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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
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
US EPA Calls for Best Projects for Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Funding
EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson is looking for a few good projects to fulfill the goals of President Barack Obama's Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The request for proposals (RFP) released by EPA 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 the Great Lakes.
http://ehstoday.com/standards/epa/projects-great-lakes-restoration-initiative-funding-1641/
Oregon: Participants Report on Page Mountain Stewardship Work
Reforestation partners in the Page Mountain Project, part of the larger Hope Mountain Project, met with members of the public on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at Lorna Byrne Middle School in Cave Junction to answer questions and report on their efforts. The Hope Mountain Project's purpose is to change Douglas fir plantations on U.S. Forest Service (USFS) land in the Wild Rivers Ranger District into more natural forests through a long-term restoration plan.
http://www.illinois-valley-news.com/archive/2009/11/25/story-page_mtn.html
California: Napa River Restoration Phase 1 Is Done
Yesterday, the Rutherford Dust Restoration Team celebrated completion of the first stage of its ambitious plan to restore the Napa River to reduce erosion and provide better habitat for fish and other animals.
http://www.winesandvines.com/template.cfm?section=news&content=69368&htitle=Napa%20River%20Restoration%20Phase%201%20Is%20Done
Conferences & Workshops
2010 Conference Listing Now Available on the GRN
http://www.globalrestorationnetwork.org/conferences/ |
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People in the News
Oceana in Belize
Oceana is the largest international advocacy organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the world's oceans. Now Oceana has established a base in Belize. Andrew Sharpless, Chief Executive Officer of Oceana, cited two factors that motivated this decision. The first is a report by UNESCO which stated that the Barrier Reef of Belize is at risk of losing its World Heritage Status. The second is the report conducted by the Healthy Reefs inspectors which showed that Belize's reef is in trouble.
http://www.guardian.bz/all-news/59-other-news/1019-oceana-in-belize |
| New Books & Articles
New IUCN/CBD Good Practice Guide: Sustainable Forest Management, Biodiversity and Livelihoods
This booklet is part of a series of Good Practice Guides produced by the CBD. It provides a range of case studies and other materials to make the forest sector more biodiversity-friendly, and socially beneficial. It addresses the linkages between forestry, biodiversity, and development / poverty reduction. The summaries and examples included in this booklet show how biodiversity and sustainable economic development can go hand in hand. The primary target audiences for the guide are government officers and decision-makers in the various government agencies related to forestry (at global, regional, national and local levels), as well as development practitioners. The materials presented can also be useful to corporate and NGO planners.
http://www.cbd.int/development/doc/cbd-good-practice-guide-forestry-booklet-web-en.pdf
Conservation: Indigenous People's Enemy No. 1?
In early 2004, a United Nations meeting was convened for the ninth year in a row to push for passage of a resolution protecting the territorial and human rights of indigenous peoples. During the meeting, one indigenous delegate rose to state that extractive industries, while still a serious threat to their welfare and cultural integrity, were no longer the main antagonist of native cultures. Their new and biggest enemy, she said, was "conservation." Later that spring, at a meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, of the International Forum on Indigenous Mapping, all 200 delegates signed a declaration stating that "conservation has become the number one threat to indigenous territories."
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2009/11/conservation-indigenous-peoples-enemy-no-1
Ecological Restoration: Humans, Services and Rebuilding
A number of government agencies and conservation institutions around the world are underscoring the importance of restoration as a tool to protect habitats and ecosystems, and perhaps bring them to an acceptable functioning condition that resembles a previous historical condition. Restoration requires science, experimentation, political will, funding and societal participation in the design and implementation of restoration programs and projects.
http://seagrantpr.org/caribbean/uncategorized/ecological-restoration-humans-services-and-rebuilding/ |
| Restoring Natural Capital (RNC)
UN Report Calls on Policymakers to Boost Investment in Ecosystems for Higher Profits
Governments that invest in natural resources and ecosystems are likely to yield stronger economic growth and higher rates of return, according to a new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report released today. The new report urges policymakers to scale up investments in the management and restoration of ecosystems ahead of next month's UN climate change conference in Copenhagen where Governments are expected to approve funding for developing countries to maintain forests.
http://www.fisheries.org/blog/un-report-calls-on-policymakers-to-boost-investment-in-ecosystems-for-higher-profits/ |
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
Climate Workshop Stresses Sustainability, Indigenous Knowledge
American Indian stalwarts of environmental justice recently met at a national workshop to write a milestone climate change declaration, clearly outlining a course on how to save the planet using indigenous science and knowledge.
