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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
Colorado Group Comes to Wyoming to Support Grass Restoration Projects
All told, about 40 people spent two days last week collecting native grass seeds with a Colorado-based group called Wildlands Restoration Volunteers, which conducts volunteer projects around northern Colorado. This was the group's first foray into Wyoming, interim community programs director Jarret Roberts said. "We're trying to spread out as an organization," he said. Scott said the extra hands were a great help. "Trying to get that much seed collected with just a few people is a real pain," he said.
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/article_5f3c7c94-8d3b-11de-915c-001cc4c03286.html
Texas: Voelcker Park gets Second $1 Million Grant
The city of San Antonio just got another big boost from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission in its efforts to develop Voelcker Park. The state panel last week awarded a $1 million Urban Indoor Recreation Grant for the construction of a 4,000-square-foot urban ecology center at Voelcker Park. The money will fund the formation of interpretive features, a classroom, offices, furnishings, restrooms, parking, water harvesting, water connection, solar lighting and drainage.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/community/north_central/56667017.html
Conferences & Workshops
RIACRE: Latin American Network for Ecological Restoration - November 9-13, 2009
La Red Iberoamericana y del Caribe de Restauración Ecológica (RIACRE) en conjunto con la Sociedad Brasilera de Recuperación de Áreas Degradadas (SOBRADE y la Fundación de Investigaciones Forestales de Paraná (FUPEF), con apoyo de la Universidad Federal de Paraná (UFPR) y la Empresa Brasilera de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (EMBRAPA), programaron para el período del 9 al 13 de Noviembre de 2009, en Curitiba, Estado de Paraná, Brasil, el Congreso Iberoamericano y del Caribe sobre Restauración Ecológica.
http://www.sobrade.com.br/riacre/
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
Environmental Ideas Put in Print With Select Audiences in Mind
In 1984, Chuck Savitt joined forces with the proprietors of Island Press, a struggling California publishing company with a focus on land use. Aided by like-minded backers, he hoped to identify sharp thinkers on important environmental problems and publish books that made their ideas available to people who could use them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/science/08prof.html?_r=2&ref=science
Urban Tree Service Owner Receives International Award
The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), which represents 33,000 professional arborists around the world, has named Edward Hopkins, president of Rochester-based Urban Tree Service, as one of seven recipients of the 2009 True Professionals of Arboriculture Award.
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090908/GJBUSINESS_01/709089996/-1/FOSBUSINESS
Landscape Architecture Student Wins Award for Pat Hurley Neighborhood Project
The land use analysis showed that the under-used area along the northeastern edge of the neighborhood had the greatest potential for overlapping recreational uses and habitat restoration. The context analysis revealed the lack of connectivity and destinations along the riverside trail. The site at the northeastern corner of the neighborhood where the riverside trail and riverside drain and an irrigationa canal dead end was identified as a good location for the intervention, which will become a destination and an activitating element for the trails. The goal for the design is to create a multi-functional space, which will incorporate a public recreational facility, habitat restoration, and which will help promote environmental awareness among Albuquerque residents."
http://www.unm.edu/~market/cgi-bin/archives/004211.html
Florida: A Contract with Nature
It has been nearly 60 years since the start of the great Florida building boom where those involved were more focused on the millions they were making rather than any damage they were doing to ecosystems. Wetlands made way for subdivisions throughout the state, including in Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties, where neighborhoods fanned out to the north and south then from the west to east. It was not until the late 1970s and early 1980s that ecologists and environmentalists began ringing the alarm bells and local governments started to incorporate protections for wetlands and other parts of the ecosystem in new developments.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090907/ARTICLE/909071046/2055/NEWS?Title=A-contract-with-nature
Shaw Selected as Program Manager for the Department of Defense Environmental Restoration Program at Redstone Arsenal
The Shaw Group Inc. today announced it has been awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract for the Department of Defense's Environmental Restoration Program. Under the terms of the contract, Shaw will serve as the U.S. Army's program manager for environmental cleanup at the Redstone Arsenal (RSA) installation in Huntsville, Ala.
