CBD SBSTTA-16--Call for Posters- Due Feb. 29, 2012
Call for posters for the Sixteenth Meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical, and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-16)

History and Values in Ecological Restoration Workshop--Call for Papers- Due Feb. 20, 2012
This workshop focuses on restoration in landscapes with complex histories, shaped by the ongoing interaction between humans and nature.

Louisiana: Help Restore a Floodplain! Feb 24, 2012
The Nature Conservancy and US-Fish & Wildlife Service are looking for 50 volunteers (at least) to help them plant over 10,000 trees at the Upper Ouachita Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana.

2012 Nahelehele Dry Forest Symposium-Hawaii-Feb. 24, 2012

Mangrove Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration Course - Florida- March 1-2, 2012

20th High Altitude Revegetation Workshop - Ft Collins, CO - March 6 - 8, 2012

SER-Midwest-Great Lakes 4th Annual Meeting-Call for Abstracts- Due March 9, 2012
 The SER-MWGL chapter is holding their 4^th annual meeting May 4-6, 2012 at the University of Michigan. Oral and poster presentation submission are due by March 9, 2012.

Fundamentos de la Restauración Ecológica -- New Online Course for Spanish Speakers (fecha límite el 16 de marzo de 2012)
 El curso es organizado por la Fundación Internacional para la Restauración de Ecosistemas (FIRE) y tiene el aval académico del Instituto de Ecología, A. C. (INECOL, Mx) y de El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR, Mx). Tiene una duración de seis semanas (60 horas con horario flexible) divididas en cinco módulos. Personas interesadas comunicarse antes del 16 de marzo de 2012.

Nominations now open for 2012 Thiess International Riverprize -Closes March 16, 2012

ER Special Issue on Corridor Restoration - Call for Papers- April 1, 2012

Urban Wetland Restoration Course- Halifax, Nova Scotia: April 30-May 2, 2012
This three day Urban Wetland Restoration course will teach participants how to begin to reverse this trend. A day of classroom lecture and discussion with wetland guru, Kevin Erwin, and local ecologists will instill the theory and practice of wetland restoration.

EcoSummit 2012-Ecological Sustainability- Sept. 30- Oct. 5, 2012

6^th Annual Conference on Coastal and Estuarine Habitat Restoration- Oct. 20-24, 2012

The 8th Conference of the Society for Ecological Restoration - Europe-Sept. 9-14, 2012

2012 Conference Listing on the Global Restoration Network (GRN)
 Check out our 2012 conference listing for a full year view of upcoming conferences and events

SER Members receive 25% off Island Press book purchases. Contact caroline@ser.org for details!

VIDEO: Making Nature Whole Book Launch at DePaul University
Watch this full live video of the Center for Humans and Nature's (CHN) book launch for Making Nature Whole by William Jordan III and George M. Lubick.

Montana: Devoted UM forestry professor remembered
For someone described by friends and family as reserved and quiet, Don Bedunah touched a lot of lives. That touch led to a standing-room-only crowd in the Music Recital Hall on the University of Montana campus Thursday, as friends, family and the campus community gathered to celebrate the life of Bedunah, a forestry professor who died unexpectedly at his home Saturday. He was 59. They described a man devoted to his family, his students and to the field of grassland ecology.

IUCN WCPA Chair Nik Lopoukhine honored for his commitment to Canada's protected areas

EMR Special Issue on Indigenous Land & Sea Management in Australia
The Australasian journal 'Ecological Management & Restoration' (EMR) has just published a special issue on Indigenous Land & Sea management in Australia. The full special issue is available for free. In addition EMR has published nine outstanding and inspiring summaries on indigenous ecosystem management topics. Read these summaries here.

U.S. Increasing the Pace of Restoration and Job Creation on our National Forests
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced a new report, Increasing the Pace of Restoration and Job Creation on our National Forests, that outlines a strategy and series of actions for management on 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands managed by the U.S. Forest Service. As part of the accelerated restoration strategy, $40 million for 20 forest and watershed restoration projects have been announced for the upcoming year.

Canada: RSC Expert Panel Report: Sustaining Canada's Marine Biodiversity
 On November 26, 2009, the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) Expert Panel announced the commissioning of an Expert Panel, which was given a mandate to consider a large body of scientific evidence that, if summarized for the public, would be helpful to their consideration of the issue of sustaining Canada's Marine biodiversity.The free full (316 page) report, and report in brief, are available online.    

Global Extinction: Gradual Doom Is Just as Bad As Abrupt
A painstakingly detailed investigation shows that mass extinctions need not be sudden events. The deadliest mass extinction of all took a long time to kill 90 percent of Earth's marine life, and it killed in stages, according to a newly published report.

