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 RESTORE is a weekly e-bulletin, published by the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER), 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 members. Please send your news stories and articles to the RESTORE editor at info@ser.org. |
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Get Involved / Community-Based Restoration
SER2011 World Conference on Ecological Restoration
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS Closes May 15
http://www.ser2011.org/en/ser2011-scientific-program/call-for-abstracts-posters/
EARLY REGISTRATION Closes June 15
http://www.ser2011.org/en/registration/
Join National Wildlife Federation for a workday for wildlife at the Patuxent National Wildlife Research Center - April 16, 2011
http://online.nwf.org/site/Calendar?id=105001&view=Detail
Survey: Plant Conservation Progress in the U.S. - Closes April 30, 2011
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. Please visit
www.bgci.org/usa/PCAProgress.
NOAA: Give Us your Ideas - Closes May 18, 2011
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.
http://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/restoration/give-us-your-ideas/
OTS Specialty Course Costa Rica - Conservation & Restoration Genetics: May 21-June 5, 2011
http://www.ots.ac.cr/images/downloads/education/graduate/specialty-courses/genetics-2011.pdf
University of Victoria Restoration Institute - May 27-28, 2011
http://www.restorationinstitute.ca/
An Investment Forum: Mobilizing Private Investment in Trees and Landscape Restoration in Africa - Nairobi 25- 27 May 2011
http://www.profor.info/profor/sites/profor.info/files/FORUM-ADVISORY-NOTE.pdf
Call Open for Ramsar Wetland Awards - Closes May 31, 2011
http://iucn.org/about/union/members/resources/news/?7045/Call-open-for-Ramsar-Wetland-Awards&utm_campaign=1107418314&utm_content=1023835583506&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Emailvision
Restoration-based Teacher Professional Development Workshop - August 1-5, 2011
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5284397.pdf
Ecosystem Services: Integrating Science and Practice: The Netherlands - October 4-7, 2011
http://www.fsd.nl/esp/77938/5/0/30
Special Issue "Urban Biodiversity Conservation and Restoration" - Deadline Dec 1, 2011
http://www.mdpi.com/journal/diversity/special_issues/urban_bcr/
SER Members receive 25% off Island Press purchases. Contact Caroline Bronaugh at caroline@ser.org for details! |
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People in the News
Along Scar from Iron Curtain, A Green Belt Rises in Germany
Now, more than two decades after the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and Germany's East-West border zone, Friends of the Earth and other conservation groups, joined by the federal and state governments, are close to completing an amazing metamorphosis: They are turning the former "Death Strip" into one of the world's most unusual nature preserves.
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/along_scar_from_iron_curtain_a_green_belt_rises_in_germany/2390/
New Zealand: Country's first university lecturer in restoration ecology
Government-owned coalminer Solid Energy is funding the country's first university lecturer in restoration ecology. The new ally for New Zealand's unique ecosystems is Dr Stephane Boyer, who has joined the staff of Lincoln University's Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty. Dr Boyer, originally from France's Reunion Island, in the Indian Ocean, was until recently a postdoctoral fellow with the Lincoln University-based Bio-Protection Research Centre.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/business/4794629/Miner-backs-lecturer |
| New Books & Articles
IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management Newsletter March 2011
Coastal mangrove forests store more carbon than almost any other forest on Earth, according to a study conducted by a team of U.S. Forest Service and university scientists. Their findings are published online in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Scientists call for more robust measures to identify and protect endangered species
Conservationists may need to change their approach to protecting animals and plants from extinction if they are to successfully shield key species and habitats from the effects of global climate change, according to a new review in the journal Science.
As Larger Animals Decline, Forests Feel Their Absence
With giant tortoises, elephants, and other fruit-eating animals disappearing from many of the world's tropical woodlands, forests are suffering from the loss of a key function performed by these creatures: the dispersal of tree seeds. But a new experiment shows that introduced species may be able to fulfill this vital ecological role.
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| Biodiversity & Climate Change
Science 'is key to community-based adaptation'
Science must come to the rescue of communities trying to adapt to climate change, which have so far relied on anecdotal help through sharing experiences with each other, an international conference heard last week (24-31 March). Although there is extensive evidence on how local communities are adapting, it is loosely gathered. It also lacks the rigorous analysis that could help formulate national and sub-national policies, and initiate local action, the 5th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change, in Bangladesh, heard.
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/science-is-key-to-community-based-adaptation-.html
Uncertain Future of Kyoto Protocol Alarms Green Groups
With just seven months to go before a pivotal U.N. climate change summit in South Africa, green groups are raising the alarm here about the future of the Kyoto Protocol, the world's only international treaty that mandates most industrialised nations to cut their environment polluting greenhouse gases (GHG) to save the planet from overheating.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55117
Why the UN can never stop climate change
The enthusiastic nations have been the biggest backers of the UN approach because they are best able to make strict, binding agreements. But what works for the EU fails for most of the rest of the world that is more skittish about binding commitments that they might not be able to honor.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/04/un-climate-change |
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Big Problems in the Malaysian Forests
Nowhere is the problem of deforestation greater than in the tropical regions of the world. Specifically, Southeast Asia, which has vast tracts of primal rain forests, is at risk from excessive logging. Recently, governments in that region have come under pressure from environmentalists to conserve what forests they have left. Officials in the state of Sarawak, the Malaysian region of Borneo, have said that 70 percent of their forest cover has been preserved. However, after a review using Google Earth images, indications are that deforestation is much more widespread than is being claimed.
http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/42536
South Korea to launch forest restoration project on Dokdo
A state-run forestry agency said Sunday it plans to launch a project to restore forests on South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo in an effort to reinforce the country's sovereignty over the territory amid Japan's continued attempts to lay claims to the islets.
