosion have become serious threat to environment in West Bengal. Frequent landslides and sediment in the rivers caused by the settlement of debris on riverbeds carried from the mountains lead to rivers changing their course.
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?a=jf3uu9jibgc&title=Swift_flowing_rivers_causing_threat_to_environment_in_West_Bengal
California: Return of the Native Habitat
The "ecosystem restoration project," as it's known in bureau parlance, provides about 28 acres of aquatic and riparian habitat as it might have existed before Conquistador boots and Water Department wingtips began mucking things up. Bull Creek, located in the San Fernando Valley's Anthony Beilenson Park near Lake Balboa, is a "perennial stream" tributary of the Los Angeles River, and last year had its bottom scraped clean of invasive plants such as reeds and arundo, whose familiar, bamboo-like forests choke portions of the L.A. River.
http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/environment/return-of-the-native-habitat/ |
| Lake Restoration
Minnesota: Cabin Owners Work to Restore Bayfield County Lake
Residents of Bony Lake in Bayfield County Wisconsin have been planting native plants on their shores for more than three years in the largest lake restoration in Wisconsin's history. Carol Lebreck of River Falls, Wisconsin has been coming to Bony Lake since she was a little girl. Lebreck said things have changed over the past sixty years. "My guess is we've lost three quarters, half or three quarters of our lily pad beds."
http://fox21online.com/greatoutdoors/cabin-owners-work-restore-bayfield-county-lake
New York: Whitney Point Lake Restoration Project Complete
It took 12 years and millions of dollars, but the Whitney Point Lake restoration project is finally complete. "I'll have to admit that I did think it took a little long, but when you see the final result, it is truly amazing," Broome County Executive Barbara Fiala said during a ceremony Thursday. An intergovernmental collaboration, the project brought improvement both environmentally and recreationally: better water flow management and use, wetland development, a boat launch, lifeguard stations, and, yes, even new bathrooms.
http://news10now.com/content/all_news/473209/12-years-later--whitney-point-lake-restoration-project-complete/ |
| Coastal & Marine Restoration
Washington: Plan for Indianola Beach Restoration Submitted
Foss Maritime Company has accepted responsibility for the spill of 4,637 gallons of bunker fuel at a Point Wells asphalt facility near Seattle on Dec. 30, 2003. The oil drifted across Puget Sound and landed on beaches near Indianola. Foss has agreed to pay $338,000 for resource damages, including documented and potential injuries to birds, marine mammals, fish and shellfish, as well as damages that resulted in reduced recreational activities, according to an agreement signed by the company.
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2009/may/28/plan-indianola-beach-restoration-submitted/ |
Wildlife Restoration
Nature's Engineers -- and Environmental Heroes -- Make a Comeback
Castor canadensis, believe it or not, is a time shifter. The humble, hardworking rodent, through its dams and ponds, can extend the release of water late into summer, saturating the ground and healing watersheds. It has the power to re-create the primordial, wetter West that existed for millennia -- a West we just missed seeing. "Restoration of the beaver is restoration of a landscape we don't have a cultural connection to," O'Brien says, "because they largely were trapped out."
http://www.hcn.org/issues/41.10/voyage-of-the-dammed
Environmental Groups Sue to Save Turtles
The world's oldest sea turtles -- leatherbacks and loggerheads -- will become extinct unless U.S. agencies do more to protect them, a lawsuit says. To save the turtles, the Obama administration must alter the policies set by former President George W. Bush, said Todd Steiner, executive director of the California-based Turtle Island Restoration Network.
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2009/05/29/Environmental-groups-sue-to-save-turtles/UPI-81871243619155/
Bumblebee Extinct in Britain to be Reintroduced from New Zealand
A bumblebee which died out in the UK, but survived in New Zealand after being shipped there more than 100 years ago, is to be reintroduced here under plans announced today. Small populations of the short-haired bumblebee were established on the South Island of New Zealand after being transported there on the first refrigerated lamb boats in the late 19th century to pollinate crops of red clover.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/01/wildlife-conservation |
| Invasive Species
New Zealand: Island Restoration Project Underway
"The restoration of these islands will protect the world's largest pohutukawa forest, and will provide a 3,800ha environment that could support some of New Zealand's most loved wildlife, including kaka, kiwi and takahe." In order to create a safe environment for native wildlife, the remaining pests and predators will be removed - a continuation of the eradication of wallabies and possums that occurred in 1996. The seven different species of mammals that will be eliminated are stoats, ship rats, Norway rats, mice, feral cats, rabbits and hedgehogs.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0906/S00022.htm
Kenya: Eucalyptus Dilemma - Is the Tree Worth Growing Commercially?
