| Membership |
RESTORE is distributed to current SER members. Make sure you don't miss a single issue!
|
| Quick Links |
|
| |
|
|
 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. |
|
Get Involved / Community-Based Restoration
The Institute for Applied Ecology is conducting a survey of international professionals, academics, students, etc. about their perspectives on restoration, climate change, and working with and moving organisms. Climate change may be the defining challenge to the field of restoration ecology this century. Please consider taking this survey if you have any connection to the process of habitat restoration (from policy to research to implementation) or want to make your views known. The survey is available at the following link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JSFD728
Employment Opportunity: Senior Water Resource Engineer/Specialist
Are you committed to an ecologically sustainable future? Biohabitats is seeking a senior Water Resource Engineer/Specialist to join our Chesapeake/Delaware Bays Bioregion office (located in Baltimore, MD). This individual will be responsible for managing water resources engineering and water quality projects, designing and conducting field studies, performing hydraulic and hydrologic flow calculations, and preparing watershed management plans.
http://www.jobtarget.com/c/job.cfm?site_id=578&jb=6203533
Employment Opportunity: Water Resource Engineer/Specialist
Are you committed to an ecologically sustainable future? Biohabitats is seeking a Water Resource Engineer/Specialists to join our Hudson River Bioregion office (located in Glen Ridge, NJ) and our Southeast Bioregion office (located in Raleigh, NC). These individuals will be responsible for working on water resources engineering and water quality projects, conducting field studies, performing hydraulic and hydrologic flow calculations, and preparing watershed management plans.
http://www.jobtarget.com/c/job.cfm?site_id=578&jb=6203536
Employment Opportunity: Senior Restoration Ecologist/Conservation Biologist
Are you committed to an ecologically sustainable future? Biohabitats is seeking a Senior Restoration Ecologist/Conservation Biologist to join our Chesapeake/Delaware Bays Bioregion office (located in Baltimore, MD). This individual will be responsible for managing ecological restoration and conservation planning projects, conducting natural resources field studies, analyzing data, preparing conservation and watershed management plans, performing design and construction administration services for restoration projects across a wide diversity of ecosystems and scales.
http://www.jobtarget.com/c/job.cfm?site_id=578&jb=6203537
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
EPA Calls for Best Projects for Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Funding
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson today announced the release of a request for proposals (RFP) under President Obama's historic Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The RFP released today invites partner Agencies, stakeholders, non-governmental organizations, and other eligible organizations working on Great Lakes restoration to present EPA with ideas and projects to protect and restore this national treasure. EPA, through the Great Lakes National Program Office, is seeking applications from a diverse group of participants and partnerships to support the goals of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The RFP is available online at
http://epa.gov/greatlakes/fund/2010rfp01.
California: Volunteers Help Restore Whittier Hills Area
About a dozen volunteers Saturday helped clear non-native plants in the Whittier hills and put in some that are indigenous to the area. The seeds for coyote brush, laurel sumac and mule were planted at the Turnbull Canyon trail head area. The volunteers removed milk thistle and tumbleweed.
http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_13840519
Volunteers Restore Mill Valley Wetland Habitat
Lerman was among about 50 volunteers of all ages, including several families from a Lafayette synagogue, who spent a few hours Saturday clearing invasive plants from Bothin Marsh on the northwest edge of Richardson Bay. The restoration program was part of an ongoing effort by Oakland-based nonprofit Save the Bay and Marin County Department of Parks and Open Space to improve the wetland habitat.
http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_13843763
Conferences & Workshops
2010 Conference Listing Now Available on the GRN
http://www.globalrestorationnetwork.org/conferences/ |
|
People in the News
Church Recognized for 'Greening' Efforts
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, producer of the Philadelphia International Flower Show and urban greening program Philadelphia Green, paid tribute to Mary, Mother of the Redeemer Roman Catholic Church, located in Montgomery Township, as a community greening champion this fall. The church was recognized for its watershed restoration projects involving establishment of riparian buffers, wetland restoration and promoting groundwater recharge within the Little Neshaminy Creek watershed.
http://www.thereporteronline.com/articles/2009/11/20/news/doc4b0695853381a711451568.txt
Spalding Takes on Environmental Protection in New England
During his 20 years as executive director of Save The Bay, Curt Spalding sparked construction of the Save The Bay Center, spurred the construction of new sewer systems throughout the state and oversaw the $9 million Explore the Bay campaign that expanded the organization's educational efforts. Now the Rhode Islander faces his biggest challenge yet, as the new regional administrator for the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
http://www.johnstonsunrise.net/pages/full_story/push?article-Spalding+takes+on+environmental+protection+in+New+England%20&id=4560425&instance=home_news_right |
| New Books & Articles
Second Edition of the Lake Phalen Shoreland Resoration Walking Tour and Plant Guide
By Haley Elvercrog and Bill Bartodziej, of the Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District (Little Canada, MN), this book is a photo-intensive plant identification guide and includes shoreland restoration around Lake Phalen (Saint Paul, MN) which began in 2001. This version outlines the Lake Phalen restoration project and includes a fall/winter plant photo section This is a beautifully arranged, user friendly guide that would be useful to anyone with an interest in aquatic, emergent, and prairie plants or a general interest in shoreland restoration. For a preview of the guide visit:
http://www.rwmwd.org/guide
University of Minnesota Researchers Develop Virtual Streams to Help Restore Real Ones
Researchers at the University of Minnesota have developed a unique new computer model called the Virtual StreamLab, designed to help restore real streams to a healthier state. The Virtual StreamLab, which demonstrates the physics of natural water flows at an unprecedented level of detail and realism, was unveiled for the first time this week at the 2009 American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Minneapolis, one of the largest conferences in fluid dynamics with more than 1,500 attendees from around the world.
