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SER2013
October 6-11, 2013
Madison, Wisconsin |
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Restoration Ecology
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RESTORE is a free bi-weekly e-bulletin provided to current members of SER. RESTORE links you to the latest breaking news stories keeping you up-to-date on a wide variety of topics related to ecological restoration. To contact the editors, please email info@ser.org. |
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SER in the News
SER Awards: Nominate a Friend or Colleague for Excellence- CLOSE MARCH 31, 2013
The Awards Committee of the Society for Ecological Restoration is now soliciting nominations from SER members for our society awards. We seek nominations for four awards: The Theodore M. Sperry Award, the Full Circle Award, the Communications Award, and the John Rieger Award. Recipients may include Society members and as well as others outside of the SER community. Descriptions of the award criteria and a link to the on-line nomination form may be found here.
SER to Launches its New Member Directory!
The SER Member Directory is here! The new Member Directory gives members access to a number of exciting functions requested by the SER community. As a new member-only benefit, the Member Directory will help you stay up-to-date with your SER membership, connect with other SER members in your region and around the world, as well as help you to share your restoration experiences with the SER member community. Members will be able to perform targeted searches, manage and edit their own profiles, and privately connect with other SER members. Click here to login and get started.
SER2013: Call for Abstracts for Oral and Poster Presentations Closes May 1, 2013
SER is now accepting abstracts for oral and poster presentations at SER2013. We welcome abstracts from restoration practitioners, researchers, and advocates addressing any aspect of ecological restoration, especially those that directly relate to the conference theme, "Reflections on the Past, Directions for the Future". The final deadline for abstract submissions is May 1, 2013.
SER2013 Online Registration Now Open
Early registration is now open for SER2013. Registration fees for the SER2013 World Conference include full access to all scientific sessions, conference materials, lunch and coffee breaks on all four days of the scientific program, a Welcome Reception on Sunday evening, poster reception, and evening screening of the film Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time. SER members receive a generously discounted registration to the conference.
2013 Discount Opportunity: New Members Get $10 Off When They Join an SER Chapter & SER
SER is offering a new member discount until March 31, 2013 to any NEW members who join both SER and one of our 14 regional chapters. New members simply need to enter discount code ChapPromo2013 at the end of their member form, and they'll receive $10 off their total!To find out more about the chapter in your region, click here. New members can join SER through SER's membership page. To receive the discount you must be a new member, join an SER chapter, and SER international.
Don't forget: SER Members receive a 25% off ALL Island Press book purchase. Active SER members can enter promo code 2SER to receive the discount. |
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People in the News
Guatemala: Students and Scientists Unite Around a Beloved Lake
National Geographic Young Explorer Grantee Sarah Calhoun is learning about the lives of local fishermen, hoping to develop a system to monitor the fishery of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala and thereby helping to improve detection of potential toxins produced by cyanobacterial blooms. She hopes to help restore the lake to its former health and preserve traditional ecological knowledge through community engagement and partnership with students at la Universidad del Valle.
Ohio: Morley Medalist Highlights the Value of Ecological Restoration
The value of ecological restoration - both economically and morally - was the focus of Dr. Andre Clewell's Morley Medal presentation on Feb. 8 in the Chapel. "We must sustain nature because nature sustains us," said Clewell, a member of WRA's Class of 1957. "We often get away from nature and don't realize how much we rely on nature for our economy." In his presentation, Ecological Restoration: Restoring our Values; Sustaining Ourselves, Clewell highlighted the four values that are fulfilled by restoring a damaged ecosystem - personal, ecological, cultural and socio-economic - and cited several examples to illustrate his point
Pennsylvania: Stroud Launches Watershed Restoration Group to Ensure Water Quality
Stroud™ Water Research Center has launched the Watershed Restoration Group to utilize the Center's groundbreaking freshwater science to develop, research, implement, and monitor restoration projects throughout Pennsylvania and beyond. Matthew Ehrhart, former Pennsylvania executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), joined the Center in January to head the Group. David Wise, also formerly of CBF, accompanied him to serve as the watershed restoration manager. |
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New Books & Articles
Restorative Art
Artists and ecological restorationists have a lot in common: both work experimentally with materials that are sometimes unpredictable. But there are tensions between art and restoration, too. To be effective as art, a piece has to stand out to human eye. To be effective as restoration, it has to blend in from the perspective of wildlife. For the past three decades, a handful of artists have taken up that challenge, creating work that has aesthetic appeal while also addressing environmental problems. This photo essay presents words and images from some of those artists. Their works span environments from the Utah desert to a Finnish lagoon. Some become permanent infrastructure, whereas others are designed to disappear, when they are obscured by reinvigorated ecological processes.
