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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
Oregon: Public Can Help Guide Park Restoration
After several months of outcry by some residents, the city of Salem in late August agreed to partner with the Natural Resources Conservation Service - an arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture - to restore 198 acres of the park to a more natural habitat as part of a floodplain easement agreement. The land most recently had been used to grow crops. The Conservation Service and city of Salem have scheduled five public meetings to ask for input from residents about the level of open space and types of natural habitat to which the acreage should be restored.
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20091026/NEWS/910260322/1001
IGERT: Ecosystem Restoration through Interdisciplinary Exchange (ERIE) - Buffalo, NY
The University at Buffalo is recruiting for graduate students for a National Science Foundation Training Program (IGERT) in Ecosystem Restoration. The Ecosystem Restoration through Interdisciplinary Exchange (ERIE) program provides students with the technical, professional, and personal skills necessary to become leaders in the rapidly advancing field of ecosystem restoration. The ERIE Program is innovative and interdisciplinary, combining academic training in environmental sciences, engineering, and policy with focused research on ecological restoration linked to nationally-recognized watershed and stream restoration efforts in western New York State and the lower Great Lakes watershed. Applications are due February 1, 2010 for admission in the Fall 2010 semester.
http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/job/J000004567
Conferences & Workshops
XIII World Forestry Congress (WFC 2009)
Major outcomes were a declaration from participants outlining nine findings and 27 strategic actions through which the "vital balance between forests and development can be improved;" and a set of recommendations to the UNFCCC calling for urgent action on major issues, including inter alia the: promotion of sustainable forest management; need to pursue climate change mitigation and adaptation concurrently; need for improved monitoring and assessment techniques: and need for improved inter-sectoral cooperation.
http://www.iisd.ca/ymb/forest/wfc13/23oct.html |
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People in the News
Biologist Saves Thousands of Sea Turtles Over 20 Years
Biologist and ocean activist Todd Steiner of Sea Turtle Restoration Project (STRP) in Forest Knolls, CA, near San Francisco has been fighting to stop the slide of sea turtles to extinction for 20 years. By using science and the threat of extinction to mobilize people around the world, Steiner's organization has saved hundreds of thousands, or possibly millions, of disappearing sea turtles from death due to human activities.
http://www.thecypresstimes.com/article/News/National_News/BIOLOGIST_SAVES_THOUSANDS_OF_SEA_TURTLES_OVER_20_YEARS/25456
Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation Awarded for Environmental Stewardship
Environmental stewardship is a cornerstone of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation's legacy, and the Cache Creek Desalination Facility is just one of many projects the tribe has taken on as part of its continuing efforts to preserve their land and conserve natural resources. The tribe's comprehensive approach also involves alternative energy use, waste recycling and reuse, conservation easements, ecological restoration and sustainable farming practices.
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/65257597.html
Anthropologist to Explain Significance of 2012 in Maya Culture
Earle is an applied cultural anthropologist who has worked largely in Mexico and Guatemala in the areas of international development, the environment and community relations for more than 25 years. He has taught on the faculties of American University and Clark University. Currently, he is working in the area of environmental sustainability with Jadora International. According to its Web site, Jadora International is focused "on fiscally viable methods of forest restoration and protection."
http://www.wfu.edu/news/release/2009.10.22.a.php |
| New Books & Articles
David Suzuki: Forests Count in our Fight Against Climate Change
For some scientists, carbon stewardship means setting aside at least half of all remaining intact forests as protected areas, particularly carbon-rich forests like old-growth temperate rainforests in B.C. and the boreal in Canada's north, where wildlife like caribou feed, breed, and roam. Protecting intact forests also promotes ecological resiliency so that species and ecosystems can cope with and adapt to the effects of climate change. That doesn't mean that the logging companies should be allowed to trash the other 50 percent. Forests that we do manage for wood and paper production should be logged according to the highest standards of ecosystem-based management-without clear-cutting and with adequate protection for wildlife habitat like caribou as well as sensitive areas like wetlands.