In Fast-Track Technology, Hope for a Second Green Revolution
 With advances in a technique known as fast-track breeding, researchers are developing crops that can produce more and healthier food and can adapt and thrive as the climate shifts. The fast-track technology, called marker-assisted selection (MAS), or molecular breeding, takes advantage of rapid improvements in genetic sequencing, but avoids all the regulatory and political baggage of genetic engineering.

China Encourages Agricultural Technology Innovation
China is keen to accelerate technology innovation and scientific research in agriculture, a move to boost the country's modern agricultural development.The government will give support to agricultural research focusing on bio-safety, farm product safety, effective use of farmland, ecological restoration and genetic regulation.

Carbon Source or Carbon Sink: Greenhouse Gases in the Tropics
As large tracts of tropical rainforest are cut down in the Amazon, Congo, and Southeast Asia, worries have grown that this vital region may turn from a carbon sink to a carbon source. Those worries can be put at ease somewhat thanks to a recent study from the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC). Their report suggests that carbon storage of forests, shrublands, and savannas in the tropics are 21 percent higher than previously believed.

Mexico: Slash-and-burn 'improves tropical forest biodiversity'
Slash-and-burn agricultural practices, banned by governments because of the risk of uncontrolled fires, provide better growing conditions for valuable new trees than more modern methods of forest clearance, a study suggests.

Australia: The Biodiversity Fund - another missed opportunity?
Australia's Biodiversity Fund was announced in July 2011 as part of the "Clean Energy Future" package. However, the Biodiversity Fund currently seems destined to repeat the myriad of mistakes that characterized the Natural Heritage Trust, and many other government environmental initiatives.

US: Political Leaders Play Key Role in How Worried Americans are by Climate Change
In a study of public opinion from 2002 to 2010, researchers found that public belief that climate change was a threat peaked in 2006-2007 when Democrats and Republicans in Congress showed the most agreement on the issue. But public concern has dropped since then, as partisanship over the issue increased.

New Mexico: Penn researchers uncover a mechanism to explain dune field patterns
 In a study of the harsh but beautiful White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, University of Pennsylvania researchers have uncovered a unifying mechanism to explain dune patterns. Under some climate change predictions, rainfall could decline in the upper Midwest. Even a small reduction in rainwater could mean that the grasses that stabilize the Sand Hills' dunes would no longer be able to survive.

Rising ocean acidity worst for Caribbean and Pacific
 The current trend of increasing ocean acidification, which threatens fisheries around the world, is driven mainly by man-made changes and is higher even than that seen at the end of the last ice age, some 11,000 year ago. Fisheries in the Pacific and the Caribbean may suffer the most - in these regions, man-made acidification has already caused a 30-fold increase in the natural variation in ocean acidity, according to a study published in Nature Climate Change last month (22 January).

Malaysia: MoU to create wildlife corridor for Malaysia's largest wildlife reserve
 The state government, represented by the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) and the Rhino and Forest Fund (RFF), signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) during the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Colloquium. This agreement lays the foundation to improve a wildlife corridor between Tabin - Malaysia's largest wildlife reserve and adjacent conservation areas.

Australia: Trumpets of outrage in the outback
 An Australian biology professor is causing a rumble in the academic jungle by suggesting that his country should import elephants and other foreign species into its wild interior. Rhinos and even giant Komodo dragon lizards could be imported, David Bowman suggests in an article in Nature. He says Australia is just not managing its most pressing ecological problems, and something radical is needed. But some fellow scientists say it is just a bad and dangerous idea.

Indonesia: Orangutan Habitat Must be Preserved
 President Director of Indonesia's Orangutan Habitat Restoration (RHOI), Jamartin Sihite, said that if the people are able to protect and save the orangutans, then they will indirectly save the forests, too. This is because when orangutans live freely in the forests, then the forests' dynamics will continue to grow.

England: Wildlife grants for waterways work
 Community wildlife projects around South Yorkshire can benefit from a share of £25 million being made available by the Government. The cash pot is being made available for schemes that 'clean up England's rivers and encourage local wildlife to flourish'.

Kenya's top environmental agency has said it will compel electricity producing firm Kengen to pay for damages after a power station at Kipevu caused an oil spill in the Indian Ocean. The 10,000 litre spillage, will see Kengen pay for restoration of environment and compensation for fishermen.

Wisconsin: Are frac sand miners failing to check for rare butterfly?
In the sand barrens of Wisconsin lives an endangered blue butterfly. Its range overlaps almost perfectly with the sand that's become a lucrative part of a boom in natural gas drilling. The Karner blue is just one wrinkle in the state's struggle with this fast-moving industry, which has homed in on Wisconsin for the quality of its sand. In the drilling process nicknamed "fracking," sand, water and chemicals are blasted into wells, creating fissures in the rock and freeing hard-to-reach pockets of oil and natural gas.