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2011/04/03/20/0301000000AEN20110403004000315F.HTML |
| Wetland Restoration
Louisiana: Wetlands project faces opposition by residents
A proposed wetland restoration project is facing opposition by residents who live near the site at the end of Country Club Road. Phillip Guzzino is one of those residents. "This is all fixing to disappear and turn into a marsh and a mudflat," said Guzzino. "For 17 years I've fished and swam and water skied on this open water and it's all about to be gone."
http://www.kplctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=14352554 |
River & Watershed Restoration
Oregon: Ross Island restoration could take a decade longer than planned
When Ross Island Sand & Gravel won a key endorsement for downsizing its restoration work on the Willamette River island in 2002, a big reason was the company's declaration that it would finish the work in a decade. The larger, more expensive plan on the state's books at the time would take 20 years to complete, company officials and reclamation plan advisory committee members said at the time. The new plan, however, would finish in 2013 and provide more environmental benefits.
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2011/04/ross_island_restoration_could.html
Massachusetts: Shawsheen River Restoration project picks up steam
Efforts to remove Andover's Balmoral and Marland Place dams from the Shawsheen River are picking up some momentum, with the dams expected to come down in either 2012 or 2013.
http://www.andovertownsman.com/local/x300769446/Two-dams-could-come-down |
| Grassland Restoration
Grassland restoration in Northern China from a whole plant perspective (GrassRest)
The belowground response of grassland plants to multiple stresses thus can be a key process in grassland restoration and ecosystem's adaptation capacity to climate variability or change. Therefore, assessing different restoration techniques from a whole plant perspective will contribute to optimize grassland management towards a sustainable land-use practice to assure farmers income from livestock based systems.
http://www.grassnet.info/researchprojectsGrasslandRestorationNorthernChina.html |
| Lake Restoration
$1.5 million project seeks to moisten Metro Beach marshland, bring back wildlife. Metro Beach Metropark will be site of an ambitious, $1.5 million project to revive up to 500 acres of marshland that has nearly dried up due to development and invasive plant growth.
http://www.dailytribune.com/articles/2011/04/03/news/doc4d990a898c4ee246635749.txt Video: Rejuvenation through restoration |
| Coastal & Marine Restoration
Ocean Ecosystem Services Can Increase - But Only if We Take Less
These are all great services that help make our life on this planet enjoyable, and bring hundreds of billions of dollars to our economy. Ocean life is our own goose with the golden eggs. Know the story? Well, it seems that we don't, because we're killing the goose. That is, we are degrading ocean life (biodiversity) by taking too much out of the ocean (that delicious seafood) and throwing in what we don't like (pollution).
http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2011/04/05/ocean-productivity-can-increase-but-only-if-we-take-less/
Connecticut: Final phase of Bride Brook restoration project completed
Today, Save the Sound, a program of Connecticut Fund for the Environment, hosted a planting at the site of its Bride Brook restoration project in Rocky Neck State Park in East Lyme. The planting marks the completion of the restoration project, the construction of which began in 2009.
http://environmentalheadlines.com/ct/2011/04/02/final-phase-of-bride-brook-restoration-project-completed/ |
| Extractive Industries
Mexico/US: Firm puts the wild back into wilderness
Now in an experiment that crosses the U.S. boundary and butts up against Big Bend National Park, one of the world's largest cement companies is working to erase those marks and restore a desert with more biodiversity than almost any other. "We are trying to turn back time. And I want to see it in my lifetime," said Billy Pat McKinney, manager of El Carmen Project for CEMEX.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/living_green_sa/article/Firm-puts-the-wild-back-into-wilderness-1309156.php |
| Invasive Species
The Harmless Invasion of the Pacific Oyster
Exotic species pose a threat to biological diversity in many parts of the world. But the invasion of the Baltic Sea by an oyster native to the Pacific coast of Asia is rather atypical in several ways.
http://www.tierramerica.info/nota.php?lang=eng&idnews=3645 |
| Funding Opportunities
Terra Viva Grants develops and manages information about grants for agriculture, energy, environment, and natural resources in the world's developing countries.
http://www.terravivagrants.org/Home/view-grant-makers
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
Tamarisk Related Grant Opportunities
The Tamarisk Coalition has developed a list of available Grant Opportunities to address tamarisk issues and riparian restoration. This list was revised as part of the Colorado River Basin Tamarisk and Russian Olive Assessment.
http://www.tamariskcoalition.org/FundingResources.html |
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