7^th SER Mid-Atlantic & New England Chapter Conference- March 23-24
The 7^th annual SER MA/NE chapter conference will be holding a pre-conference training workshop conducted by NOAA at Brooklyn College on Thursday March 22, 2012. To participate, click here.

Restoration 2012: Beyond Borders- FINAL Call for Papers-Due April 1, 2012
SER NW, SER BC and AFS recently launched their new conference website for Restoration 2012 to be held May 15-18 in Victoria, Canada.

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

Ecotrust Indigenous Leadership Award- Nominations due April 1, 2012
The families of Peter and Howard Buffett founded the Ecotrust leadership award to honor outstanding individual leaders in the indigenous communities of Oregon, Washington, California, Western Montana, Nevada, Idaho, Alaska, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.

Atlantic White Cedar Symposium- Call for Oral and Poster Presentations -Due April 1, 2012

Sustainable Food Security through Land Regeneration in a Changing Climate-April 10-13, 2012
To be held in Nairobi, Kenya, this conference theme centers around low cost, rapid methods of environmental restoration as a pathway to food security and adaptation to climate change.

Urban Wetland Restoration Course- Halifax, Nova Scotia- April 30-May 2, 2012

SER-Midwest-Great Lakes 4th Annual Meeting-May 4-6, 2-12

Hands-On Wetlands Creation Workshop for Professionals- May 22-24, 2012
To be held by the Massachusetts Audubon in Cummaquid (Barnstable) MA.

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

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

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

Alaska: Is Silence Going Extinct?
Davyd Betchkal, sound catcher, describes his experiences in Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska. For more than 40 years, scientists have used radio telescopes to probe starry regions trillions of miles away for sounds of alien life. But only in the past five years or so have they been able to reliably record months long stretches of audio in the wildernesses of Earth.

US: Gulf 'Dead Zone' Lawsuit Brought against EPA by Environmental Groups
Several environmental groups are suing the US government to curb pollution of the Mississippi River with fertilizers and other contaminants blamed with creating a "dead zone" the size of Massachusetts in the Gulf of Mexico.

US: Sierra Club sues to block offshore drilling rules
The Mississippi Sierra Club and The Gulf Restoration Network have asked a judge to block the state from enacting new regulations on offshore drilling.

Mozambique: Linking Conservation and Human Rights
An American entrepreneur says there is a link between conservation and human rights. Gregory Carr says that's why he pledged $40 million over 30 years to rebuild Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park. Gorongosa National Park spreads across nearly 3,800 square kilometers in central Mozambique. 

Canada: Tar sands emit more carbon than previously estimated
 A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has found an additional source of carbon that has been unaccounted for: peatlands. Mining the oil in the tar sands, dubbed "oil sands" by the industry, will require the wholesale destruction of nearly 30,000 hectares of peatlands, emitting between 11.4 and 47.3 million metric tons of additional carbon.

US: Forest Service Report Shows Forest Growth in North Outpacing Other Parts of Country
According to the report, forest coverage in the US has increased by 28% across the northern regions. Forested land currently accounts for 42% of the northern land area. Population in the region rose from 52- 124 million people during the past 100 years, while northern forest coverage expanded from 134-172 million acres. Total U.S. forest land remained essentially unchanged during that time. The assessment is the first product of the Northern Forest Futures Project, a cooperative effort of the Forest Service, the Northeastern Area Association of State Foresters and the academic community.

New Zealand: River Road: Journeys Through Ecology
A new book launched at Waikato Museum this week will take a closer look at factors that are shaping the ecology of our immediate environment. David Cook traces a journey, following the parallel arteries of the Waikato River and River Rd as they snake their way from the city of Hamilton through suburbia, industrial zones, wild spaces, farms and on to the township of Ngaruawahia.

Digital Defenders: Tribal People Use GPS to Protect Their Lands
From the rainforests of central Africa to the Australian outback, indigenous people armed with GPS devices are surveying their territories and producing maps they can use to protect them from logging and other outside development.

Indigenous resource management systems: A holistic approach to nature and livelihoods
Two peer-reviewed studies published recently by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the World Bank show that strict conservation is less effective in reducing deforestation than community forests that are managed and controlled by indigenous peoples and forest-dependent communities within multiple use systems.