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090903005110&newsLang=en |
| New Books & Articles
Climate Change Makes River Restoration More Important than Ever
Restoring river ecosystems and riparian corridors can play an important role in combating climate change impacts to ecosystems by connecting one area to another, enabling plants and animals to move as the climate shifts. It also will create places that shelter fish and wildlife from hotter temperatures, which ecologists call "thermal refugia."
http://world-wire.com/news/0909010001.html
Restoring the Pacific Northwest: The Art and Science of Ecological Restoration in Cascadia
"This courageous and ambitious work makes us recognize that restoration should no longer be seen as many small, piecemeal attempts at site restoration, but as a massive and coordinated movement to revive and strengthen the networks of natural capital and landscape that sustain our cultures, communities, and economies. The multiple authors are to be commended for pulling together in one place such a comprehensive, deep, and ultimately practical guide to what can and should be done to restore a whole region."
http://westcoastkayak.net/kayaking-overview/restoring-the-pacific-northwest-the-art-and-science-of-ecological-restoration-in-cascadia/
Nature's Second Chance: Restoring the Ecology of Stone Prairie Farm
The proverbial city guy moving to the country, Apfelbaum learned to balance his disdain for commercial agriculture with respect for the wisdom and knowledge that comes only with generations of living on a particular piece of land.
http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=7796 |
| Restoring Natural Capital (RNC)
EU Economist Wants to Put a Price on Nature
"I keep returning to the phrase 'you cannot manage what you do not measure'. So we must incorporate the values of biodiversity and ecosystem services, our Natural Capital, into our National Accounts. As a fundamental first step towards integration, the value of forest carbon stock must begin to be captured in National Accounts. Mainstreaming so-far unreflected ecosystem services and biodiversity benefits for the corporate and public sector is a later."
http://thegovmonitor.com/world_news/europe/eu-economist-wants-to-put-a-price-on-nature-3931.html |
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
Knowhow of Andean Peoples on Offer at Bolivia Universities
The ancestral knowledge of the Aymara, Quechua and Guarani Indians forms part of the curriculum of Bolivia's first three indigenous universities, whose inaugural class includes 480 students from rural communities. Studies in oil and natural gas, highland and tropical agronomy, veterinary and zoo-technical science, the textile industry and aquaculture are some of the 12 degree programs offered at these new institutions of higher learning promoted by the government of socialist President Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous head of state.
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=342476&CategoryId=14919 |
| Agro-Ecology
California: Bay-side Restoration Projects in Swing
The effort aims to restore lost habitat for salmon, especially federally protected coho salmon. Salt marsh and back channels where salmon can grow and escape high flows are in short supply around the bay since much of it was diked and drained. The land trust bought the 54-acre property in 2005, and is doing the project on 29 acres. Another 4,500 feet of the small Freshwater tributary Wood Creek is also being restored.
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_13268566 |
| Biodiversity & Climate Change
ERA Carbon Offsets Ltd. Announces Receipt of First $750,000 Payment From $4,000,000 Sales Agreement
ERA Carbon Offsets Ltd. the Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary, ERA Ecosystem Restoration Associates ("ERA"), is pleased to announce that it has received the first $750,000 USD payment specified under a previously announced Verified Emissions Reductions Sales Agreement (the "VERSA"). The payment is the first of five bi-monthly payments specified under the VERSA in which ERA is required to deliver 300,000 tonnes of validated and verified emission reductions ("VERs") in the third and fourth quarter of 2009, and 200,000 tonnes of VERs in the first quarter of 2010, at an average price of $8.00 USD per tonne.
http://www.carbonoffsetsdaily.com/press-release/era-carbon-offsets-ltd-announces-receipt-of-first-750000-payment-from-4000000-sales-agreement-11261.htm
Iceland Targets Wetland Restoration to Cut Emissions
Wetland restoration should be recognised as a land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) activity for reducing rich countries' greenhouse gas emissions under a post-2012 Kyoto regime, Iceland has said.
http://www.endseurope.com/22022
Europe: Endangered Species Thrive on Brownfield Land
Rare and endangered species are thriving on brownfield land, according to a review of the Land Restoration Trust's spaces. Former colliery sites, an old brickworks and a coke works that was once the most contaminated site in Europe, are now home to many uncommon species which struggle to survive elsewhere.
