Sept. 30- Oct 5 2012
Columbus, Ohio, USA

Survey on the Concept of 'Novel Ecosystems'
 Got five minutes? Help SER member Matthijs Boeschoten from Utrecht University in the Netherlands with his PhD by completing this anonymous survey designed to assess the familiarity of the concept of 'Novel Ecosystems' among scientists and practitioners in the field of ecological restoration.

Arizona: A Thousand Invisible Cords: From Genes to Ecosystems - Premier April 25
The idea that a single gene can affect an entire landscape, with implications for climate change and ecosystem restoration forms the basis of this documentary produced by Northern Arizona University.

SER-Australasia: Inaugural Conference- Call for Workshop & Symposium Submissions-Due April 27
The SERA Inaugural Conference will be held November 28-30 in Perth, Western Australia.

Nova Scotia: Urban Wetland Restoration Course- April 30-May 2

Arizona: SmallWood 2012 Conference: Forest Restoration for a New Economy- May 1-3

SER-Midwest-Great Lakes: 4th Annual Meeting-May 4-6

Restoration 2012: Beyond Borders- May 15-18!
SER-NW & SER-BC's joint conference with AFS will be held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Massachusetts: Hands-On Wetlands Creation Workshop for Professionals - May 22-24

Missouri: Ozark Summit 2012: Restoration in the 21st Century - June 12-14

SER-Great Basin: Post-Fire Land Restoration Workshop & Field Trip - July 12-13
The workshop will be held July 12-13, 2012 at the Best Western Airport Plaza in Reno, Nevada.

SER-Texas: 2012 Annual TxSER Conference- Call for Papers - Due Aug 31
TxSER will hold their annual conference from Nov. 2-4, 2012 in Weslaco, Texas.

Sustainability- Special Issue Terrestrial Ecosystem Restoration-Call for Papers- Due Aug 31
Open access journal, Sustainability, is calling for papers to be submitted to a special issue entitled Terrestrial Ecosystem Restoration, due August 31, 2012.

SER-Europe: The 8th European Conference on Ecological Restoration-Sept 9-14
 
Cascais World Forum 2012: Soilbioengineering & Land Management -Call for Papers- Sept 19-22

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

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

Florida: Creation and Restoration or Wetlands Workshop- November 8-10

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!

'I withdraw': A talk with climate defeatist Paul Kingsnorth
Not everyone is quite ready to hear, or accept, what Paul Kingsnorth has to say. An English writer and erstwhile green activist, he spent two decades in the environmental movement, and he's done with all that. And not only environmentalism - he's done with "hope." He's not out to "save the planet." He's had it with the dream of "sustainability." He's looked into the abyss of planetary collapse, and he's more or less fine with it: Collapse? Sure. Bring it on.

US: Forest Service kicks off My Neighborhood Forest photo contest- April 11- July 22
 The U.S. Forest Service today announced its My Neighborhood Forest photo contest, celebrating America's urban and community forests. The Grand Prize winner will receive $200 in outdoor gear courtesy of the National Forest Foundation.

Rhode Island: (AUDIO) Scallops, heartbreak and coastal restoration
NPR aired a story about the resurgence of scallops at Quonochontaug Pond in Weekapaug on the spontaneous return to "Quonie." But Bryan DeAngelis knows better. He's a restoration expert at NOAA who helped with efforts to restore the scallop population at the pond.

New York: 'Jamaica Bay Lives!' documentary highlights problems affecting Queens estuary
 Filmmaker Dan Hendrick, a Sunnyside environmentalist with a passion for the bay, put up his own money to get the project off the ground. He hopes to wrap up filming by fall for the documentary, which has a working title of "Jamaica Bay Lives!" The film also explores issues like replenishing the bay's disappearing marsh islands and a proposal to extend JFK Airport into the federally protected wildlife refuge.

Louisiana: Coastal restoration summary released
A summary of a Mississippi River delta report released Monday outlines major questions about coastal restoration work in Louisiana, its future and the potential consequences of inaction. The summary, "Answering 10 Fundamental Questions about the Mississippi River Delta" was released by the Mississippi River Delta Science and Engineering Special Team.

Restoration Ecology
This new text by Sigurdur Greipsson, provides a current, comprehensive look at this developing area of study that is ideal for the upper-level undergraduate or graduate level course. Divided into five natural parts, Restoration Ecology opens with a look at ecological perspectives of restoration, including nutrient cycling and factors that regulate ecosystem function.

