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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
Discount on Wiley-Blackwell Products: Code is SDP18
http://www.wiley.com
Discount on Island Press/SER Book Series: Code is 2SER
http://www.islandpress.org/ser/index.html
Get Involved/Community-based Restoration
Pennsylvania: Environmental Stewardship Symposium July 11
Steven Handel, Ph.D. is a professor of Ecology and Evolution at Rutgers University and the Director of the Center for Urban Restoration Ecology, a joint initiative of Rutgers and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. He has worked with landscape design teams on ecological restoration in urban areas, including the Fresh Kills landfill and Brooklyn Bridge Park in NYC. His talk will focus on community stewardship efforts throughout the United States and their importance to environmental health and sustainability.
http://www.sopghreporter.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=88&twindow=Default&mad=No&sdetail=8463&wpage=&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1089&hn=sopghreporter&he=.com
California: Coastal Dune Habitat Restoration Project 7/25/09 9am-noon
The Friends of the San Diego River Mouth need volunteers with an interest in helping to save and restore one of the last remaining Coastal Dune Habitats in San Diego.
http://www.missiontimescourier.com/calendarEvent.cfm?EventID=869
Arizona: Lake Havasu Youths Revive fish Habitat
Five Lake Havasu City youths are building a future for themselves while creating habitat for fish through Mohave County's COYOTE summer employment program. The youths -- Charley Narconey, 20, Riley Kennedy, 16, Jimmy Hill, 16, Chad Fox, 18, and Braulio Ruelas, 18 -- are training as fisheries technicians with the Bureau of Land Management fish habitat project at Partners Point. Working with volunteers and facility supervisor William Bryan, the COYOTEs are creating fish habitat from tree trimmings and depositing them in coves around Lake Havasu.
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/northernarizona/havasu/story/Lake-Havasu-youths-revive-fish-habitat/2Ji_EC3-5kyZzCUG8fjb7Q.cspx
Conferences & Workshops
6th Meeting of the European Dry Grassland Working Group
Monday, 31st of August to Wednesday, 2nd of September 2009
The meeting will take place at the Institute for Geobotany and Botanical Garden in Halle (Saale), located near the city centre. The main topic of the meeting is dry grasslands - species interactions and distribution. We invite all interested persons from European countries to present talks or posters related to this topic.
http://www.botanik.uni-halle.de/mitarbeiterinnen_mitarbeiter/ute_jandt/trockenrasentagung/
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
Dr Thomas Goreau on Coral Reef and Fisheries Habitat Restoration
So much Coral Triangle reef habitat is now severely degraded that conservation alone is inadequate to preserve the ecosystems along with the species and people who depend on them. Only active, large-scale coral reef and fisheries habitat restoration can maintain fisheries, shore protection, ecotourism, and biodiversity ecosystem services of the Coral Triangle. Turning fisherfolk from hunters into sustainable reef farmers will be essential to maintain fisheries and biodiversity in the future. The techniques to do so have been developed in Indonesia, but large-scale investment by governments and funding agencies is needed for training and application of new technologies within the context of community-based restoration and management programs.
http://www.gaiadiscovery.com/latest-people/dr-thomas-goreau-on-coral-reef-and-fisheries-habitat-restora.html
Delaware: Resurrecting a Marsh, Preserving an Ecosystem
Slough's Gut Marsh is a picture of healthiness. Spartina grass grows thick and green across the mud flats, which crawl with scores of fiddler crabs. A white egret forages near a pond as an ebb tide sucks the water out of Slough's Gut and into Indian River Bay. It took a lot of work for the marsh to reach this state. On Friday, June 26, representatives from the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), Conectiv Energy and the Center for the Inland Bays (CIB), gathered at Slough's Gut to salute the effort that transformed a damaged habitat into a vibrant ecosystem.
http://www.capegazette.com/storiescurrent/200907/sloughsgut03.html
UNH Researcher Receives Presidential Award
University of New Hampshire professor Frederick Short was co-recipient of the 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 eel grass to coastal salt ponds in Rhode Island.
http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090705/BIZ/907050337/-1/NEWSMAP
Fun With Fungi: Mycology Careers
Martin Bidartondo discovered mycology as a teenager in his native Uruguay when he saw an illustration of a root covered with fungi in a botany book. "I thought, 'That's it--that is the coolest thing on the planet,' " Bidartondo says. Now age 35, Bidartondo works at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the United Kingdom, where he is a specialist in mycorrhizal fungi--the very same kind that got him hooked.
