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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. | |
Get Involved / Community-Based Restoration
The US Department of Labor's Occupational Information Network is seeking assistance from expert members of SER in the occupational category of Environmental Restoration Planners, with at least 5 years experience, to complete a series of occupational questionnaires, providing input for the O*NET database. This database is a service to employers, human resource professionals, job counselors, students, job seekers and labor market analysts across the country, providing information about the skills, abilities, activities and work context for about 900 occupations nationwide and is free to the American public. If you have questions about the project please contact Traci E. Davis, Business Liaison O*NET Operations Center, RTI International at 877-233-7348, Ext. 109 or by email tdavis@onet.rti.org. Further information about this initiative can be found at www.doleta.gov/programs/onet or https://onet.rti.org.
SER Seeks a Development Director
SER seeks a highly motivated and well-organized individual to develop and implement a fundraising strategy to support SER's long-term objectives. View the complete job announcement at: https://www.ser.org/pdf/Development_Director_Job_Announcement.pdf
Get Involved/Community-based Restoration
New Zealand: Many spades make quick work of community planting
It has been all hands to the pump, or more correctly the spade, at Wairio Wetland as schoolchildren, trainee farmers, Ducks Unlimited, Forest and Bird and Rotarians joined forces for the yearly planting of trees in the wetland restoration project. The Department of Conservation and the Greater Wellington Regional Council also helped out. Patron of Ducks Unlimited Jim Campbell said it was great to see young people involved. http://www.times-age.co.nz/local/news/many-spades-make-quick-work-of-community-planting/3916691/
California: Habitat Restoration in the pristine Arroyo Hondo canyon watershed
Join us on the first Sunday of each month, from 9:00-12:30, in our continued efforts to improve the habitat along the Arroyo Hondo creek for the steelhead trout and other native species of plants and animals that find their home in this pristine watershed. Volunteers will plant native plants, prune, water and mulch near the banks of the creek. http://volunteer.truist.com/uwsbc/org/opp/10314952689.html
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People in the News
The Whitten Ranch: Holistic ranching in the San Luis Valley
George Whitten, a third-generation rancher in the northern San Luis Valley, likes to read ecology books. He agrees that holistic, ecology, environment, ranching, and sustainable are all words that stick together to describe a turning point, a new direction in holistic resource management. George discovered this some 20 years ago and has been implementing it slowly ever since. http://crestoneeagle.com/?p=1677 Healthy forests create vibrant, sustainable community, economy
NAU is a leader in forest-health research and land planning and works in a tri-state partnership called the Southwest Ecological Restoration Institute with Colorado and New Mexico as an authorized federal program. While much in politics is divided among partisan lines, the institute is a great example of collaboration, and we are grateful to the leadership of Sen. Jon Kyl over the years and the current work of U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick to support a balanced approach to forest health based on scientific research. The director of NAU's Ecological Restoration Institute, ecologist Wallace Covington, has outlined the problem and provided land-planning tools to address critical issues. "Our once open forests are dark and crowded now, choked with thin, sickly trees all fighting for water, sunlight and nutrients. The numbers and kinds of plants have largely diminished," Covington has advised. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2010/07/04/20100704haeger05.html |
| New Books & Articles
Regreening the Bare Hills
In Regreening the Bare Hills: Tropical Forest Restoration in the Asia-Pacific Region, David Lamb explores how reforestation might be carried out both to conserve biological diversity and to improve the livelihoods of the rural poor. While both issues have attracted considerable attention in recent years, this book takes a significant step, by integrating ecological and silvicultural knowledge within the context of the social and economic issues that can determine the success or failure of tropical forest landscape restoration. http://www.springer.com/life+sciences/forestry/book/978-90-481-9869-6
Relying on Ecosystem Services in the Lower Mississippi and Gulf
At least two studies in the past year have sought to measure and quantify the economic value of life support - what is commonly called ecosystem services - provided by the lower Mississippi River Delta system. The first, published in February 2009 by the Nicholas Institute and School of the Environment at Duke University, focused on the value of wetland restoration in the lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV). The second, released June 9, 2010 by the nonprofit Earth Economics, says that unleashing some of the river's natural power is the nation's most rational economic choice. http://environmentalism.suite101.com/article.cfm/relying-on-ecosystem-services-in-the-lower-mississippi-and-gulf
Study shows cleaner water mitigates climate change effects on Florida Keys coral reefs
Improving the quality of local water increases the resistance of coral reefs to global climate change, according to a study published in June in Marine Ecology Progress Series. Florida Institute of Technology coral reef ecologist Robert van Woesik and his student Dan Wagner led the study, which provides concrete evidence for a link between environmental health and the prospects for reefs in a rapidly changing world. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-07/fiot-ssc070610.php |
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
Sustainable use of biological diversity in socio-ecological production landscapes
This publication, part of the CBD Technical Series, is a collection of case studies and articles that address how relationships between humans and nature function in socio-ecological production landscapes around the world. The examples highlight the various physical structures, management techniques and governance systems that characterize these landscapes, as well as the benefits they provide for biodiversity and human well-being, the threats they currently face, and ways to address these threats.