Washington: Turning Off the Dams and Letting Rivers Come Alive
River restoration is a societal goal in the United States. As a new book contributing to the GSA's Reviews in Engineering Geology series was about to be submitted for publication, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation turned off the generators to the Elwha Dam in Washington State. This collection of 14 research papers focuses on what is currently known about the impacts of removing dams and the role of dam removal in the larger context of river restoration. Editors Jerome De Graff of the U.S. Forest Service and James Evans of Bowling Green State University write, "It seems fitting that publication of this volume and the actual start of restoration on the Elwha River should coincide." The book has 14 chapters grouped by topic with a numerous case studies about specific river restoration projects around the United States.
Good-bye Sustainability, Hello Resilience
For decades, people who concern themselves with the world's "wicked problems"-interconnected issues like environmental degradation, poverty, food security, and climate change-have marched together under the banner of "sustainability." Yet today the sustainability regime is being quietly challenged, not from without but from within. Among a growing number of scientists, social innovators, community leaders, NGOs, philanthropies, governments, and corporations, a new, complementary dialogue is emerging around a new idea-resilience: how to help vulnerable people, organizations, and systems persist, perhaps even thrive, amid unforeseeable disruptions. Where sustainability aims to put the world back into balance, resilience looks for ways to manage an imbalanced world. We'll need to use nature itself as a form of "soft" infrastructure. Along the Gulf Coast, for instance, civic leaders have begun to take seriously the restoration of the wetlands that serve as a vital buffer against hurricanes. A future New York may be ringed with them, too, as it was centuries ago. |
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Restoring Natural Capital (RNC)
California: Agency Predicts 137K Delta Habitat Restoration Jobs
As many as 137,000 new jobs will result from habitat restoration and the construction of twin tunnels as part of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, according to a study released today by the California Natural Resources Agency. This study is an update to an earlier job-creation study by the Department of Water Resources that looked at conveyance proposals for 3,000 cubic feet of water per second and 15,000 cubic feet per second coming out of the delta. That study indicated that job creation would be between 70,000 and 130,000 respectively. Most of the jobs identified in the new study would be 137,000 full-time equivalent jobs in construction, operations and maintenance, and land acquisition for both conveyance and habitat restoration projects. |
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Agro-Ecology
Canada and Western University Launch a Farmer-to-Farmer Agroecology Project in Malawi
Smallholder farmers in Africa will learn sustainable farming practices and improve the health and nutrition of their families thanks to a partnership between the Government of Canada and Western University. This investment will help Western University work with its local partners to strengthen the farming practices of more than 30,000 smallholder farmers in Malawi. Through the project's unique focus on farmer-to-farmer education, 6,000 farming households will learn agro-ecological farming methods and will be provided with technical support in food production and cooperative development. In addition, 200 youth will receive training in operating small businesses. |
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Forest Restoration
A bill that would remove biodiversity and restoration from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources' forest-management goals passed the state Senate last week with a 26-11 party-line vote, with Senate Republicans in favor.Environmental groups were quick to blast the vote. Biologists and others say there is ample scientific evidence showing that diverse forests are more resistant to pest outbreaks, including some of Michigan's most notorious forest destroyers like the spruce budworm and tent caterpillars.
A reforestation campaign was launched Sunday by the Army, the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon and a local civil society group, in order to promote environmental health in the southern district of Marjayoun. Jouzour Loubnan, a non-governmental organization that seeks to restore woodlands and promote sustainable forestation in the country's arid regions, spearheaded the campaign with cooperation from the municipality, the Army and Spanish and French UNIFIL contingents. Jouzour Loubnan Vice President Magda Kharrat announced that the goal of the campaign in Ibl al-Saqi would be to plant 6,000 trees within 850,000 square meters of municipal land.
The residents of San Crisanto, a small communal village nestled in an idyllic setting in the southeastern Mexican state of Yucatán, have learned that valuing and protecting natural resources can generate employment and income. The San Crisanto initiative, which combines ecotourism and other economic activities, is a model for other communities. Since 2001, the community has restored 11,300 meters of canals in the mangrove forests and 45 cenotes fed by underground water sources. While these efforts have reduced the risk of flooding, they have also led to growth in the populations of endemic species.