http://www1.umn.edu/news/news-releases/2009/UR_CONTENT_148999.html |
| Restoring Natural Capital (RNC)
Audio: Reef Conservation Strategy Backfires
Aid organizations concerned about overfishing on tropical reefs often try to encourage fishermen out of their boats by offering them better-paying jobs on shore. But this strategy actually may make matters worse.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120536304&ft=1&f=1025
West Virginia: Some Work to Promote Use of Native Flora in Plantings
Folks interested in promoting and propagating native plants say greater cultivation and use of natives can help restore dwindling wildlife habitats, reduce water use, pollution and erosion, and produce biodiesel fuel and medicine. "The market for native plants is growing slowly but surely," said Frank Porter, owner of Porterbrook Native Plants in Racine, Ohio, not far from Ravenswood. "The major task is to inform the public of the benefits of using native plants. They must understand that when you are creating a garden, it must be for other reasons than ornamental flowers. You need to create wildlife habitat and provide blooms for native pollinators."
http://www.cbs59.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=70739 |
| Agro-Ecology
Don't Ignore Agriculture in Climate Talks
Leading agriculturalists have warned that failure to include agriculture in next month's climate change summit in Copenhagen will have disastrous consequences on food security. More than 60 leading agricultural scientists from around the world signed a statement this week (18 November) in response to the almost total absence of agriculture from preliminary discussions leading up to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) summit in Copenhagen in December.
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/don-t-ignore-agriculture-in-climate-talks-experts-warn.html |
| Wetland Restoration
Ohio: New Wetlands a Legacy to Late Waterfowler
Sometimes wetlands conservationists, faced with the daunting task of restoring and rebuilding the nation's vanishing marshes and wet prairies and woodlands, must feel like the mythical Little Dutch Boy - thumb in the dike, holding back the angry North Sea. Then comes a golden late-autumn afternoon in the sleepy countryside hard by Sandusky Bay, and suddenly prospects for the low-lying world where land and water merge looks a mite brighter.
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091124/COLUMNIST22/911240376/-1/SPORTS06
Canada's Economic Action Plan strengthens Ontario's economy and protects environment
Wetlands in communities across southern Ontario will be better able to sustain wildlife and water resources that support local economies and quality of life thanks to an investment of up to $3 million. The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), announced that this contribution for Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) will create and maintain jobs and will aid the conservation of 72 wetlands on 5,445 acres in the region.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2009/24/c4315.html
Colorado: Boulder County Needs Volunteers to Count Squirrels, Weeds and More
How are forest-thinning projects on Boulder County open space land affecting the tassel-eared Abert's squirrel? Which shorebirds and waterfowl are nesting at county ponds? How well have county wetland restoration projects really worked? These are the kinds of questions the Parks and Open Space Department hopes a new corps of volunteers will help answer when the county's new Natural Resource Monitor program begins next year.
http://www.dailycamera.com/science-environment/ci_13840016 |
River & Watershed Restoration
Congressman Hodes Supports Connecticut River Restoration
Congressman Paul Hodes (D-NH) and The Nature Conservancy announced today that $359,000 in federal funding has been approved to restore flood plains, fish migration, and other environmental benefits within the Connecticut River watershed. "The Connecticut River is a critical natural resource in the Granite State," said Congressman Hodes. "This project will enhance our understanding of the River, allowing us to more efficiently utilize dams and protect important ecosystems."
http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/newhampshire/press/press4294.html
Army Corps of Engineers 'Actively Managing Collapse' of Mississippi River Delta Ecosystem
Environmental Defense Fund and National Wildlife Federation "fervently" support the state of Louisiana's initiative announced this afternoon to seek the intervention of the U.S. Commerce Secretary to stop the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from mismanaging the Mississippi River Delta Ecosystem. "The Corps is actively managing the collapse of the Mississippi River Delta Ecosystem, and Congress has not authorized that purpose," said Environmental Defense Fund General Counsel Jim Tripp, who serves on the Louisiana Governor's Commission on Coastal Restoration and Conservation.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/army-corps-of-engineers-actively-managing-collapse-of-mississippi-river-delta-ecosystem-groups-say-71761802.html
Massachusetts: Restoring the River - Forum on Dam Removal
If three privately-owned dams were removed from Andover's stretch of the Shawsheen River, canoers could paddle the length of Andover and native fish the river has not seen in more than 100 years could return. This is the hope of conservation experts and a team of engineers who has spent the last year studying the Shawsheen, engineering the removal of the dams and its impact on the watershed.
