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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
Get Involved/Community-based Restoration
Albany 2030 and the 21st Century Restoration Economy This exciting educational event will focus on Albany's potential! It will begin with an overview of Albany 2030 and activities to date, including a recap of public input at the first round of Community Forums, Albany's potential for revitalization, and how building capacity for implementation will be an important component of the comprehensive plan. Storm Cunningham will present case studies from other cities that have successfully revitalized themselves and lessons learned as to how to attract investment to a community like Albany. http://www.albany2030.org/participate/event/albany-2030-and-21st-century-restoration-economy
Maryland: Coastal Bays Conference to Guide Land Stewardship On March 6, tools and information landowners need for informed land stewardship will be provided during a day-long conference tailored to specific land restoration and conservation issues in Worcester County. The conference is open to all county residents and landowners interested in land stewardship and will offer information and inspiration relevant to both the small lot and the large farm. Invited experts and county staff will present information on shoreline restoration, forest and wildlife management, "greening" the residential yard, natural resource-related regulatory programs, and restoration and conservation opportunities. http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20100209/OPI02/2090324
Florida: Volunteers plant 1,000 seedlings at Seminole Campus Students, faculty members, college staff and volunteers from the Seminole community took part in the planting, which started at 9 a.m. and lasted into the afternoon. Staff members mapped out the planting scheme, and then volunteers took over to poke holes in the ground, place the small seedling roots in the ground, and then soak them with about a quart of water each. The planting took place near the spot where other volunteers worked a few weeks ago to pull non-indigenous plants from the ground. http://newsspc.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/volunteers-plant-1000-seedlings-at-seminole-campus/
San Francisco Wetland Restoration Monitoring Techniques - May 21 A one day course focusing on field based tools and techniques to properly monitor wetland restorations. This course will provide resources and methods for monitoring and assessing restoration success. In addition we will address restoration management all with an emphasis on salt marshes in the SF bay area. http://www.sws.org/training/details.mgi?Session=2107
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People in the News
People in the News
Audio: Soule on Wolves High Country News contributing editor Michelle Nijhuis talks with Michael Soule, the father of conservation biology, about his excitement at the prospect of wolves returning to Colorado, the role of private land in wildlife conservation, and why he took up hunting as an adult. http://www.hcn.org/articles/soule-on-wolves
Texas Rancher An Unlikely Environmentalist Ranchers in central Texas aren't known for their fondness for government regulation or the Endangered Species Act. But one rancher - a former vacuum cleaner salesman turned fried chicken tycoon - has become a champion of land stewardship and habitat restoration. And it's rubbing off on his fellow ranchers. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123068681
David Suzuki: Traditional aboriginal knowledge is critical to boreal forest conservation This perilous situation for plants and animals threatens not only the ecological health of ecosystems like old-growth forests and arctic tundra but also the wellbeing and welfare of human communities that depend on the ecological goods and services that nature provides. The deep bio-cultural ties to the land and its resources, especially wild plants, that many of Canada's aboriginal people have long held offer a direct illustration of this, as well as a source of knowledge that can benefit everyone. http://www.straight.com/article-284296/vancouver/david-suzuki-traditional-aboriginal-knowledge-critical-boreal-forest-conservation |
| New Books & Articles
Conservation from space: Landscape diversity helps to conserve insects Rugged, hilly landscapes with a range of different habitat types can help maintain more stable butterfly populations and thus aid their conservation, according to new findings published today (8 February 2010) in the journal Ecology Letters. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-02/cfe-cfs020510.php
Simulated Environmental Effects of Wetland Restoration Scenarios Based on wetland and stream drainage areas estimated by the model and empirical nutrient export coefficients, the corresponding water quality benefits in terms of reductions in total phosphorus and nitrogen loadings were estimated at 23.4%. The modeling results are helpful for designing effective watershed restoration strategies in the Broughton's Creek watershed. The developed methodology can be also applied to other study areas for examining the environmental effects of wetland restoration scenarios. http://www.springerlink.com/content/6429186k7g11qq58/
Project Management Circa 2025 The plethora of disciplines that (should be) involved in environmental restoration tend to guard their turf against encroachment by other disciplines. Ecological restorationists are as guilty of this as any. My argument is that project management is the only discipline that--by definition--is required and expected to trespass on everyone else's turf in order to bring the project in on time and on budget. They are natural-born integrators, and integration is what we desperately need more of. http://www.amazon.com/Project-Management-Circa-David-Cleland/dp/1933890967/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253556096&sr=8-1
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| Restoring Natural Capital (RNC)