Ghana: Agroecology, saving and credit program 
In July 2011, The Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organizational Development (CIKOD) joined Groundswell International's global partnership, and in September CIKOD and Groundswell launched a program to promote agro-ecology, women's savings and credit and related activities in the Upper West Region of Ghana.

History of climate change re-written with release of Russian data
The history of a changing climate has been officially re-written following the release of new data from Russia and bases within the Arctic Circle. Scientists have now calculated that 2010 has overtaken 1998 to now be the warmest year on record. The recalculation of the annual global mean temperature records follows the release of weather data from more than 600 locations around the Arctic Circle.

U.S. Defense Department Develops Map of Future Climate Chaos
University of Texas researchers have developed a sophisticated new mapping tool showing where vulnerability to climate change and violent conflicts intersects throughout the African continent. More than a year in the making and part of a $7.6 million, five-year Department of Defense grant, the Climate Change and African Political Stability project culls data on riots, civil unrest and other violent outbursts dating back to 1996.

Congo: ERA & WW Launch Joint Venture to Complete Mai Ndombe, DRC's First REDD+ Project
 ERA Carbon Offsets Ltd. ("ERA") has announced that it has entered into a Joint Venture Agreement with Wildlife Works ("WW") to complete the 299,645 hectare Mai Ndombe REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the "DRC") which was announced in ERA's August 5, 2011 News Release.

Innovation is not Enough: Why Polluters Must Pay
Innovative energy technologies are certainly essential if the world is to curb carbon emissions. But in response to a recent e360 article by the co-founders of the Breakthrough Institute, an economist argues we must also cap emissions or put a price on carbon in order to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

US: Climate change ravaging Forest Service budget for wildfire mitigation
The warming climate is breeding more beetle-ravaged forest and prolonged fire seasons, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell testified before a Senate committee. The Forest Service is not only dealing with an uptick in the number of wildfires, wind storms, droughts and other extreme weather as a result of climate change.

UK: Biodiversity nears 'point of no return'
The decline in the world's biodiversity is approaching a point of no return, warns Hilary Benn. In this week's Green Room, the UK's environment secretary urges the international community to seize the chance to act before it is too late.

Louisiana: Can Governments Respond in Time to Climate Change?
Unfortunately for the people who live and work there, south Louisiana is a living laboratory for climate change. The huge marshlands have been sinking and eroding for more than a century, ever since the leveeing of the Mississippi River cut off the marshes' supply of silt, and decades of oil and gas drilling carved them up. In the meantime the process continues, and climate change may ultimately put restoration hopes out of reach by accelerating sea level rise.

Mid-Atlantic: EPA's Lisa Jackson Announces Creation of Anacostia River Revitalization Fund
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Lisa P. Jackson announced the creation of The Anacostia River Revitalization Fund. The fund, which will invest $1 million in restoration activities this year, with a total goal of investing $5 million over the next three years, will be used protect and restore the Anacostia River and to create a national model for watershed conservation.

California: Restoration turning Truckee into a new river
Conservationists hope to soon start river restoration work at three new locations on the lower Truckee River, while a historic ranch where the river is returned to a natural state will soon be opened to the public. Both developments are part of an ongoing, multimillion-dollar effort to improve a stretch of river damaged through well-intentioned but environmentally harmful human alterations decades ago

India: Chasing the Cooum: How precious money went down the drain that is Cooum
In Part 2 of the series, K.Lakshmi examines how the river came to be polluted and how over the past century several committees were set up and several crores spent to clean it up. But nothing has happened - and nothing seems to be happening.

Oregon: Flood Protection Success Story- Reducing Flood Risk & Restoring Floodplains 
Seven major floods occurred on Johnson Creek in the last 35 years, and 28 since 1941. To date the combination of local, regional, and federal resources has allowed the city to acquire more than 260 acres and move 90 homes out of harm's way of flooding. Last January when Portland received one of the top 20 storms, citizens along Johnson Creek for the first time didn't have costly damages.

