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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
Chapman Greenspace Restoration Crew - July 27
Columbia Land Trust's Chapman Greenspace Restorataion Crew - located in North Vancouver, WA within the urban growth boundary is one of Columbia Land Trust's first properties and treasured urban wildlife habitat, Chapman Greenspace. 9 acres of meadow and Douglas Fir woodland is bordered by rock quarry, stat highway and airport and is one of the last natural spots in the area. Join us while we reclaim native meadow habitat from the Himalayan Blackberry and support urban wildlands.
http://www.vanvoice.com/19786-chapman-greenspace-restoration-crew
Environmental Movement Needs Diversity
Restoring a healthy environment in the Puget Sound area means "we must expand the environmental movement and include people from diverse backgrounds and cultures," the Seattle Foundation said in its report on priorities for 2009 and beyond. Various efforts are underway to bridge the gap, including an urban farm providing vegetables to communities in South Seattle and a project funded by the REI Foundation and the National Audubon Society to create nature programs tailored to the needs and interests of culturally diverse communities.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thebusinessofgiving/2009350492_post_5.html
Conferences & Workshops
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
UNH Researcher Receives Presidential Environmental Award
University of New Hampshire professor Frederick Short was co-recipient of the prestigious Coastal America Partnership Award the only environmental award of its kind given by the U.S. president for his contributions to a project that restored eelgrass to coastal salt ponds in Rhode Island. The highest level award for partnership efforts, this award from the p resident recognizes outstanding collaborative, multi-agency and multi-stakeholder efforts to accomplish coastal restoration, preservation, protection, and education projects.
http://www.genengnews.com/news/bnitem.aspx?name=56542035
When Nature Gets a Second Chance
The Kearny experiment led to an even larger project at the former Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island, N.Y. It also launched Dr. Handel on a succession of far-flung restoration projects, which, in turn, advanced the young discipline of urban restoration ecology. Now, it's a discipline whose time has come, Handel says. As the world becomes more urbanized, people have become increasingly estranged from nature.
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/06/17/when-nature-gets-a-second-chance/
NOW Honored for Environmental Volunteer Service
NOW Foods was honored by the Illinois DuPage Forest Preserve District at their annual volunteer appreciation banquet with the "Hawk Award," commemorating 10 years of volunteer service and partnership with the District. For a decade, NOW Foods has partnered with the DuPage County Forest Preserve District to host volunteer events that involve natural resource and habitat restoration projects, as well as de-littering efforts at the East Branch Forest Preserve.
http://www.naturalproductsmarketplace.com/hotnews/now-honored-for-environmental-volunteer-servi.html
Community Restoration Coordinator Retires
Schultz's background was entirely nonscientific, which helped her, she said. Before becoming community restoration coordinator, she coordinated the Homeownership and Mutual Self-Help Program at Interfaith Housing in Frederick from 1995 to 2003. Her duties included overseeing the building of senior housing in Brunswick and Taneytown. "I had felt eager to redirect my energy toward earth stewardship," Schultz said. "As I read more, I got more of a sense of how integral life is on Earth. I've always felt primarily motivated by social justice, and it was a great next chapter." She used her background in organizing, project management and grant writing in her new career.
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=91675 |
| New Books & Articles
Climate Change, Wildlife, and Wildlands Toolkit
The US Environmental Protection Agency has published an important tool for educators who need teaching materials related to Climate Change, Wildlife, and related environmental topics. The new Climate Change, Wildlife and Wildlands Toolkit for Formal and Informal Educators is an updated and expanded version of the award-winning (2001 Public Relations Society of America Bronze Anvil Award for Interactive Communications and 2002 Telly Award) and very popular (over 40,000 kits distributed in all 51 states and territories and over a dozen countries across the world) Climate Change, Wildlife and Wildlands Toolkit for Teachers and Interpreters first published in 2001.
http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40110
People of the Prairie, People of the Fire
Restoration is a slippery concept. In some places it means mostly finding ways to preserve and enhance relicts that have survived the battering. In other places it means an outright regeneration, or a reconversion of farmland to prairie. But at its core it involves sparing the pieces and saving the processes that connect them. In Illinois, once the prairie state, now a factory farm, prescribed burning is what connects those pieces, and prescribed burners are the agents that join them.
http://westinstenv.org/ffsci/2009/06/22/people-of-the-prairie-people-of-the-fire/ |
| Agro-Ecology
Livestock Grazing Threatens Fossil Creek Restoration, Endangered Wildlife
The Center for Biological Diversity on Monday filed an administrative appeal challenging the U.S. Forest Service for its failure to protect endangered wildlife and water quality in the federally designated "wild and scenic" Fossil Creek watershed when it authorized livestock grazing on 42,000 acres southeast of Camp Verde. In April, the Coconino National Forest approved introduction of nearly 500 cattle on land where its own environmental analysis states current conditions cannot support them.