In her work, a longue duree study, Kieko Matteson talks of the struggles over woodland policy in France from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. She explores how the conflicts were shaped not only by material realities but, more powerfully, by competing political, economic, and ideological outlooks between those who would conceive of forests largely in terms of wood and fuel, and those who relied upon its broader benefits, from leaves and fodder to haute futaie. It is all the more ironic, then, in light of its long history of legislative suppression of customary practices and peasants' violent response, that in recent years the French government has begun actively encouraging the very practices it once reviled, arguing that they are vital to restoring biodiversity, mitigating climate change, and maintaining the forest's abundant other contributions, both measurable and multitudinous. In this article, Keiko discusses France's forest management over the past three centuries. |
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Wetland Restoration
Florida: Everglades Plan Could Siphon County's Drinking Water
For years, Everglades restoration engineers and scientists have been working on ways to control the ripple effects water flows are effectively returned to the marsh. Increased suburban flooding has long been the big concern from raising water levels in the Everglades but a critical plan now on the fast track surprisingly poses the opposite problem. Initial computer modeling for the $1 billion plan, which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is rushing to complete by year's end, suggests the proposed re-plumbing of assorted levees, canals and pumps could divert too much water from a well field that supplies Miami-Dade County with much of its drinking water.
Florida: Restoration Planned For "Dead Zone" In Lagoon
A barren, muddy stretch of the Lake Worth Lagoon will be the focus of a $2.6 million restoration project intended to create habitat for oysters, birds, fish, manatees and other wildlife. The Grassy Flats project will take place on a 12.8-acre stretch of the lagoon, part of a 20-mile long lagoon, adjacent to a golf course on the island of Palm Beach. Plans call for covering the muck with sand, which will encourage the growth of sea grass. Two small islands will be constructed, one lined with red mangroves. The islands will be stabilized with 5,300 tons of limestone. At one island, cordgrass will be planted, creating a salt marsh. Although a major goal of the project is to restore seagrass, it won't be necessary to plant any. |
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River & Watershed Restoration
New York: Hudson Environmentalists Developing Unified Habitat-Restoration Plans
In 1996, Congress set aside $11 million to fund habitat-restoration projects in the Hudson River. Most of the money was never spent because a blueprint for those projects was never completed. Now, an effort is under way to complete that restoration plan and gain access to federal money for projects running the length of the upper Hudson estuary, from the Tappan Zee Bridge to the Troy Dam. The plan seeks to create a system-wide road map for projects that typically are developed, funded and executed by nonprofits, localities and the state. Projects would support the recovery of fisheries, improve water quality, restore habitats, improve public access and, perhaps most importantly, gird the ecosystem for the impacts of more frequent storm surges. |
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Grassland Restoration
VIDEO: How Cows Could Repair the World - Allan Savory at TED
For decades people have pointed to overgrazing by cattle as the main cause of once-fertile grasslands turning to rapidly eroding, nearly lifeless deserts. These desertified landscapes are then incapable of supporting the livestock themselves, agriculture, or large wild animals that once lived in great numbers on the same land. This is what has led to famine and conflict in different areas around the world. Growing up in Kenya, Allan Savory was terribly moved by this. In his recent TED talk, Savory talked about his experiences with desertification. The failure of earlier attempts to halt desertification combined with his estimation that two-thirds of Earth is now desertifying inspired Savory to search for a new approach to protecting and restoring grasslands. |
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Desertification & Arid Land Restoration
Spain: Technologies At the Service of Ecosystem Restoration
Researchers at the Universidad Politecnica of Madrid have developed techniques for species recovery of damaged ecosystems in dry Mediterranean regions. The ecosystem restoration in semidry areas is a priority and a complex challenge due to the difficulties presented by natural agents to restoration. The massive implantation of vegetal covers over the whole field would be a solution, but it is an expensive task and it has high failure rates. Therefore, searching for other possible solutions, a researcher at the School of Forestry of the UPM along with experts from other institutions have launched a strategy to boost the restoration process by introducing key species in specific areas or in diversity in the shape of islands. |
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Coastal & Marine Restoration
TEEB for Oceans & Coasts Knowledge Platform
An initial version of the TEEB for Oceans & Coasts knowledge portal has been made available. The portal is a web-based platform which aims to monitor, over the long term, the changes in value of ocean and coastal ecosystem services around the world. It will also promote information and knowledge sharing, assist capacity building facilitation and provide a platform for continued knowledge development. Click here to browse the platform and provide feedback.