Fungal disease threat seen increasing
 Fungal diseases are a major threat not just to wild plants and animals, but to us. A new Nature paper shows we're already heading for huge fungal damage to vital crops and ecosystems over the coming decades. If we don't do more to stop these diseases' spread, their impact could be devastating.

Keeping cultures alive: How cooking and singing can save the Amazon forest
Scientists are hoping to strike a cultural chord with Amazonian forest communities by combining in-depth research with traditional stories, songs and recipes as a way to promote forest conservation and food security. "By weaving in traditional knowledge ... it is people in their cultural contexts who daily decide whether forests stand or fall."

The Folly of Big Agriculture: Why Nature Always Wins
Large-scale industrial agriculture depends on engineering the land to ensure the absence of natural diversity. But as the recent emergence of herbicide-tolerant weeds on U.S. farms has shown, nature ultimately finds a way to subvert uniformity and assert itself.

American farmers rethink their ways in the face of climate change
The American Midwest is a breadbasket to the world, which makes climatic disruptions there a concern for all. Fortunately, the region's farmers aren't sitting by passively as the challenges to their trade begin to mount.

Indigenous Brazilian group certified to trade carbon credits
Brazil's Paiter Suruí community has become the first indigenous group in the country to receive international certification to sell carbon credits in return for protecting and restoring forests in their Amazonian territory. The Suruí community, which numbers around 1300 people, was first contacted by outsiders in 1968.

US: Besieged by Climate Deniers, A Scientist Decides to Fight Back
Climate scientist Michael Mann, who has faced years of attacks from climate-change skeptics, explains why he believes bad-faith assaults on science have no place in a functioning democracy and why the truth about global warming will inevitably gain wide acceptance.

Taiwan: SuperWebGIS Applied to Biodiversity Conservation
Developed with SuperWebGIS, the Taiwan Biodiversity Network (TBN) aims to encourage people to use its application service, popularize the concept of biodiversity widely, and effectively collect information of species in Taiwan. Through accessing TBN, users can freely upload the species photos taken by them. Consequently, users can know the diverse creatures while sharing information online. 

US: EPA and American Rivers Award $1.37 Million in Grants to Restore Potomac Highlands Rivers
The Environmental Protection Agency and American Rivers announce the six recipients of $1,373,119 in environmental grants to benefit communities, and protect rivers and clean water in the Potomac Highlands region of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. The Highlands region is the headwaters of the Potomac River, which flows through the nation's capital.

Canada: Funds will conserve and protect water
Grants totaling $197,214 have been awarded by the Okanagan Basin Water Board for the Central Okanagan for the coming year, for projects that will conserve and protect water. In all, 13 projects received some funding, ranging from $25,000 to $5,000.

 Utah: Provo River delta
The project to restore the Provo River delta can be summed up this way: It's not about saving an ugly fish. It's about restoring an ecosystem. Nevertheless, the effort to save the endangered June sucker (the ugly fish) is driving the project. An essential element of that program is to recreate a Provo River delta on the east side of Utah Lake so that larvae from fish that spawn in the river can survive to adulthood and re-enter the lake.

India: Gangewadi grassland included in Solapur bustard sanctuary
Gangewadi grassland area, located on the boundary of Solapur and Osmanabad districts, is now notified and included in the Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary in Solapur district. About 198 hectare grassland has been added to the 1222.61 sq km area of the sanctuary.

China: Stony deserts coming under control in southwest China
Chen Chunliang was herding a flock of sheep on a hill, watching the animals graze on vegetation where once there was only barren wasteland decaying into stony desert. He never imagined the once sterile land could become fertile. Chen's family and millions of others living on the degraded land have long been affected by stony desertification, which has resulted in water shortage, soil erosion, and persistent poverty and deprivation since few crops can survive in such thin and arid soil.

Guyana: Mangrove restoration protects Guyana's coast and creates a buzz
Rural women living on the coast of Guyana have turned to beekeeping to boost their income while at the same time helping preserve the mangrove forests that protect the coast from rising seas. Mangroves comprise just one percent of the 160,000 square km (62,000 sq m) of natural vegetation in this South American nation.

Saudi Arabia: PME plans restoration of Gulf War-hit sites
 The technical and scientific committee of the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) recently visited areas affected by the Gulf War in the eastern parts of the Kingdom. Projects have entered the second phase and will focus on rehabilitating the damaged areas, cleaning the shores of the eastern region and removing the effects of pollution. PME aims to end work to rehabilitate the marine and land environment in the Kingdom by 2014.