http://www.greenbuildingpress.co.uk/article.php?category_id=34&article_id=320 |
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Indonesia: New film about the Harapan Rainforest Project
The Harapan Rainforest project in Sumatra, Indonesia is becoming increasingly controversial. A new film documents how local people are excluded from the project and how their livelihoods are threatened by the project. The Harapan project is run by PT Restorasi Ekosistem Indonesia (PT REKI), which consists of a local group Burung Indonesia, the UK's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and BirdLife International. REDD-Monitor has repeatedly asked John Lanchbery at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds for a response to the critiques of the project from local people in Indonesia. He has so far failed to provide a public response.
http://www.redd-monitor.org/2009/08/28/nobody-cares-about-the-poor-people-new-film-about-the-harapan-rainforest-project/ |
| Wetland Restoration
UK: Stone-age Landscape Forest Plan
A project in mid Wales aims to recreate the bogs, heath and ancient wet woodlands that stone-age man would have recognized. Work has already begun to fell conifers across a 1,000 hectare site near Pontrhydfendigaid, Ceredigion. It is hoped the Tywi Wildwood programme will turn the clock back on the landscape by 4,000 years.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/8239249.stm |
River & Watershed Restoration
Oregon: Group Hopes to Expand Restoration Work on the Columbia River Estuary
Olivia Bucks/The OregonianThe native Columbia coreopsis is being pushed out of its habitat on the lower Columbia River floodplain by invasive plants such as Himalayan blackberries, reed canary grass and thistle. An environmental partnership has raised its goal for restoring habitat on the Lower Columbia River estuary, a region that reaches from the Bonneville Dam to the Pacific Ocean. The Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership wants to reclaim 19,000 acres by 2014, restoring tidal swamps and natural areas that disappeared during 120 years of human development. The nonprofit originally set 16,000 acres of restoration as its goal, but upped the ante to deal with the severe degradation on the lower reaches of the river.
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/09/group_hopes_to_expand_restorat.html
Nevada: River Restoration Under Way near Reno
A $7.8 million project is under way to restore a section of the Truckee River where it flows past the former site of the Mustang Ranch brothel east of Reno. Chris Sega of the Nature Conservancy says the goal is to make the river function and appear much as it did before being changed by man beginning in the 19th century.
http://www.ktvn.com/Global/story.asp?S=11083601 |
| Grassland Restoration
Missouri: Bringing Back Prairies
These areas are part of a rare yet increasingly popular trend. The Clay County Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Sites project, named the Clay County Grassland & Savanna Restoration Project, aims to convert 2,300 acres near the lake from lawn-like grass and crops to native prairie.
http://www.libertytribune.com/200908275454/community-living/community-living/bringing-back-prairies.html
US: Grassland Restoration Network Project Draws National Crowd
The highest concentration of restoration ecologists in the world could be found in Aurora this week as people from eight other states joined Nebraskans for the 7th annual workshop of the Grassland Restoration Network. The 60 participants included staff of The Nature Conservancy, Prairie Plains Resource Institute, Pheasants Forever, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, the U.S. Army, and more.
http://chicagopressrelease.com/press-releases/grassland-restoration-network-project-draws-national-crowd-to-aurora-this-week |
| Lake Restoration
New Zealand: Environment Waikato Secures Nearly $100,000 to Protect Peat Lakes
Environment Waikato is being given nearly $100,000 of funding to enhance two peat lakes near Hamilton that are under threat from human land use activities. The money is coming in the form of two grants from the Waikato Catchment Ecological Enhancement Trust and Department of Conservation's Biodiversity Condition Fund. It will help Environment Waikato support community restoration projects already underway at Lake Maratoto and Lake Mangahia at Rukuhia, near Hamilton.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0909/S00008.htm\
UK: Work to Start on £170,000 Restoration at Radipole Lake Nature Reserve
Work is due to begin soon on a major project to breathe new life into a nature reserve in Weymouth. Giant excavators are set to move onto the RSPB's Radipole Lake reserve on September 15 to start digging ditches. It will mark the beginning of a £170,000 restoration project to enhance the habitat for existing wildlife as well as attract new species. http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/4585922.Work_to_start_on___170_000_restoration_at_Radipole_Lake_nature_reserve/ |
| Coastal & Marine Restoration
Advocates Renew Calls for Large-Scale Restoration of La.'s Coastal Wetlands
Four years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the Louisiana coast, federal and state officials are making little progress in restoring the state's storm-buffering coastal wetlands. Now, restoration advocates and scientists are increasing calls for a solution that takes advantage of the Mississippi River's natural land-building power by reconnecting the sediment-laden river to its sediment-starved delta.