http://www.straight.com/article-265104/david-suzuki-forests-count-our-fight-against-climate-change# |
| Restoring Natural Capital (RNC)
Australia: 'Visionary' Plan for 2000 km Conservation Corridor
A plan for a conservation corridor that stretches from the Top End to Central Australia will help protect important ecosystems and fight climate change, the Northern Territory Environment Centre says. The Northern Territory Government yesterday announced it was developing a 2000 kilometre long conservation corridor that will link major national parks.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/22/2721062.htm |
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
Enhancing innovation between scientific and indigenous knowledge: pioneer NGOs in India
Until recently, little attention has been paid to local innovation capacity as well as management practices and institutions developed by communities and other local actors based on their traditional knowledge. This paper doesn't focus on the results of scientific research into innovation systems, but rather on how local communities, in a network of supportive partnerships, draw knowledge for others, combine it with their own knowledge and then innovate in their local practices.
http://7thspace.com/headlines/323237/enhancing_innovation_between_scientific_and_indigenous_knowledge_pioneer_ngos_in_india.html |
| Agro-Ecology
How to Feed the World in 2050
In 1943 Sir Albert Howard, (Formerly Director of the Institute of Plant Industry Indore, and Agricultural Adviser to States in Central India and Rajputana), considered to be the grandfather of the modern organic farming movement, published 'An Agricultural Testament', which was based on his years of patient observations of traditional faming in India. "Instead of breaking up the subject into fragments, and studying agriculture in piece meal fashion by the analytical method of science, appropriate only to the discovery of new facts, we must adopt a synthetic approach and look at the wheel of life as one great subject and not as if it were a patchwork of unrelated things."
http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/10/response-to-the-fao-how-to-feed-the-world-in-2050/ |
| Biodiversity & Climate Change
Important Study on Climate Change and Livestock Emissions
A study by Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang of the World Bank looked at the relative importance of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gasses from oil, natural gas, and coal compared to the life cycle and supply chain emissions of domesticated animals raised for food. They conclude that greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the lifecycle and supply chain of animals raised for food account for 51% of annual emissions caused by humans and should be given higher priority in global efforts to fight climate change.
http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40631
Conservationist Urges Carbon Reserves in U.S. forests
President Obama needs only a stroke of his pen to set an example for the world on climate change by establishing federal forested reserves to store carbon in perpetuity, a national environmentalist said Tuesday in Boise. William Meadows, president of the Wilderness Society, a national group that seeks to preserve wildlands, called on Obama to set up a National Forest Trust, a series of federal reserves chosen on the basis of their carbon density, to store the substance that contributes to global warming when released.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/localnews/story/943116.html |
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Central New Mexico Landscape Restoration Project
The Southwestern Region (AZ and NM) of the USDA Forest Service is in the beginning stage of planning a comprehensive, multi-year forest restoration project across central New Mexico, merging with ongoing restoration across Arizona. This request for information is the initial phase used to gather information and explore contract options. The project objective is to restore ponderosa pine and pinon/juniper forest types by thinning and harvesting mainly small diameter trees in excess of ecological requirements.
https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=61ef3c39d577518d41a71f54a3712499&tab=core&_cview=0&cck=1&au=&ck=
CBD: Forests Provide "Insurance Policy" Against Climate Change
Much of the attention in the present debate on climate change has focused on the carbon-storage capacity of forests and their role in mitigation. The international climate-change negotiations now recognize the value of ecosystem-based adaptation, but the study suggests that, in reality, ecosystem-based mitigation and adaptation are two sides of the same coin. Thus, protecting primary forests and restoring managed or degraded forest ecosystems are key to reducing anthropogenic emissions and helping society adapt to the impacts of climate change. It further stresses that the resilience inherent to intact forest ecosystems-fully functional units of plants, animals, micro-organisms, and fungi-provide the best insurance against climate change, and help ensure that forests meet the needs of present and future generations.