http://tkbulletin.wordpress.com/2010/07/07/resource-sustainable-use-of-biodiversity-in-socio-ecological-production-landscapes/ |
| Biodiversity & Climate Change
Mexico: Conservation Can Be a Weapon Against Poverty
"I cut down all of that section," said Esteban Martínez as he pointed to a rectangle of land cleared of trees in the central Mexican state of Querétaro. "I used to go after the jaguars that killed my livestock... and yes, I killed one. But now we protect them. For me, it is no longer worth it to harm the forest," said Martínez. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52046
Conserving nature and dollars: Delivering cost-effective biodiversity protection
A more flexible approach to the expansion of protected area systems could ultimately protect much more biodiversity for the same budget according to a new paper in the scientific journal Nature. Lead author Dr Richard Fuller of the CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship and The University of Queensland said that without spending extra money "we could dramatically improve the performance of protected area systems by replacing a small number of poor performing areas with more cost-effective ones". Protected areas are one of the most important tools in modern nature conservation, with over 100,000 sites covering about 12 per cent of the land and territorial waters of countries worldwide. The paper examines how effectively different sites can conserve a range of vegetation types. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-06/ca-cna063010.php |
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Germany: Nature vs. Nurture in Forest Recovery
Amidst criticism and applause from environmentalists and experts, a programme is emerging in Germany to expand the total area covered by forests -- to as much as five percent of national territory. The debate centres on just how much human intervention there should be. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52053
US: Family Forests Vital to Longleaf Pine Restoration Private woodlands in America are key to protecting America's landscapes, account for more than land than public forests, and are essential to a healthy outdoor strategy. On Monday, June 28, a session was held in Charleston, South Carolina and at least four members of the American Tree Farm System, (ATFS) participated in the event. Jon Spearman, 2004 Southern Regional Tree Farmer of the Year, was a panelist. The event focused on the restoration of the longleaf pine ecosystem. The 4.4 million forest owners in the South are essential to southern longleaf pine restoration. Once covering more than 90 million acres, the longleaf pine is one of the most threatened ecosystems, with only three million acres remaining. This however, is twice the amount that existed 15 years ago, in large part because of the restoration efforts of family forest owners in the South. http://forestblog.org/wordpress/?p=673 |
River & Watershed Restoration
Wisconsin: River wetland restoration waits on study
City Engineer Valerie Mellon said work to begin restoration can't begin until a study is conducted to determine the cause of the problem and the best solution. "We cannot do anything like construct a dam or dredge the area," Mellon said. "We don't have permission (from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources) to do anything in that area without an official study." http://www.htrnews.com/article/20100705/MAN0101/7050432/River-wetland-restoration-waits-on-study |
Wildlife Restoration
Reintroducing Britain's Rarest Snake: A Case Study
These rare and secretive snakes were last recorded in the county in the 1950s, when the growing pace of development and habitat loss forced them from much of their natural range across southern England, leaving them restricted to the heath-lands of Dorset, Hampshire Surrey and Sussex. Unfortunately, despite the major restoration work of recent decades, Smooth Snakes are not a particularly mobile species and despite good populations in a range of fragmented and isolated sites, left to their own devices, they do not re-colonise adjoining areas well - something this initiative intends to address.
http://www.reptileexpert.co.uk/reintroducing-britains-rarest-snake.html |
| Extractive Industries
Another Gulf mystery: Who's in charge of oil spill research efforts?
As an unprecedented amount of oil fouls the Gulf of Mexico, research scientists and ocean experts say the Obama administration's efforts to discover the magnitude of the damage are surprisingly uncoordinated. If the government's higher estimates are accurate, the BP oil blowout already is the world's worst accidental oil spill ever. Despite a spill that may already total more than 150 million gallons of oil, however, neither federal officials nor BP has mounted a speedy, focused inquiry to understand its impact. http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/04/2061781/another-gulf-mystery-whos-in-charge.html#ixzz0suppNMDG |
| Funding Opportunities
California: Ecosystem Restoration on Agricultural Lands (ERAL) Grant funding applications are accepted on a year-round basis. The WCB meets four times each year, normally in February, May, August, and November to consider approval of funding for projects. http://www.wcb.ca.gov/ERAL/grants.html
CIAP Protection and Restoration of Critical Forested Habitats - Closes July 31, 2010 Approximately $16M of the CIAP funds allocated to the state of Louisiana are being used to develop and implement a Coastal Forest Conservation Initiative (CFCI) to conserve critical coastal forest habitat for storm damage reduction and the protection and restoration of rare, declining, or ecologically significant habitats. http://www.lacpra.org/index.cfm?md=pagebuilder&tmp=home&nid=72&pnid=2&pid=61&fmid=0&catid=0&elid=0
Gulf of Mexico Community-based Restoration Partnership - Closes September 1, 2010 The Gulf of Mexico Community-based Restoration Partnership (GCRP) invites proposals for its tenth round of citizen-driven habitat restoration projects. The partnership is seeking to fund on-the-ground projects to restore marine, estuarine, and riparian habitats to benefit living marine resources and to provide educational and social benefits by significantly involving the community. http://www.gulfmex.org/documents/y10/gcrp_rfp.pdf |
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