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/08/20/20greenwire-advocates-renew-calls-for-large-scale-restorat-15272.html |
| Extractive Industries
Nigeria: Halting the Niger Delta Crisis
The Niger Delta region problem began as a case of environmental degradation and must end with environmental restoration. That the oil companies practiced environmental racism is evident in the ecosystem of the Niger Delta region. It is our strong belief that if there is going to be a lasting solution, the Niger Delta ecosystem must be stabilized. The dramatic shift in the ecosystem that occurred is an environmental nightmare.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200908270485.html
Mining and biodiversity offsets in Madagascar: Conservation or 'Conservation Opportunities?'
As befits a project of this scale, Rio Tinto has developed a large, sleekly-designed website to promote the mine and accompanying port, not as beacons of industrial achievement and profitability, as one might expect, but as but as presenting tremendous "conservation opportunities," which, the reader will discern, is not the same as conservation.
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0830-rowan_rio_tinto_madagascar.html
US: Secretary of State Clinton Sued Over Tar Sands Pipeline Permit
A tar sands oil pipeline from Canada to the United States that was approved by the U.S. government last month was challenged in federal court today by four Native American and environmental groups. The U.S. State Department's August 20 approval of Enbridge Energy's Alberta Clipper pipeline would permit 450,000 barrels of tar sands oil per day to be pumped from northern Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin, for refining. The groups are suing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Deputy Secretary James Steinberg and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, asking that the court declare the permit unconstitutional and block the pipeline on environmental and native rights grounds.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2009/2009-09-03-091.asp |
| Urban Restoration
India: Chetpet Lake Set for Restoration
It has been an eyesore for years now - thick vegetation, tonnes of garbage and unchecked flow of raw sewage. But soon, the Chetpet Lake, the only surviving lake within the city limits, would be cleaned up and restored to its former glory, complete with facilities for recreation. While several facilities beg for government attention, interestingly, two government wings -- Chennai Corporation and fisheries department -- are vying with each other to restore the Chetpet Lake.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/chennai/Chetpet-Lake-set-for-restoration-/articleshow/4912913.cms |
| Recreation & Tourism
Pennsylvania: North Park Lake to be Restored by May 2011
North Park Lake will become a muddy hole by the end of the year, Allegheny County and federal officials say. "Drawing down," or emptying, the lake is the first step in restoring the silt-choked body of water to something close to its original condition. Draining of the lake will begin this month. Officials hope the work will be completed and the lake refilled no later than Memorial Day 2011.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09246/994999-54.stm |
| Funding Opportunities
EPA Grants Available for Research on Soils and Plant Ecology
http://targetednews.com/disp_story.php?s_id=997814
Neotropical Migratory Bird Protection and Habitat Restoration Grants Available
http://targetednews.com/disp_story.php?s_id=997925
NOAA Partnership Grants - Closes September 30, 2009
The NOAA Restoration Center is currently soliciting applications for new three-year national and regional Partnerships to invest funding in the restoration of coastal and marine habitat nationwide, from 2010-2012. Through this solicitation, the NOAA Restoration Center seeks to openly compete funding available for multi-year national and regional habitat restoration Partnerships that will result in implementation of a wide-range of habitat restoration projects -- from locally-driven, hands-on projects that emphasize stewardship, to mid-scale, watershed-scale projects that yield significant ecological and socioeconomic benefits.
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/restoration/projects_programs/crp/partners_funding/natregpart.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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