Washington: Elwha River back in its natural channel; first time in a century
At 7:30 Friday morning, contractors started shifting the Elwha River back into its natural channel. Within four to five days, the river will be fully back in its native channel -- for the first time in a century. With Elwha Dam completely gone as soon as April, fall chinook salmon -- the fabled Elwha Tyee -- could make it all the way back to Glines Canyon Dam this migration season for the first time since the river was impounded beginning in 1910.

California: Conifers overtaking oak woodlands habitat
California's oak woodlands and mountain grasslands are losing ground to conifers, which means less habitat for woodland creatures and big game. The increase of conifers, historically maintained by natural fires, is an issue throughout the North Coast and beyond.

Illinois: Prairie restored: Village hears Orland Grassland update
Began in 2002, The Orland Grassland is bordered by La Grange Road in Illinois.Many regional and even national conservation thinkers contributed to the overall plan for the prairie. The Army Corps of Engineers in 2009 began a five-year project which included dismantling drain tiles that were carrying away the natural hydrology of the land.Restoration of the Orland Grassland prairie is expected to be complete in 2014.

U.S. Senate Backs Billions for Gulf Restoration
The U.S. Senate voted 76-22 to approve the RESTORE Act, which would divert 80% of any fines and penalties paid by oil giant BP for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill to restoration activities in five Gulf Coast states. The vote makes it increasingly likely that a majority of the fines-which could total $5.4 billion to $21.1 billion-will be earmarked for an array of regional activities, including scientific research.

Illinois joins program to preserve coastal areas
Illinois joined a national program Friday aimed at preserving and restoring coastal areas, and state officials said they'll work with communities along Lake Michigan to identify projects that benefit the environment and the economy. The National Coastal Management Program was created 40 years ago, but Illinois never joined, despite its 63 miles of Lake Michigan coastline.

California: Dispute ends between California Coastal Commission and Del Mar Fairgrounds board
 A dispute spanning nearly two decades between two state agencies - the California Coastal Commission and the 22nd District Agricultural Association, which runs the state-owned Del Mar Fairgrounds - ended Thursday, March 8, when Both sides praised the agreement, which calls for the 22nd DAA to spend nearly $5 million on habitat restoration and other environmental projects.

Chesapeake Bay Foundation: Md. plan underfunded
Maryland's bay restoration strategy is underfunded and may not get the job done as promised, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said Tuesday.

Pakistan: 'The mangroves shall grow again'
Talking at a photo exhibition title, "Through Echoes of Tides" by environmental journalist Jamshyd Masood, National Disaster Management Ministry Secretary Javaid Malik said the government is committed to restoring mangrove forests along the coastal belt of the country.The exhibition communicated the hope for restoration of what had been lost due to massive indifference and also that nature has its own strength that needed to be exploited for sustainable development.

US: Court upholds Congress' act that ended wolf protections
A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that Congress acted legally when it eliminated Endangered Species Act protections for the Northern Rocky Mountain population of gray wolves and opened the door to wolf hunts. The decision means wolves in the Northern Rockies will continue to be managed by states in the region, which had an estimated 1,774 wolves in 287 packs as of the end of last year.

Montana: Elk Island bison return to Montana after 100 years
A bison herd from Elk Island National Park in Alberta returned to its ancestral home in Montana this week. Seventy-one bison were released Wednesday on a prairie preserve in northeastern Montana. The release marked a historic homecoming for the bison as their ancestors, part of the Pablo-Allard herd, were sold to the Canadian government in 1906.

China: Eco-conservation zone built near Three Gorges Reservoir
Authorities in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality have finished creating an ecological conservation zone near the Three Gorges Reservoir. The ecological function of the Three Gorges Reservoir area has been restored by creating diversified forest belts. From 2010 to 2012, Chongqing municipal authorities planted over 2.3 million mu (about 153,333 hectares) of trees on both sides of the Three Gorges Reservoir area.

Jamaica: Growing illegal trade threatens Jamaica's wildlife
The 23 yellow-billed Amazons and 22 black-billed Amazons were the survivors from 74 eggs smuggled into Austria by men posing as tourists. Conservationists fear that as demand grows for rare and exotic species, Jamaican authorities will struggle to protect the island's unique wildlife.