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2009_07_03/caredit.a0900084 |
| Agro-Ecology
Arizona: Diablo Trust
Ranchers, environmentalists, federal and state land managers, scientists, recreationists and other volunteers are working together to achieve a variety of shared goals, including sustaining open space, living in balance with biodiversity, producing high quality food, restoring watersheds, creating stable, living soils and achieving community.
http://www.flaglive.com/flagstafflive_story.cfm?storyID=199201
California: Project to Promote Habitat Restoration
The Napa-Solano Audubon and Katey Taylor, a viticulturist for Icon Estates Wines, are working on a project to promote habitat restoration in vineyards, agricultural lands and beyond. The project is offering a series of workshops to provide information and support to land owners and managers to help them protect and provide wildlife habitat on their properties.
http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2009/07/05/news/local/doc4a5020ef5de18384269541.txt |
| Biodiversity & Climate Change
Georgia: Group Saves Native Plants
Rescued species are donated to a variety of restoration projects in the metro area, including Piedmont Park, Grant Park, Stone Mountain Park and Cherokee County Water Authority's rain garden. Plants also go to schoolyards, church gardens and Master Gardeners' demonstration gardens. Volunteers also may keep the plants for their home gardens.
http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/07/02/rescue0702.html |
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India: Massive Eco-restoration Project for Chelakkara
An integrated eco-restoration masterplan to revive the soil, water and ecological resources of the constituency will be ready by the middle of this month. The Block Panchayats will begin implementation by the beginning of August. Three workshops involving officials from a wide range of departments and schemes - local bodies, Jalanidhi, Soil Conservation, Forest, Irrigation, Ground Water, Agriculture and NREGS - have already been conducted. The fourth and the final one to be held on July 18, during which the masterplan will be finalised, will be chaired by the Speaker himself.
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Massive+eco-restoration+project+for+Chelakkara&artid=yAUm5mFcE8Q=&SectionID=1ZkF/jmWuSA=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=X7s7i%7CxOZ5Y=&SEO=
Rwanda's Public Utility Considers Water Rationing Due to Shortages
In 2008, a Canada-based firm, Ecosystem Restoration Associates, signed a US$17 million deal with the Rwandan government to implement forestation and reforestation projects in a bid to help the country replace its forest cover and address the impact of climate change. Stanislas Kamanzi, the Minister of Natural Resources, said the government continued to reform and implement policies to protect the environment, which is under threat from widespread poverty, rapid population growth and weak regulations.
http://www.ethiopianreview.com/articles/11463 |
| Wetland Restoration
Indiana: Visitors Witness Return of Limberlost Wetlands
One wetland made famous by Stratton-Porter - the 13,000-acre Limberlost Swamp, that spanned from northeast of Geneva to southeast of the small town - was drained. Because of a restoration project that began around 1993, visitors can again see the sort of landscape and wildlife that captured Stratton-Porter's passion at Loblolly Marsh, so named for a small stream. About 1,500 acres have been acquired for the project, which is led by Ken Brunswick, a regional ecologist with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Nature Preserves. He is manager of the Limberlost Swamp Remembered Project.
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090705/LOCAL/307059917/1002/LOCAL
Malaysia: Environmental Impact Analysis Should Be Made Into Law
He said the Rehabilitation Peat Swamp Forest project is concerned with rehabilitating degraded peat lands and conserving intact peatlands. "The main reason for this it to reduce the risk of fire and haze during dry periods, reduce carbon emissions from degraded peatlands and to maintain the carbon-sequestering ability of the in tact peat lands," he added. He said that this was seen as a first phase of a long-term project, which amen to create awareness on the importance and economic value of Brunei's peatlands and recognise the need for rehabilitation and conservation.
http://www.brudirect.com/index.php/200907061927/Local-News/environmental-impact-analysis-should-be-made-into-law-expert.html
California: Grant To Help Launch Stewardship Program For Wetlands
A grant recently awarded to the Los Cerritos Wetlands Stewards will bolster the group's effort to raise awareness of the wetlands' importance and will mark the start of community involvement with restoration efforts on a larger scale. The Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project's Community Wetlands Restoration Grants Program awarded $28,500 to the Los Cerritos Wetlands Stewards last month. The money will be used to launch the Los Cerritos Wetlands Stewardship Program.