Pounds, Shillings & Pence How much are natural resources worth? It's a knotty question, but finding the answer could help us conserve them more effectively. Caroline Hattam sets out the latest thinking on how to put a value on the environment. http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/features/story.aspx?id=577
Restoration Ecology Restoration Ecology could go one step further, restoring not only the elements and the nature but also the rehabilitation of their displaced and demoralised people, the victims of natural and anthropogenic depredations. Schools, colleges, governments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) could adopt degraded ecosystems and their people, on a sustained basis, evolving appropriate ecotechnologies and desseminating them to grassroots level people for replication on their degraded ecosystems. Restoring or resuming the valuable functions of a degraded ecosystem has synergistic positive effects on all other related ecosystems. Restoration Ecology should be the life mission of every citizen to leave behind, a pristine and healthy planet, for our posterity. http://beta.thehindu.com/education/article102876.ece |
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
Native Peoples & Biodiversity: Ten Thousand Years of Sustainable Living It is fitting that Staying the Course, Staying Alive is one of the first responses to Ban's challenge. The report by British Columbia's coastal First Nations reflects 10,000 years of traditional knowledge about living as a part of the natural world. http://www.onearth.org/node/1847
Geographical Indications to Preserve Ethiopia's Biodiversity The "Home Gardens of Ethiopia" project seeks to promote and develop native horticultural productions, while preserving in situ the biodiversity of the country's gardens. Its approach is both original and efficient: to offer farmers communities legal protection and help them promote selected native products with new marketing opportunities. Ethiopian farmers will be able to make their traditional modes of production more sustainable, and preserve the biodiversity of which they are the custodians. http://agro.biodiver.se/2010/02/geographical-indications-to-preserve-ethiopia%E2%80%99s-biodiversity/ |
| Biodiversity & Climate Change
The Allure - and Elusiveness - of Mangrove Forests as Carbon Sinks Mangroves are especially suited for carbon capture because they pile most of their carbon on the ocean floor, while terrestrial forests keep most of it in trees and branches. Both mangroves and terrestrial forests put down roots and drop leaves, of course, but when mangroves do it, the ground beneath them rises - as does the level of the sea, as it has for thousands of years, says McGill University professor Gail Chmura, who runs the Global Environmental and Climate Change Centre. http://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/pages/dynamic/article.page.php?page_id=7441§ion=news_articles&eod=1 |
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FAO Launches Website on Assisted Natural Forest Regeneration The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has created a new website on assisted natural regeneration (ANR) of forests, an effective and low cost forest and biodiversity restoration and rehabilitation method. ANR is especially important and useful in the face of climate change and the rapid loss of forests and their biodiversity. The new website explains that ANR aims to accelerate, rather than replace, natural successional processes by removing or reducing barriers to natural forest regeneration such as soil degradation, competition with weedy species and recurring disturbances. http://www.guatemala-times.com/news/world/1368-fao-launches-website-on-assisted-natural-forest-regeneration.html
Billion Hectares of Forests with Potential for Restoration Land areas around the world, bigger than Canada, have been identified as having potential to be restored to good quality, healthy forests, a new study has found. As the global effort to help tackle climate change by reversing the earth's alarming loss of forests steps up, scientists using sophisticated satellite mapping have produced a world map identifying areas in which more than a billion hectares of former forest land and degraded forest land has restoration potential. http://centralvicecology.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/illion-hectares-of-forests-with-potential-for-restoration-study-shows/
Guam: Erosion Control Trees Available for No Charge Native species of trees are encouraged as they have been growing on Guam for millennia and are well-adapted to the local climate and soils as well as typhoons, according to a new release from the Department of Agriculture. It is important to reforest Guam with native trees to preserve the natural wildlife habitat and traditional knowledge of these trees. http://www.guampdn.com/article/20100208/NEWS01/2080308/1002
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| Wetland Restoration
Vermont: Government, Nonprofits Move to Restore Wetlands By March 1, the Vermont office of the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service must commit up to $2.5 million to wetlands restoration, or lose access to the money. In 2009, the local office was able to use only $1.5 million of the $6 million available to it. Ducks Unlimited, the hunting and conservation group, is helping with outreach to farmers. Wetlands near Lake Champlain provide important stopping places for migrating geese and ducks. http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100207/NEWS03/2070305
Australia: Natural Wonder Open to Public The finishing touches have now been added to a wetland restoration project at St Lawrence that has helped locals discover the beauty in their own backyard. With funding from the Queensland Wetlands Program, natural resource management group Fitzroy Basin Association Inc (FBA) has helped restore the St Lawrence wetlands and improve public awareness of its significance. FBA Coastal and Marine Co-ordinator Shane Westley said the final job of the restoration - the addition of a roof to the new viewing platform - had recently been completed. http://www.dailymercury.com.au/story/2010/02/09/natural-wonder-open-to-public/
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| Grassland Restoration