http://www.maximsnews.com/news20091026UNCBDforestbiodiversity10910260101.htm |
| Wetland Restoration
Minnesota: Hawk Creek Watershed will Offer Incentives for Restoration of Wetlands
Netland said the Hawk Creek Watershed Project has been seeking to encourage the restoration of key wetland areas in the basin. Their restoration could improve water quality in the basin by holding and absorbing nutrients now being carried by smaller tributaries to the Minnesota River. The basin has been offering Conservation Reserve Program funding to help landowners plant vegetative buffers along waterways to capture nutrients. Netland said the same approach will be taken to encourage the wetland restoration.
http://www.wctrib.com/event/article/id/59145/
New Mexico: Wetlands Being Restored in Cebolla Canyon
A marsh hawk patrolled the edges of Cebolla Spring, searching the bulrushes and cattails for a midday meal. The restored wetlands at the headwaters of Cebolla Canyon offer a renewed food source for the area's wildlife. A project began nearly a decade ago has turned the spring, once little more than a soggy patch of soil, into acres of lush plant and animal life.
http://www.cibolabeacon.com/articles/2009/10/22/community/doc4ae0f7f2b4bc8635945872.txt |
River & Watershed Restoration
California: Restoration with a Twist at Russian River Resort
"Willow is really the magic plant of river restoration," said Engber, who brought the ancient practice of live-plant riverbank restoration to the North Coast 28 years ago. The willows embedded in the fill material - and the redwoods, bays and other native trees that will be planted on top - will take root and grow, and over time will strengthen the restored bank. "In five years, this will all be a willow forest," said Jack Davies, executive director of the Odd Fellows Recreation Club, as he gazed over one of the large sections of newly constructed bank.
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091023/NEWS/910239987?Title=Restoration-with-a-twist-at-Russian-River-resort |
| Grassland Restoration
Australia: Planting Seeds of Hope in Melton
For members of the Pinkerton Landcare and Environment Group, spring marks the start of the seed collecting period which will enable more native bushlands and landscapes to be created. Working in partnership with Western Water, the groups are turning an unused sludge paddock near Mt Cottrell into a native grassland area. And it is the collection of thousands of seeds that will make it possible.
http://melton-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/planting-seeds-of-hope-in-melton/ |
| Urban Restoration
Maryland: More Trees, Younger Trees are Group's Goal
A group of Catonsville residents, worried about the age and well-being of the area's largest trees, has come up with a plan. The group has formed a new committee with the goal of planting 200 new trees per year for the next 20 years. The new trees will serve to replace the area's "natural canopy" as older trees die out, according to Richard Hiteshew, chairman of the fledgling Catonsville Canopy Tree Restoration Project.
http://www.explorebaltimorecounty.com/community/102368/more-trees-younger-trees-are-groups-goal/ |
| Funding Opportunities
$5,000 Grants for Indigenous Peoples' Videos on Climate Change until October 31, 2009
First Peoples Worldwide is awarding three $5,000 grants for videos documenting Indigenous communities using traditional knowledge to adapt to, or mitigate the impacts of climate change on their lands and waterways. Indigenous Peoples must submit their entry in video format in order to be considered for this grant. Successful videos will show the impacts of climate change through the eyes of the community and present the ways Indigenous Peoples are adapting to these changes or working to lessen their impacts. Upload the video to YouTube and send the link to Jessica Friswell (jfriswell@firstpeoplesworldwide.org and jessica_friswell@yahoo.com)
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/
American River/NOAA Community-Based Restoration - Closes December 18, 2009
American Rivers seeks proposals for river restoration project grants as part of its partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Community-based Restoration Program. Program funding is provided through NOAA's Open Rivers Initiative, which seeks to enable environmental and economic renewal in local communities through the removal of stream barriers. This Partnership funds stream barrier removal projects that help restore riverine ecosystems, enhance public safety and community resilience, and have clear and identifiable benefits to diadromous fish populations. Projects in the Northeast (ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, RI), Mid-Atlantic (NY, NJ, PA, DE, VA, MD, DC), Northwest (WA, OR, ID), and California are eligible to apply. Projects located within the St. Lawrence/Great Lakes Basin are not eligible for funding at this time.
http://www.americanrivers.org/NOAAGrants | |
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