The controversy surrounding the eucalyptus and its penchant for consuming far too much water leading to environmental depletion has led to confusion among commercial growers. Environmentalists, supported by government officials through the Ministry of Environment, are persuading Kenyans to uproot all trees of this genus grown near riverbeds and water catchment areas, without explaining where, and how best they should be grown.
http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/-/440808/604926/-/4kp4lj/-/ |
| Urban Restoration
Georgia: Glenlake Park Stream Bank Restoration
Progress is being made on the restoration of the stream corridor running through Glenlake Park. The stream bank has been returned to a more natural appearance which will reduce erosion and allow the stream to become an integral part of the Glenlake Park experience. The stream bank restoration work is a great demonstration project showing how streams in urban areas can be restored.
http://thedecaturminute.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/glenlake-park-stream-bank-restoration/
UK: Will Hammersmith Eco-village Inspire New Generation of Diggers?
The spirit of the Diggers has been invoked once more with plans to seize land in Hammersmith next week in order to create an eco-village. The Diggers were a group of 17th-century English radicals led by Gerard Winstanley, who has been referred to as the father of both communism and anarchism. Winstanley realised that one-third of England's land was barren waste, which the landowners would not permit the poor to cultivate.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/may/29/hammersmith-eco-village-squat
Video: New York - Freshkills Park Project
Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island was New York City's primary landfill from 1948 to 2001. Thousands of tons of daily garbage composed the largest man-made structure on Earth. In 2001 the landfill was finally closed, with a brief reopening to accommodate the World Trade Center wreckage. Since then it's been the site of Freshkills Park, a 30-year project to cover and slowly open parts of the former landfill. While the trash of New York City ships to other states, the park's decomposing refuse mounds generate methane gas that National Grid sells back to the island's inhabitants.
http://www.thirteen.org/thecityconcealed/2009/06/01/freshkills-park-project/ |
| Funding Opportunities
Minnesota: Wetland Restoration Dollars Available - Closes June 5, 2009
Government money is available to compensate rural landowners interested in restoring wetlands on their property. Through June 5, landowners can sign up for payments through the state's Wetlands Reserve Program to restore wetlands that have been drained and have a history of being used for agriculture production. Payment rates are based on township-average land values.
http://www.hutchinsonleader.com/news/announcements/wetland-restoration-dollars-available-through-june-5-104
FishAmerica Foundation Request for Proposals - Closes June 22, 2009
FishAmerica Foundation annually requests proposals from public and private organizations and local, state and tribal governments to fund projects that result in on-the-ground habitat restoration and clearly demonstrate significant benefits to marine, estuarine or anadromous fisheries resources. Projects must involve community participation through an educational or volunteer component tied to the restoration activities. FishAmerica also requests that applicants strive for a 1:1 non-federal match (cash or in-kind) on project proposals.
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/restoration/projects_programs/crp/partners/fishamerica.html
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
Nebraska: USDA Offers Grassland Reserve Program Sign-up - Closes July 1, 2009
Nebraska landowners wishing to maintain grazing land in grass, including range and pasture land, can apply for funds through the Grassland Reserve Program by July 1, 2009 at any USDA Service Center according to a USDA official. "Applying for GRP is continuous however, ranking dates are established to evaluate and select applications for funding," said Steve Chick, State Conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service. GRP is implemented jointly by the NRCS and the USDA Farm Service Agency. Landowners can start their applications at either USDA office.
http://www.chadrad.com/newsstory.cfm?story=14278
Pennsylvania: DEP Accepting Applications for Watershed and Flood Protection Grants - Closes July 17, 2009
Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger today announced that DEP is now accepting grant applications for watershed protection and restoration and flood protection projects under the Growing Greener Plus program, which allows applicants to seek funding for a variety of projects through a single application process.
http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-19-2009/0005029275&EDATE= | |
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