Alaskan fishermen tell government to focus on salmon; not logging
Alaskan fishermen and tour operators visited Washington D.C. last week to urge the federal government to shift the focus from logging to conservation in the Tongass rainforest. The Tongass rainforest is currently the subject of a controversial logging proposal by the government for the indigenous-owned company, Sealaska.

AUDIO: Q&A: Researcher explains options for near-extinct Isle Royale wolves
The wolf population on Isle Royale National Park in western Lake Superior is facing the possibility of extinction, according to a report released today. Only nine wolves, including just one female, currently live on the island. Michigan Tech University wildlife biologist Rolf Peterson has studied the wolves on the wilderness island chain for more than four decades.

New Zealand: Plateau must be protected
Sir Alan Mark and Rod Morris say the Denniston Plateau is too precious a treasure trove to disturb with opencast mining and must be protected for its unique heritage values.

Australia: UQ mine rehabilitation project yields encouraging results
The University of Queensland's Indooroopilly Experimental Mine focuses on the maintenance of our vegetation community by eradicating threats from exotic flora and fauna. In 2008 the site became part of Brisbane City Council's Land for Wildlife program. UQ Environmental Project Officer, Julia Blumhardt said that the habitat restoration at the UQ Experimental mine was achieving results years before they were expected.

Sri Lanka: Major Facelift for Colombo
The Defence Ministry has called for tenders for the Metro Colombo Urban Development Project. This project will give a major facelift to Colombo, minimize floods and beautify the capital city. The estimated cost of the project is 213 million U.S. Dollars and the World Bank has agreed to fund this project. Cabinet approval for the project was given in May last year.

Malaysia: Gayana Eco Resort - 'Marine Awareness Month' Celebrating Coral Reef Eco Victory 
Sabah's internationally-renowned Gayana Eco Resort is showcasing its unique coral reef restoration initiative during a 'Marine Awareness Month' from March 22-April 22. The environmental sanctuary on Gaya Island off the coast of Kota Kinabalu is celebrating the return to the wild of revived coral and hand-reared juvenile Giant Clams from its pioneering Marine Ecology Research Centre (MERC).

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 anadromoussalmonid habitat in the coastal watersheds of California or projects that lead to the restoration, enhancement or protection of anadromoussalmonid 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: Long Island Sound Futures Fund Support for Restoration Projects-Closes April 9, 2012
This year, the fund will emphasize implementation projects focused on protecting and restoring Long Island Sound, particularly projects that restore and protect important fish and wildlife habitats, and community-based projects that improve water quality and protect water resources. To be eligible, habitat restoration or stewardship projects must fall within the coastal area boundary established by the Long Island Sound Study (the Long Island Sound and its coastal watersheds). Applications are due April 9, 2012.

US: USDA Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program- Closes April 23, 2012
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is now accepting applications from private landowners and tribes for another round of funding for easement and restoration programs offered by the federal agency. Applications for the Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program (FRPP) will now run through April 23, 2012.

FishAmerica Foundation Community Habitat Restoration Grants-Due April 30, 2012
FishAmerica, in partnership with the NOAA Restoration Center, awards grants to local communities and government agencies to restore habitat for marine and anadromous fish species. Successful proposals have community-based restoration efforts with outreach to the local communities. 2012 FAF-NOAA Proposals Deadline: April 30, 2012

New Hampshire: Grant Funding for Wetlands Restoration and Drinking Water Protection
The Aquatic Resource Mitigation Fund grants are available for eligible wetland restoration, land protection or habitat improvement projects; and drinking water supply protection grants are available for lands in the southern I-93 corridor and Lake Massabesic Watershed. Aquatic Resource Mitigation (ARM) Fund payments are collected according to nine service areas.

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 80 different projects in coastal areas throughout the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Restoring a total of more than 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 help make it possible for the GMF to provide more than $3 million to projects, leveraging an additional $5.5 million in non-federal support from project partners. The GMF will be offering a new round of CRP funding for 2012. Visit our website for more information on the upcoming funding opportunity.

 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.