http://www.gazettes.com/articles/2009/07/01/community_news/doc4a4bc08223a04585902458.txt |
River & Watershed Restoration
Canada: Rescuing the Forest, One Tree at a Time
The Assiniboine Park Riparian Forest Project kicked off in 2006 after officials realized the strip of forest hugging the river wasn't in the best health. Riparian forest is important for erosion control. It provides what Tuchscherer describes as an "oasis feeling" when visitors cross the footbridge into the park. "When you're in the park, you're not in the city," she said. Without the forest, "that buffer would be gone." The project also targets the spread of the European buckthorn, an invasive species introduced in the late 1800s as a hedge row and used in the early 20th century for shelterbelts. The buckthorn is "really prolific," said Tuchscherer, and easily edges out native maple or ash trees.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/rescuing-the-forest-one-tree-at-a-time-50012527.html
Corps of Engineers unveils new Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet website
The Army Corps of Engineers has launched a new website designed to help the public track restoration efforts in the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet ecosystem. The website, www.mrgo.gov, includes information related to the de-authorization and closure of the former navigation channel, as well as development of ecosystem restoration plans, the corps said in a news release.
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/corps_of_engineers_unveils_new.html |
| Grassland Restoration
Arizona: Wildfire Proves Useful
It was mostly a good thing, say fire managers, ranchers and conservationists who would like to use more fires to fight the invasion of mesquite and shrubs in the historic grasslands of the Altar Valley. They say fire will help restore the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge and the grazing lands of the valley to their former topography.
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/299641 |
| Lake Restoration
Wisconsin: Lulu Lake Nature Preserve Keeps Adding Acres
Lulu Lake, a glistening nature preserve that's a day trip from central Milwaukee, has expanded in size for a second time in as many months under state initiatives to protect threatened watersheds and conserve land for public use. "These new additions to the preserve provide restoration opportunities that will benefit plants and wildlife, especially grassland birds," said Patricia A. Morton, Mukwonago River Watershed Project director.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/49941897.html |
| Coastal & Marine Restoration
From Sausage to Fish: The World's Largest Seagrass Restoration Project
Now fast-forward to 2009. Early this summer, around 100 volunteers signed on to collect eelgrass seeds from a restored underwater meadow off the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Through a now decade-long partnership, The Nature Conservancy and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science have sown enough seeds to help eelgrass spread across more than 2,400 acres. The volunteers donned neoprene wetsuits and snorkeling gear and dove into the bay's chilly waters.
http://blog.nature.org/2009/07/seagrass-restoration-virginia/
Vietnam: Trees Planted, Coastline Saved, with Japanese aid
Japan will continue to provide 6 million USD in aid for afforestation along sandy coastal areas in central Quang Nam and Quang Ngai provinces. Notes of exchange for the second phase of project-PACSA 2, under an aid scheme by Japanese Government, were signed in Hanoi on July 6 by Japanese Ambassador Sakaba Mitsuo and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat.
http://vietnaminvestment.net/news/trees-planted-coastline-saved-with-japanese-aid/
Virginia: VIMS to Help Restore Marine Life to Seaside Bays
Researchers with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science will collaborate with public and private partners on a new effort to restore oysters, seagrass, and bay scallops to the Commonwealth's seaside bays. The $2 million, 18-month project is a partnership between VIMS, The Nature Conservancy of Virginia, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, and the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program. Restoration efforts will take place within The Nature Conservancy's Virginia Coast Reserve, a 38,000-acre coastal wilderness that runs more than 60 miles from the Maryland border to the mouth of Chesapeake Bay.