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2009/fossil-creek-06-17-2009.html |
| Biodiversity & Climate Change
Climate Change may Benefit Invasives while Eradicating Natives
A Princeton University study concluded that in many cases, a warming climate will provide more welcoming conditions for invasive plants to get a foothold, spread quickly and crowd out native species. Of course not all our alien species are recent arrivals. Many have been here since European settlers spread across the continent and nonnative weeds and plants followed them, sometimes literally.
http://www.evesun.com/news/stories/2009-06-18/7230/-Climate-change-may-benefit-invasives-while-eradicating-natives/
Louisiana: Step Taken to Restore Area Refuge
The Conservation Fund, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Environmental Synergy Inc. participated in the effort to plant 350,000 hickory, oak and cypress seedlings on nearly 1,200 acres of bottomland in the southernmost section of the refuge, near Natchitoches. "All of the planting has been done on what is basically marginal farmland ... area that isn't really usable for traditional crops," RRNWR manager Pat Stinson said. "Most of the land was cleared in the '70's during the soybean boom. We've talked to some of the current farmers in the area who told us their grandfathers cleared the land, thinking it would come back."
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20090617/SPORTS06/906170325/1001/SPORTS |
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US: Forest Restoration Project Brings Together Old Enemies in Logging Wars
Freshly trained and closely supervised, the crew took care to leave behind volunteer sproutings of dogwood, madrone and huckleberry as well as the sugar pine and Douglas fir planted here 20 years ago. The pattern is designed to grow into a healthy forest less vulnerable to wildfire and better for fish and wildlife, rather than just turn out timber. The House Hope Stewardship Project, taken off the shelf with $1.4 million from President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package, will thin and restore 890 acres. http://blog.taragana.com/n/forest-restoration-project-brings-together-old-enemies-in-logging-wars-88280/ |
| Wetland Restoration
UK: Peat-free Wool Compost Makers Help Restore England's Ancient Bogs
The makers of an eco-friendly, peat-free compost made from wool and bracken are creating new ground by helping to restore peat bogs in some of the UK's most precious uplands. For part of the year Cumbrian farmer Simon Bland harvests the bracken on his local fells and shears sheep wool to make the secret mix for his environmentally-sound Double Strength Wool Compost
http://www.smallholder.co.uk/news/4441730.Peat_free_wool_compost_makers_help_restore_England_s_ancient_bogs/ |
River & Watershed Restoration
Utah: Grant Would Help River Project
Ogden city recently commissioned RiverRestoration.org, a Colorado-based engineering company, to present a study on the river restoration. That study is part of Ogden's application for the $4 million in stimulus funding. RiverRestoration.org's report estimates a cost of $7.2 million for the river project. According to RiverRestoration, the water quality is fair to poor and the river's channel and banks have been damaged by various debris, including concrete and automobile bodies.
http://www.standard.net/live/news/176559 |
| Grassland Restoration
UK: Rams to Help Breeding Programme
Crews from RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire have undertaken an unusual mission to help a conservation project in the Channel Islands. The National Trust for Jersey uses four-horned sheep to keep vegetation down on part of the island and wanted to improve the stock. They called on the RAF to transport two rams from the Isle of Man to Jersey to help with the breeding programme. The sheep will help restore coastal heathland and grassland habitats.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/wiltshire/8112682.stm |
| Desertification & Arid Land Restoration
Prescribed Burn Planned for Western New Mexico
State officials plan to start a prescribed fire near Datil in western New Mexico. The burn is scheduled to begin Monday if weather permits. Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Jennifer Myslivy says the ignition portion of the project is expected to take up to six days, with residual smoke staying in the area for up to a week afterward. The Pelona Mountain burn will target 38,000 acres of grass and woodlands as part of a statewide ecosystem restoration and habitat enhancement initiative. A total of 147,000 is scheduled to be treated over the next five to 10 years.