Ecuador: Mangrove ecosystem supporters reject shrimp farming industry 'legalisation'
The "legalization" of ponds designed for shrimp production is "an impunity reward," states the National Coordinator for Mangrove Ecosystem Defence (C-Condem). C-Condem president, Maria Dolores Vera, thinks industrial shrimp farming is the principal cause of the destruction of Ecuador's mangrove ecosystem and "the displacement, from their ancestral territories, of thousands of families of small-scale fishermen and crustacean harvesters."

California: Giant turtle swims toward official recognition
A legislative committee this week took the first step toward designating the endangered Pacific leatherback sea turtle as the official state marine reptile. Carried by Assemblyman Paul Fong, D-Cupertino, the bill could raise the profile of the rare creature, which nests in Indonesia but completes a legendary migration to the Monterey Bay and other parts of the West Coast to feed on jellyfish.

Canada: Marine mammals coming back to the Salish Sea
The shared inland waters of Juan de Fuca Strait, B.C.'s Strait of Georgia, and Washington state's Puget Sound may once again approach its former greatness. Thanks to conservation efforts, one marine mammal after another is making a dramatic comeback, their presence providing the biggest reason for hope across an ecosystem spanning 7,000 sq. km.

Texas: Governor Perry approves $3.2 million for oyster enhancement project
After months of process and effort, Governor Rick Perry has submitted a $3.2 million Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) grant project to US Fish and Wildlife for final approval. CCA Texas has pledged an additional $500,000 to increase the scope of this enormous reefing project.

India: Bringing the Lost Cheetah Back to India - But at What Cost?
The Federal Ministry of Environment and Forests plans to reintroduce African cheetahs, which were declared extinct in 1952 as a result of over-hunting by India's nobility, into 10 identified sites in north and central India by May 2012. A hearing was proposed - and rejected - as a result of objections filed by the state of Gujarat about the Indian government's decision to undertake Project Cheetah, armed with a budget of $58 million dollars, to restore the animal's 'lost heritage' in the country.

UK: Wildlife and farming disaster warning as drought spreads across England
Most of England is now in drought and the dry spell could last beyond Christmas, the Environment Agency will announce on Monday, as government officials started planning for a long-term water shortage that could be disastrous for wildlife, the landscape and farming.

 California: Nonprofit Targets Island Invaders to Restore World's Rare Species
150 miles off the coast of Baja California, jagged Guadalupe Island climbs more than 4,000 feet above the Pacific. By 2001, when UC-Santa Cruz conservation biologist Don Croll arrived on the island, it was mostly barren. For Croll, Guadalupe Island was an eye-opening project. It showed the power of eradications as a conservation tool; on one side of the fence there were just goats and dirt, while on the other side a rare island community flourished.

US: Yellowstone Park restoration work progressing
A northern corner of Yellowstone National Park degraded by decades of inappropriate use and overrun with nonnative vegetation is showing signs of recovery following the first four years of a 10-year study. The results of a study were published in the 2012 issue of the journal Yellowstone Science.

Hopes Fade for Cleanup in Nigeria's Oil-Rich Delta
The Ogoniland region of Nigeria has long been badly polluted by decades of oil production that has fouled the delta and contaminated drinking water. A United Nations report has recommended a massive recovery initiative, but so far the Nigerian government has shown few signs it will agree to the cleanup project.

US: Scourge: Illegal Aliens in our Midst
This may be no surprise to the rest of you, but down here in border country, we are surrounded by immigrants. Aliens at every turn. Local governments spend $1.7 billion annually on invasive species programs. The actual damage caused by these non-natives is, according to the same source, about $830 million.

New York: Herbicides 'Only Choice' in Tackling Hydrilla, Experts Say
In conjunction with Cornell Plantations, a panel of local environmental experts led a discussion on Thursday to update community members on current efforts to combat hydrilla -- an invasive weed that is threatening the survival of other species in local waters by both blocking their access to sunlight and removing oxygen from the water.

US: Scourge: Illegal Aliens in our Midst
This may be no surprise to the rest of you, but down here in border country, we are surrounded by immigrants. Aliens at every turn. Local governments spend $1.7 billion annually on invasive species programs. The actual damage caused by these non-natives is, according to the same source, about $830 million.

New York: Herbicides 'Only Choice' in Tackling Hydrilla, Experts Say
In conjunction with Cornell Plantations, a panel of local environmental experts led a discussion on Thursday to update community members on current efforts to combat hydrilla -- an invasive weed that is threatening the survival of other species in local waters by both blocking their access to sunlight and removing oxygen from the water.