The Bridger-Teton National Forest is beginning to seek public input for the next stage in planning for a forest restoration effort in the LaBarge Creek watershed.  With 3,419-acres of mechanical treatments and 4,628-acres of prescribed burning, the planning team needs the knowledge and thoughts of everyone who knows this area in order to create the most useful project for meeting the 1990 Bridger-Teton Forest Plan desired conditions.

http://www.littlechicagoreview.com/view/bookmark/12879822/article-Want-input-on-next-stage-of-LaBarge-Creek-forest-restoration?instance=news

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.

Restoration Seed Banks-A Matter of Scale

For years government agencies have bulldozed these meddlesome weeds to give the troubled shorebirds more sand. But new research from Oregon State University now shows those efforts also have unwelcome side effects. Bulldozing wipes out native plants and can further change the ecology of the beach. The complex relationship among plovers, beaches and grass highlights a new sophistication in some scientists' thinking about exotic species.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014867172_invasive25m.html

Bolivia marked Earth Day (April 22) this year by formulating the Law of Mother Earth, which-when adopted-will establish 11 new rights for nature, including the right not to be polluted and the right to continue vital cycles free from human interference. On April 20, the United Nations General Assembly debated a proposal introduced by Bolivia, with support of other South American countries, to adopt a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Nature. The proposed global treaty says that "Mother Earth has the right to exist, persist, and to continue the vital cycles ... that sustain all human beings".

http://links.org.au/node/2276

Last year, the retired dairyman conceded defeat. He stopped growing crops on 130 acres of wet fields and joined an effort aimed at nothing less than reversing 100 years of wetland conversion in the Champlain Valley. Forrest pocketed $253,780 for selling the federal government a conservation easement. His drained acres are being transformed back into wetlands.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100827/NEWS02/100826026/State-restores-lost-wetlands-protect-Lake-Champlain?odyssey=nav%7Chead

At least 150 families in Bugamba Sub-county in Rwampara were on Wednesday left in tears as Mbarara District authorities embarked on enforcing the Environment Act on wetland restoration. The exercise that began in the wee hours of the morning saw residents lose several plantations of crops and trees and structures erected in wetlands.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201104210105.html

Since 2005, a team of UNC-CH and Duke researchers has been testing a wetlands site, shown below, in Tyrrell County to see whether restoration work there has reduced pollution. The 440 acres had been ditched and drained to grow corn and soybeans. Marcelo Ardon, left, and Anna Fedders, shown above, take a water sample from a monitoring station at the site. Researchers have found that the restoration does a good job of absorbing nitrogen but has released phosphorus, a pollutant.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/04/20/1141480/when-wetland-projects-pollute.html

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has final say, but the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury has voted 14-0 against a proposal to convert 165 acres of open water in Lake Charles into marshland because of opposition from nearby residents. The Old River Mitigation Bank project uses dredged material to restore marsh that was destroyed by saltwater intrusion, said David Richard, Stream Wetland Service's executive vice president.

http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20110425/NEWS01/104250312

The money will go to the Natural Resource Trustees for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which includes the states of Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Texas, the Department of the Interior and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2011/04/bp_agrees_to_1_billion_advance.html

Masked by stinking anaerobic mud, fuggy heat, clouds of mosquitoes, and acre upon acre of flooded forest, mangroves are as mysterious as they are vital to our coasts.

http://audubonmagazine.org/features1105/truenature.html

Although the dune ecosystem is unusual, fragile and is protected by the "habitats" directive of the network Natura 2000, its conservation is very vulnerable to the proliferation of car parks, nearby buildings and inadequate boardwalks installed for protection or beach access.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-04/f-sf-coc042511.php

A definitive majority of the 900 pages of commenters regarding the Cargill Saltworks proposal voiced concern for the project or highly encouraged city officials to closely examine certain aspects of the project. Despite some support and optimism for the project, many environmental groups, local agencies, neighboring cities and towns and individual residents opposed the project or opposed the way the process was carried out.

http://redwoodcity.patch.com/articles/a-wide-range-of-organizations-and-individuals-oppose-the-cargill-development-proposal

UK: Defra to remove problem monk parakeets from wild

A species of parakeet that threatens wildlife and crops is to be removed from the wild, the government has said. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the monk parakeet, originally from South America, was an invasive species. It announced control measures to either rehouse the birds, remove their nests, or - as a last resort - shoot them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13181503