Canada: Restoration of Local Grasslands Some innovative ecosystem restoration work continues in our area, specifically Becher Prairie near Riske Creek, to restore important and disappearing native grasslands. The overriding objective is to encourage the restoration of all the various values provided by our native grasslands, from First Nations cultural values to improved forage for livestock and habitat for wildlife. http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_cariboo/williamslaketribune/news/83621192.html |
| Coastal & Marine Restoration
Guyana: Mangrove Restoration of Paramount Importance Agriculture Minister, Mr. Robert Persaud, sees the implementation of a government-led mangrove restoration project as a positive start, making his presentation at the stakeholders workshop Friday on mangrove restoration at the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre. The administration's objective of developing a common goal of restoring and protecting the hardy mangrove, which, because of its inherent tolerance for salt water and complex rooting system, has the capacity to help low-lying countries like ours to mitigate the ravages of sea-level rise and climate change. http://guyanaforests.blogspot.com/2010/02/mangrove-restoration-of-paramount.html |
Wildlife Restoration
New Zealand: Funds Drive to be Wind Beneath Kiwi Wings A campaign is taking wing to raise $300,000 for the Pukaha Mount Bruce wildlife centre and the largest mass movement of the national bird. The three-month campaign starts this week and has been dubbed Flight of the Kiwi, according to Pukaha Mount Bruce board chairman, Bob Francis. All funds raised will be used to support the ongoing restoration of the Pukaha forest, already home to some of New Zealand's most endangered birds. http://www.times-age.co.nz/local/news/funds-drive-to-be-wind-beneath-kiwi-wings/3909746/ |
| Urban Restoration
Germany: Functional vs Scenic Restoration Two rehabilitation projects were compared to determine their feasibility for successfully improving habitat for fish in urban waters. The first re-meandering project involved channel reconstruction in the Müggelspree upstream of Berlin to create an aesthetically pleasing, stable, meandering channel. The second project addressed a typical habitat bottleneck for fish found in urban waterways; that of nursery habitats lost due to river engineering works. http://trophort.com/bio-network/stories/980310/Functional_vs_scenic_restoration__challenges_to_improve_fish_and_fisheries_in_urban_waters.html
Illinois: Volunteers Watch Orland Grassland Change, Grow The equipment used to clear trees and remove drain tiles from the almost 1,000 acres is gone, but work continues throughout the preserve by Pizzo & Associates, the contractor hired last year by the Army Corps of Engineers to ramp up restoration, and the Orland Grassland volunteers who have worked since 2002. Charles Martin, of Pizzo & Associates, said work will continue on the entire site until the contract is over in 2013. http://www.southtownstar.com/news/2032446,020710ORgrasslands.article |
| Funding Opportunities
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. http://www.nfwf.org/fivestar
Minnesota: Conservation Grant - Closes February 12, 2010 Local conservation organizations and outdoors clubs that want to improve wildlife habitat have until Friday, Feb. 12, to apply for a Heritage Enhancement Grant from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. "These grant dollars are available for large and small projects, so we're encouraging proposals from all size organizations," said Leslie Tannahill, conservation grants coordinator for the DNR. "Eligible projects include activities such as grassland plantings, brushland shearing, wetland restoration and oak savannah plantings on state wildlife management areas." http://www.hutchinsonleader.com/news/outdoors/conservation-grant-deadline-feb-12-101
California: Bureau of Reclamation Seeks Klamath River Watershed Restoration Projects - Closes February 22, 2010 The Bureau of Reclamation's Klamath Basin Area Office, working in partnership with other Federal and State agencies, announces the availability of approximately $750,000 in Reclamation funds for the Klamath Basin Restoration Project in 2010. The goal of the program is to identify and provide funding for projects that will improve conditions for fish species listed under the Endangered Species Act that may be affected by the Klamath Reclamation Project including threatened coho salmon, endangered shortnose, and Lost River suckers. http://yubanet.com/california/Bureau-of-Reclamation-Seeks-Klamath-River-Watershed-Restoration-Projects.php
New Mexico: Forest Service Seeks Collaborative Forest Restoration Grant Proposals - Closes March 1, 2010 The U.S. Forest Service is seeking grant proposals for forest restoration projects on public and tribal lands in New Mexico by 5 p.m., MST, Monday, March 1, 2010. "Approximately $3.5 million will be awarded under the Collaborative Forest Restoration Program this year in New Mexico," said Southwestern Regional Forester Corbin Newman. "The Forest Service will provide grants of up to $360,000 for projects that will be implemented in 4 years or less." The program encourages different organizations to collaborate on the design, implementation and monitoring of restoration projects on public and tribal lands. Grant money is available for projects on federal, tribal, state, county or municipal lands in New Mexico. http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/news/releases/2010/100108-cfrp-grantproposals.shtml
NOAA Announces Estuary Habitat Restoration Project Funding - Closes March 16, 2010 The Estuary Habitat Restoration Council is soliciting project proposals for estuary habitat restoration projects. The Council is seeking projects that achieve cost-effective restoration while promoting partnerships among agencies and between public and private sectors. Projects will be evaluated for their support of the Estuary Habitat Restoration Strategy. http://cheqbaypartners.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/noaa-announces-estuary-habitat-restoration-project-funding/ | |
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