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/home/content/73593407.html
Australia: Traditional Indigenous Fire Management Techniques Deployed against Climate Change
A landmark Australian project that mitigates the extent and severity of natural savannah blazes by deploying traditional Indigenous fire management techniques is being hailed as a model with vast global potential in the fights against climate change and biodiversity loss, and for protecting Indigenous lands and culture.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/unu-tif112409.php |
| Agro-Ecology
Life without CRP
When the Conservation Reserve Program was established in 1985, millions of acres of marginal and highly erodable land were set aside, benefiting not only the land and landowner, but wildlife as well. But with millions of acres coming out of contract in the next few years and the future of the program in question, many landowners are wondering what, if any, options are available.
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/news/local/article_1ffd0b3c-dc98-11de-b64f-001cc4c03286.html |
| Biodiversity & Climate Change
Hope in a Changing Climate
"Hope in a Changing Climate" is the latest documentary produced by the Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP), an organization dedicated to placing ecosystem restoration at the center of the global discussions on climate change, poverty, and sustainable agriculture. This documentary demonstrates that it is possible to rehabilitate large-scale damaged ecosystems, to restore ecosystem functions in areas where they have been lost, to fundamentally improve the lives of people who have been trapped in poverty for generations, and to sequester carbon naturally.
http://www.thenaturewatch.com/2009/11/hope-in-changing-climate.html
US Forest Service 'Dramatically Reshaping' Plans in Response to Climate Change
Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell has directed the agency's regions and research stations to jointly produce draft "landscape conservation action plans" by March 1 to guide its day-to-day response to climate change. In a memo earlier this month requesting the plans, Tidwell said climate change is "dramatically reshaping" how the agency will deliver on its mission of sustaining the health and diversity of the nation's forests.
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/11/30/30greenwire-forest-service-dramatically-reshaping-plans-in-r-702.html |
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Forest Area Bigger Than Canada Can Be Restored
Only one fifth of the world's forests remain but an area bigger than Canada could be restored without harming food production, a global alliance dedicated to restoring forests said on Thursday. A study by the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration (GPFLR), which includes the WWF, Britain's Forestry Commission and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said a billion hectares of former forests, equivalent to six percent of the world's total land area, could be restored.
http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSGEE5AP1XC._CH_.2400
Washington DC: Seven New Global ReLeaf Restoration Projects Announced
American Forests, the Washington, DC-based nonprofit, has announced the addition of seven projects to its global project inventory for 2009. Support has been so great for American Forests' ecosystem restoration program Global ReLeaf, that the organization has taken on new projects in California, Colorado, Texas, Nicaragua, Honduras and Mexico.
http://www.americanforests.org/news/display.php?id=227
Argentina: Tree Plantations Are Not Forests, Women Activists Say
Touted as "harvested forests," single-crop tree plantations are fast encroaching on the native forests and grasslands of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, affecting the environment and the lives of local communities, rural women say. According to critics, corporations are logging natural forests in these South American countries and transforming their grasslands to plant eucalyptus, pine and other non-indigenous fast-growing trees - which consume enormous quantities of water and degrade the soil
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49489 |
| Wetland Restoration
Canada: Ducks Unlimited Focusing on Pine Lake Area
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River & Watershed Restoration
Oregon: Evolve or Die: It's Crunch Time for the Willamette
In Oregon, we spend tens of millions of dollars on stream restoration annually and have done so for years. We have the country's most robust framework of watershed councils and conservation districts as well as committed resource professionals. All this, and yet we have never recovered a fish listed under the Endangered Species Act. Nor are we on track to achieve freshwater health -- on any timeline for any dollar figure. Why? We have a systems problem: No matter how hard we work, we gain no efficiencies in our highly repetitive system of assembling restoration projects. Recognizing the need to break out of this process-heavy cycle, a small group of Oregonians set about developing a solution to this problem, an open-source software platform called "StreamBank" to translate across all agencies and funders, and dramatically accelerate the pace and scale of restoration.
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/11/evolve_or_die_its_crunch_time.html |
| Grassland Restoration
Mexico: A Bison Homecoming
At last, here's a positive border-crossing story - about a U.S. bison herd that will help revitalize Mexico's grasslands, thanks to The Nature Conservancy and partners in both countries. The animals will be a "seed herd" for grassland recovery projects across Mexico. As their numbersgrow through natural reproduction and donations of additional animals from the United States, they will be divided into groups and sent to other Mexican grasslands in need of their unique benefits to grasslands.
http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/mexico/features/?src=news |
| Lake Restoration
UK: Top Dining to Tempt Wildlife to Nature Reserve
The food on offer may not be to everyone's liking but it is sure to be a hit with the wildlife. Phase one of work to establish a biodiversity hotspot by creating a mosaic of habitats at the RSPB's wetlands reserve is complete. Nick Tomlinson, the reserve manager, compared the restoration work to a backstreet chip shop being transformed into a four star restaurant for the benefit of the wildlife there.
