Get Involved / Community-Based Restoration

Are we making progress on plant conservation in the United States?  BGCI US and the Plant Conservation Alliance are working to answer this question, and we've developed a survey that lets everyone involved in plant conservation in the U.S. easily report their efforts and help guide future plant conservation activities. Whether you work at a government agency, academic institution, or in the private sector, or if you work or volunteer at a conservation organization, we want to make sure your contributions to conserving America's native plants are counted.  We need your help to make this project a success. Please visit

www.bgci.org/usa/PCAProgress to read more and take this short 20 question survey.

NOAA and other federal and state agencies are leading efforts to assess impacts to, and determine appropriate restoration for, Gulf resources injured by the Deepwater BP oil spill. We are in the process of identifying the types of restoration activities that will be appropriate to restore the natural resources impacted by the spill. The public scoping process provides an opportunity for your input.

http://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/restoration/give-us-your-ideas/

This issue will focus on research that addresses these various ways that urbanization can be a positive factor in biodiversity preservation at the local, regional and global scales. Manuscript submissions due December 1, 2011.

http://www.mdpi.com/journal/diversity/special_issues/urban_bcr/

The first full-length, high-definition documentary film ever made about legendary environmentalist Aldo Leopold, Green Fire highlights Leopold's extraordinary career, tracing how he shaped and influenced the modern environmental movement.

http://www.greenfiremovie.com/

A not-for-profit environmental organization is recruiting volunteers to assist with a project to re-establish hardwoods that have been depleted in the Midwest by over-harvesting, flooding and disease.

http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x13288786/Volunteers-needed-to-wrap-saplings-for-hardwood-restoration

This year's Restoration Institute, held in partnership with the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS), will bring together ecosystem experts and policy-makers from around the world to discuss the practical and policy issues arising from novel or no-analogue ecosystems.

http://www.restorationinstitute.ca/

US Fish and Wildlife Service honors biologist who studied Kaneohe Bay coral

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/dc27bfd9ee3f46ccbd2510b048310f24/HI--Coral-Reefs/

USDA Will Provide Assistance for Wetland Restoration and Enhancement in Four States

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/!ut/p/c4/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os_gAC9-wMJ8QY0MDpxBDA09nXw9DFxcXQ-cAA_2CbEdFAEUOjoE!/?contentidonly=true&contentid=2011%2F03%2F0127.xml

Volunteers planted marsh grass near Hackberry this morning in an effort to help restore America's wetlands.  They came to Black Lake where they are planting marsh grass plugs. The grass will help sustain the levee here to prevent coastal erosion and create new marsh.

http://www.kplctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=14289765

More than half of the world's most invasive plant species spread into new habitats from botanic gardens, an analysis of historic "alien" escapes has concluded. Although most cases analysed happened between the 1800s and the mid-1900s, there are reports of more recent releases which merit a tightening up of biosecurity, researchers warn.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20928043.700-botanic-gardens-blamed-for-spreading-plant-invaders.html

Out at Tres Rios, where the salt cedars grow, contractors are busy removing those water-sucking trees and returning the land to a riparian habitat. Tres Rios, the confluence of the Salt, Gila and Agua Fria rivers, is green with vegetation and alive with wildlife. But the salt cedar trees, also known as tamarisk, have taken over and threaten native vegetation.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/swvalley/articles/2011/03/22/20110322goodyear-avondale-tres-rios-ecosystem-restoration-project.html