http://www.andovertownsman.com/local/local_story_328165609.html |
| Coastal & Marine Restoration
Washington: Restoring Saltwater, and Nature, to the Nisqually River Estuary
Earlier this month, the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge celebrated the restoration of the Nisqually River estuary. The cold salt water of Puget Sound poured onto the old diked pasture of the refuge at the beginning of October, undoing the late-19th-century "improvement" of the land, and beginning what refuge manager Jean Takekawa calls the largest estuary restoration in the Northwest.
http://crosscut.com/2009/11/24/science-environment/19398/ |
Wildlife Restoration
Forest Concession May Give Indonesia's Orangutans Shelter
Orangutans may find a new home once the Forestry Ministry grants private companies and nongovernmental organizations forest concessions covering over two million hectares for ecosystem restoration purposes. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation aims to reserve 106,000 hectares of those areas for their orangutans. "We have 638 orangutans in our conservation area in Central and East Kalimantan and we want to release them into the wild," Bungaran Saragih, head of the BOS board, said on Thursday.
http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/forest-concession-may-give-indonesias-orangutans-shelter/342763 |
| Invasive Species
Saviour Tree Turns Scourge in Kenya
A tree introduced to Kenya to combat desertification has itself become a problem, invading farmland and damaging farmers' livelihoods. Prosopis juliflora, known as the 'devil tree' in some areas, was introduced from Latin America to semi-arid districts of Kenya by nongovernmental organisations in the 1980s. It was selected because of its ability to survive in dry environments and for its expansive root system, which helps bind soil and prevent erosion. Now P. juliflora is the target of a planned government control programme after research by Gabriel Muturi of the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI), published in April, found that up to 27 million hectares of land are at risk from the plant.
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/saviour-tree-turns-scourge-in-kenya.html |
| Urban Restoration
Oregon: Gift Trees to Restore Collins Sanctuary
Friends of Trees is proud to partner with the Audubon Society of Portland and Metro to help restore the Collins Sanctuary in Forest Park. Our restoration effort in this unique and beautiful area in Portland's West Hills are made possible by generous donations through our Gift Trees program. The Collins Sanctuary, a legacy of the Collins Family Foundation, was gifted to the Oregon Parks Foundation in 1976. This marked the beginning of the Audubon Society of Portland's work to restore the natural landscape and provide habitat for wildlife.
http://friendsoftrees.org/blog/2009/11/23/gift-trees-to-restore-collins-sanctuary/
Texas: Mission Reach Project on Schedule
The project's goal is "ecosystem restoration" of an eight-mile stretch of the river from Lone Star Boulevard near downtown to Mission Espada to attract tourists now drawn to the River Walk and the recently completed Museum Reach to the north. The project's backers want to restore the Mission Reach portion of the river to its natural form from what it is now - little more than a concrete ditch - as well as to highlight the missions as the region's essential example of early Hispanic cultural influence.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/70324937.html |
| Funding Opportunities
PhD Position(s) for a conservation biologist/restoration ecologist - Closes Dec 5, 2009
The successful candidate(s) will work either in Swiss lowland farmland (high intensity, but revitalized cultivated matrices) or in Alpine grassland (rapidly intensifying, but biodiversity rich meadowland). The goal of the project is to deliver evidence-based grassland management policies that can provide optimal conditions for wildlife in agro-ecosystems while maintaining acceptable levels of productivity.
http://www.scholar-guide.com/phd/1-2-phd-positions-3-years-for-a-conservation-biologistrestoration-ecologist/
Delaware: Landowner Incentive Program Taking 2010 Applications - Closes December 14, 2009
The DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife's Delaware Landowner Incentive Program (LIP) announced a request Wednesday for proposals from private landowners seeking to protect, enhance and/or restore habitat to benefit the First State's species of greatest conservation need. Projects may range from restoring or enhancing coastal plain ponds for tiger salamanders and controlling invasive species in bog turtle habitats to planting trees for Delmarva fox squirrels.
http://www.sussexcountian.com/news/x1158535811/Landowner-incentive-program-taking-2010-applications
India: Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund - Closes December 17, 2009
CEPF and the Western Ghats Regional Implementation Team (RIT) based in ATREE, Bangalore, invite Letters of Inquiry (LoIs) from civil society organizations such as non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, academic institutions and private enterprises for biodiversity conservation projects in the Western Ghats. Applicants are expected to have adequate experience in implementing biodiversity conservation projects in the Western Ghats region of India.
http://www.atree.org/CEPF_WGhats/WGCall/
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 | |
|
|
|
|
|