http://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2009/vims-to-help-restore-marine-life-to-seaside-bays1213.php |
Wildlife Restoration
California Water Plan Aims to Save Puget Sound Orcas
A plan to restore salmon runs on California's Sacramento River also could help revive killer whale populations 700 miles to the north in Puget Sound, as federal scientists struggle to protect endangered species in a complex ecosystem that stretches along the Pacific coast from California to Alaska. Without wild salmon from the Sacramento and American rivers as part of their diet, the killer whales might face extinction, scientists concluded in a biological opinion that could result in even more severe water restrictions for farmers in the drought-stricken, 400-mile-long Central Valley of California . The valley is the nation's most productive farm region.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090705/sc_mcclatchy/3264807 |
| Invasive Species
Adams Wildlife Sanctuary to Get Habitat Rehab
The Adams Wildlife Sanctuary is undergoing major surgery for the second time. The first big change was the renovation of the historic 1857 Margery Adams farmhouse and the addition of a new headquarters building for the Illinois Audubon Society. Now the society has turned its attention from cultural to natural history. Workers have begun restoration of the 40-acre sanctuary at 2315 Clear Lake Ave. The goal is to remove invasive and non-native species and create additional wetland, prairie and forest.
http://www.sj-r.com/homepage/x737354585/Adams-Wildlife-Sanctuary-to-get-habitat-rehab |
| Urban Restoration
New Zealand: Restoration Work the Focus of Workshop
The project aimed to determine the best way to restore natural ecosystems in city areas where development has depleted their biodiversity. It focussed on Hamilton, but project leader, Waikato University's Professor Bruce Clarkson, says the framework developed is widely applicable to other areas with an emphasis on restoration planting and pest control, backed up by scientific monitoring and assessing whether goals have been achieved.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED0907/S00028.htm
Missouri: Ribbon Cutting Held for New Riverfront Attraction
Senator Kit Bond was among the dignitaries braving the rain for a ribbon cutting ceremony for the $1.3 million Riverfront Wetland Restoration. There's not much growing right now. But, at the site, an aquifer will provide the water supply that will allow native trees, shrubs grasses and wildflowers as well as wildlife to grow up along the river.
http://www.fox4kc.com/news/wdaf-riverfront-wetland-restoration-7309,0,7530133.story
New Jersey: Lincoln Park Wetland Restoration Project
Today, Congressman Albio Sires announced the release of over $10.5 million for the Lincoln Park Restoration project in Jersey City. This funding was appropriated through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), signed into law on February 17, 2009. The project is one of 50 coastal restoration projects chosen from a pool of 814 proposals by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA). The grant will be distributed to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to administer the project in order to restore 30 acres of a larger 80-acre coastal wetland in the urban industrialized area of the Hackensack River basin.
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2401872/ |
| Recreation & Tourism
UK: Seven Parks in Line for HLF Funding
Restoration schemes at seven parks across Britain are in line to receive funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) after receiving first-round passes as part of the Parks for People (PfP) initiative. Parks in London, Newcastle, Fife and Swansea are among the locations to benefit from a share of £800,000 to help with the development of detailed application for grants totalling more than £10m. Projects in Somerset, Doncaster and Suffolk have also been awarded development funding.
http://www.leisureopportunities.co.uk/LOemail/wider_newsdetail1.cfm?codeID=134733&CFID=16508496&CFTOKEN=44189651 |
| Funding Opportunities
Pennsylvania: 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=
New Mexico: State Seeks River Restoration Proposals - Closes August 10, 2009
Potential projects that could be initiated because of the latest round of funding include: physical habitat restoration within a stream; enhancement of environmental flow; improvement of riparian vegetative cover for the purpose of river restoration; reduction of pollutants to rivers; promoting the hydrologic interaction between the river channel and floodplain and restoring dynamic channel processes such as accretion on new banks, bar building, channel widening, and channel sinuosity. The removal of non-native phreatophytes - including salt cedar and Russian olive trees - will be funded as part of a more comprehensive river restoration project. Entities that can manage the technical and financial aspects of the proposed projects are eligible to receive the funding.
http://www.dchieftain.com/news/90077-07-04-09.html
2010 St. Andrews Prize for the Environment - Closes October 31, 2009
Applications are invited from individuals, multi-disciplinary teams or community groups for the 2010 annual prize, consisting of an award of $75,000 USD for the winner and $25,000 USD for each of the two runners-up. Aimed at helping ordinary people find solutions to environmental problems, the Prize was launched 11 years ago and is recognized as a prestigious international initiative by the University of St Andrews, Scotland and ConocoPhillips, one of the world's leading energy companies, attracting entries from around the world. The focus is on environmental initiatives, but of course the most innovative and important usually come with gains to people in their locality.
http://www.thestandrewsprize.com/ | |
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