http://www.kdbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=10569184&nav=menu608_2_3
China: Farmers Plant Grass To Stabilise Sand Dunes
Farmers plant grass to stabilise sand dunes at the edge of the Mu Us Desert in Lingwu, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 18, 2009. China has allocated 10 percent of the 230 billion yuan ($33.71 billion) spent so far under its 4 trillion yuan stimulus plan to energy saving, anti-pollution, ecological and environmental protection projects, Xinhua news agency reported.
http://planetark.org/wen/53438 |
| Lake Restoration
Florida: Willow Lake to be Restored
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| Coastal & Marine Restoration
Florida: Restoring the Marsh
Two years ago, Schlageter oversaw a virtually identical marsh restoration at Gamble Rogers State Park. Looking at that restored marsh last week, Haydt pointed to hundreds of crabs, dozens of wading birds and thriving mangrove trees and grasses. Volunteers helped put in some native plants, but the water itself did the rest, bringing in seeds of mangroves, saltwort and other plants now growing across the marsh.
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/newEAST01062309.htm
Washington: Port Plans Habitat Restoration Projects
The project fulfills three parts of the port's immediate existing habitat obligations, resulting in approximately 21 acres of new, restored or enhanced upland habitat and associated buffers. But, the fourth part of the project, planning 2.8 acres for possible future expansions, made some port commissioners uneasy about spending money for development that may not happen.
http://www.fifefreepress.com/article/608 |
Wildlife Restoration
UK: Endangered Insect Reintroduced to Cairngorms
An insect on the verge of extinction in the UK is set to return to the Cairngorms forest for the first time in 60 years following a unique reintroduction project. The populations of the pine hoverfly, the size of a small bumble bee, are dangerously low because of its specialised breeding requirements. The insect needs rotting tree stumps with standing water, but a lack of old trees means there may only be 250 individuals in Scotland.
http://news.stv.tv/scotland/103462-endangered-insect-reintroduced-to-cairngorms/ |
| Invasive Species
California: UCSB to Burn Out Nonnative Grasses on Lagoon "Island"
The UCSB Fire Department, in conjunction with the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration and the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, has tentatively scheduled a controlled burn on the university's lagoon island for later this morning. The burn is part of an effort to restore biodiversity to and remove the nonnative grasses from this area of campus.
http://www.independent.com/news/2009/jun/18/ucsb-burn-out-nonnative-grasses-lagoon-island/
Australia: A Million Wild Camels Kick Up an Environmental Storm
While federal, state and territory environment ministers work on a plan to deal with what has been called a plague, the strongest opposition is coming from some Aboriginal communities who fear killing an animal with biblical links will bring drought. Camels were introduced to Australia between 1840 and 1907 and used mainly as pack animals in the construction of rail and telegraph lines, and to bring supplies and equipment to mining camps. Their ability to carry huge loads over long distances and go for days without water meant they were far more useful than horses in the soaring desert temperatures. The men that handled them were Australia's first Muslim immigrants
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0619/1224249121615.html |
| Urban Restoration
Ohio: From the Ashes of '69, a River Reborn
Monday is the 40th anniversary of the Cuyahoga River fire of 1969, when oil-soaked debris floating on the river's surface was ignited, most likely by sparks from a passing train. The fire was extinguished in 30 minutes and caused just $50,000 in damage. But it became a galvanizing symbol for the environmental movement, one of a handful of disasters that led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and to the passage of the Clean Water Act.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/us/21river.html?ref=global-home
New Hampshire: Neighborhood Aims to Reduce Brook Pollution
With a donation from nearby Port Inn and a grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency through the N.H. Department of Environmental Services, a multi-year project aimed at reducing wastewater going into the brook kicked off with Wednesday night's event. Members of the Hodgson Brook restoration project acknowledged efforts to clean up the brook in an urban setting will take considerable time.
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20090618-NEWS-906180429 |
| Funding Opportunities
Australia: $900,000 Foreshore Restoration Funding Announced - Closes June 26, 2009
Environment Minister Donna Faragher today announced $900,000 for shoreline protection and rehabilitation projects in the Swan Canning Riverpark. The Swan River Trust's annual Riverbank Grants Scheme provided funding for community and local government partnership projects that improved the condition of, and access to, the Swan and Canning shorelines. Since 2002, more than $5.4million has funded 124 Riverbank projects, restoring kilometres of previously degraded shorelines along the rivers.
http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=55683
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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