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/4767011.Top_dining_to_tempt_wildlife_to_nature_reserve/
Minnesota: Researchers Ponder Future Steps at Lake Susan
Today Lake Susan, tomorrow the rest of the watershed and then the world. Sorensen and his team of researchers have studied the ecology of Chanhassen's Lake Susan for three years, specifically how common carp affect water clarity and quality. They are developing a scientific blueprint to use for managing common carp and beginning to restore any lake that is infested with them.
http://www.chanvillager.com/news/activities/searching-water-solution-111 |
| Coastal & Marine Restoration
United Nations Tackles Coast Erosion in West Africa
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has launched a project to reverse diminishment of the coast due to climate change, called the Adaptation to Climate Change in Coastal Zones of West Africa (ACCC) program. With a focus on Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, and Senegal, ACCC will protect the coastal biodiversity of these five countries and aid local communities in adaptation measures.
http://www.cocorioko.net/national/2045-united-nations-tackles-coast-erosion-in-west-africa
New Hampshire: Opening Up the Marsh
The N.H. Coastal Program at the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services and the Rockingham County Conservation District announced the start of more restoration work at the Little River Salt Marsh. The goal of this latest project is to restore tidal flow to degraded portions of the salt marsh by excavating approximately 2,000 feet of tidal channel in the area of the Runnymede Farm off Atlantic Avenue.
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20091127-NEWS-911270341 |
Wildlife Restoration
UK: Boars to Return to the Woods of the Scottish Highlands
They once foraged freely in Scotland's forests, but now, after an absence of hundreds of years, wild boar are to return to a Highland woodland to resume their key role in its ecology. The boars will help reduce bracken in an area of ancient birchwood on the estate, helping the growth of native trees - including Scots pine, rowan, aspen, juniper among others - as well as woodland flowers.
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Boars-to-return-to-the.5858725.jp
Spain: Artificial refuges created to save the reptiles of Doņana
The Aznalcóllar mining accident more than 11 years ago, which contaminated part of the Doņana National Park, also damaged reptile habitat there. Now a team of Spanish researchers, who have been studying the reptile community since 2000, have shown, by setting up artificial refuges, that the disappearance of natural refuges had a serious impact on lizard and snake numbers.
http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/artificial-refuges-created-save-reptiles-do%C3%B1ana-27665.html |
| Extractive Industries
Kentucky: Program to Reforest, Employ Thousands
A new approach to restoring surface-mined land is being developed in the Appalachian states. It's a way to not only restore the land, but also the forests that were destroyed in the effort to reach the coal veins near the surface - and it will also bringing thousands of jobs to some of the nation's poorest counties.
http://www.thetimestribune.com/local/local_story_334103657.html |
| Urban Restoration
California: Plans to Remove Long Beach Cottages Take Shape
After considerable controversy, voters earlier this year approved the sale of Long Beach West to the nonprofit Trust for Public Land for at least $10 million, with the 35-acre peninsula to eventually be transformed into a nature preserve.
http://www.connpost.com/ci_13867483 |
| 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
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Accepting Proposals for Great Lakes Restoration Funding - Closes January 22, 2010
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is requesting project pre-proposals that focus on the restoration of fish and/or wildlife resources and their habitats in the Great Lakes Basin. Supported in part by President Obama's Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a total of $8 million will be available to support projects this fiscal year. This represents the largest amount appropriated for this effort since the grants program began in 1998.
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Fisheries/glfwra-grants.html
The Five Star Restoration Program - Closes February 11, 2010
A new funding opportunity exists for the Five Star/NRT Restoration Program. Applications are due via Easygrants (www.nfwf.org/easygrants) by Thursday, February 11, 2010. The Five Star Restoration Program seeks to develop community capacity to sustain local natural resources for future generations by providing modest financial assistance to diverse local partnerships for wetland, riparian, and coastal habitat restoration. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), National Association of Counties (NACo), Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC), in cooperation with the U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency (EPA), Southern Company, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), are pleased to solicit applications for the 2010 Five Star Restoration Pro-gram and Nature Restoration Trust (www.nfwf.org/nrt). The 2010 RFP and proposal narrative are available for viewing on our website at http://www.nfwf.org/fivestar | |
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