Malaysia: Hamlets Have Immense Potential to Transform into Sustainable Living Areas
 Established during the Communist Emergency (1948-1960) as settlements to segregate villagers from communist insurgents, they barely resembled the rural villages from which the original residents had been relocated. Tianjin Eco-City, targeted for completion in the mid-2020s, is being promoted as their flagship development. Situated just outside Tianjin, 150km southeast of Beijing, this eco city is designed around a core of conserved and restored wetlands and plans to use green technology like a green light-rail transit system, sun-powered earth- and solar-scape scenery, as well as desalination and recycled water.

USDA General Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program Funding- Closes Feb 10, 2012
 USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Kansas State Conservationist Eric B. Banks announced recently the availability of General Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program (WREP) funding to enter into agreements with eligible partners to carry out high priority wetland protection, restoration and enhancement activities on eligible lands. WREP is a voluntary conservation program that works through partnership agreements with states, nongovernmental organizations and tribes.

US: NFWF Five Star Restoration Grant Program- Closes Feb 15, 2012
 The national Fish and Wildlife Federation (NFWF) Five Star Restoration Program provides modest financial assistance to support community-based wetland, riparian, and coastal habitat restoration projects that build diverse partnerships and foster local natural resource stewardship through education, outreach, and training activities.

US: NOAA Natural Resources Damage Assessment Grants-Closes Feb 23, 2012
NOAA cooperates with the public to identify restoration projects that benefit a wide variety of habitats and biological resources and will partner with non-profit groups, local governments, and other organizations to carry out the restoration. The deadline for applications is February 23, 2012.

US: Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife- Closes Feb 29, 2012
 The state Department of Fish and Wildlife is accepting grant applications for the Aquatic Land Enhancement Account. The agency expects to award about $180,000 in grants from the program in the coming year. Five types of projects are funded through the program - habitat restoration, research, education and outreach, facility development and artificial production. Applications must be received or postmarked by Feb. 29.

Alabama: Longleaf Pine restoration grant available - Closes March 1, 2012
 The Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division (WFF) of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) is currently accepting applications through its Landowner Incentive Program (LIP) to continue longleaf pine restoration efforts in Alabama. The grant was awarded through a partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and will be made available to qualifying landowners for longleaf pine restoration on private lands.

California American Water Funds 2012 Environmental Grant Program-Closes March 9, 2012
 California American Water announced it is accepting applications for its 2012 Environmental Grant Program. The company will award several grants for a combined total of $10,000 to innovative community-based environmental projects that improve, restore or protect watersheds and drinking water supplies within the state. Applications must be postmarked by March 19, 2012.

California: Dept. of Fish and Game (DFG) Fisheries Restoration Grants-Closes March 30, 2012
Applications will be accepted beginning at 8 a.m. Feb. 15, 2012 through 3 p.m. March 30, 2012. Proposals should focus on projects that restore, enhance or protect anadromous salmonid habitat in the coastal watersheds of California or projects that lead to the restoration, enhancement or protection of anadromous salmonid habitat.

US: Minnesota State Funding Available for Environmental Project-Closes April 6, 2012
 The Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) has issued its 2012-2013 Request for Proposal (RFP) for funding from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund beginning July 1, 2013. Approximately $31 million is expected to be available for projects being sought in environment and natural resource areas that will provide multiple ecological and other public benefits. Proposals responding to the 2012-2013 RFP are due Friday, April 6, 2012.

US: Emergency Forest Restoration Program
USDA Farm Service Agency's (FSA) Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP) provides payments to eligible owners of nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) land in order to carry out emergency measures to restore land damaged by a natural disaster.

Earth Island Institute: Supporting community-based wetland restoration initiatives
Through the Small Grants Program, Earth Island Institute has been able to support locally based restoration efforts to do just that. Small grassroots efforts to restore the coastal habitats of Southern California, which have been depleted by an astounding 98%, have been slowly working to bring our wetlands back from the brink of extinction. By supporting and empowering the new restoration leaders, we ensure our collective success in restoring some of the earth's most fragile ecosystems.

The Gulf of Mexico Foundation's Community-based Restoration Partnership has reached a milestone by providing grants for now more than 75 different projects in coastal areas throughout the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Restoring a total of about 15,000 acres over the past decade, these CRP projects have improved a wide variety of habitat types, including coastal dunes, coral reefs, oyster reefs, marshes, seagrass beds, mangrove forests and artificial reefs. Funding from NOAA and EPA make it possible for the GMF to provided more than $3 million to projects. Other partners have contributed an additional $5.5 million in funding.  The GMF is offering a new round of CRP funding for 2012.

 Terra Viva Grants develops and manages information about grants for agriculture, energy, environment, and natural resources in the world's developing countries. 

 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.

 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.