Asia-Pacific Analysis: Protecting And Restoring Coral Reefs
Better navigation and surveillance can help to prevent ships from damaging coral reefs and the need for expensive restoration, says Crispin Maslog. When the US Navy minesweeper USS Guardian smashed into the Tubbataha Reefs in the Sulu Sea off the Philippines at dawn on 17 January, it sent shock waves to the Philippine government and environmental guardians in South-East Asia. The big question though is whether the coral reefs can be returned to their former state and at what cost? Coral reef rehabilitation is expensive and labour-intensive, and reef recovery can be sluggish. With the growing sea traffic, however, groundings cannot be eliminated. Governments and coral reef guardians must therefore develop a more efficient and effective coral rehabilitation capacity. |
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Get Involved
SER Southeast Chapter Meeting- Human Dimensions of Ecological Restoration- March 12-14, 2013
SER Southeast will hold their annual general meeting at the Gulf Hills Hotel and Conference Center in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, on March 12-14, 2013.
SER-Mid-Atlantic: Pieces of the Puzzle- - March 28-30, 2013
SER Mid-Atlantic is planning their 2013 Conference to be held March 28-30, 2013 in College Park, Maryland at Maryland University.
Thiess International Riverprize- Stage 1 - Applications Due March 29, 2013
New Mexico: 2nd National Native Seed Conference- April 9-12, 2013
2013 International Congress for Conservation Biology- July 21-25, 2013
5Th National Conference on Ecosystem Restoration (NCER)- July 9- Aug 2, 2013
SER2013: 5th World Conference on Ecological Restoration- October 6-11, 2013
SER will hold its 5th World Conference on Ecological Restoration in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, on October 6-11, 2013. This event marks the 25th Anniversary of SER and will celebrate the conference theme of "Reflections on the Past, Directions for the Future."
SER-Texas Annual Conference- November 1-3, 2013
SER Texas will hold its annual chapter meeting November 1-3, 2013 in Junction, Texas.
SER 2013 Conference Listing on the Global Restoration Network (GRN)
For more listings, visit SER's Calendar of Events. Posting to the Calendar is a member benefit. |
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Funding Opportunities
Delaware: Restore And Protect Land Through Conservation Easements- Due March 15, 2013
Delaware farmers interested in protecting and restoring their wetlands or grasslands are encouraged to apply for financial assistance through the federal Wetlands Reserve Program and Grassland Reserve Program. Applicants should submit their applications no later than Friday, March 15, to their local U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service office to be considered for funding in fiscal year 2013. The Wetlands Reserve Program provides an opportunity for landowners to receive financial assistance to protect, restore and enhance wetlands on their property.
2013 Conservation Easement Applications for Wetlands and Grasslands- Due April 5
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in California has set April 5, 2013, as the deadline for considering projects for the 2013 Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) and Grassland Reserve Program (GRP) funding. WRP is a voluntary program that provides farmers, ranchers and other private landowners compensation for land placed in wetland conservation easements, and cost-share funding for restoring degraded wetlands. WRP includes permanent easements that pay 100 percent of the easement value and restoration costs, and 30-year easements that pay up to 75 percent of the easement value and restoration costs. WRP also offers a 10-year restoration-only option without an easement.
Ontario: Funding for Community Clean-Up Projects- Due April 26, 2013
The Ontario government is accepting grant applications from community groups trying to carry out projects organized to clean up or protect local beaches, shorelines or wetlands. The fund provides grants to community groups for grassroots activities, such as cleaning up a beach or shoreline, or restoring a wetland to help protect and restore the ecological health of the Great Lakes.
Applications for funding are being accepted until April 26. The Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund, launched in 2012, provides up to $25,000 per project to restore and protect the Great Lakes and the streams that flow into them. In 2012, 80 applicants worked on projects to improve coastal areas of the Great Lakes. Interested groups can get more details during one of the Webinars and teleconference sessions scheduled March 14 and 26 and April 10 and 18. To reserve a spot at the information sessions, interested groups should phone 416-325-4000 or email GreatLakesFund@ontario.ca.
WWF's Russell E. Train Forest Landscape Restoration Grants- Due May 1, 2013
WWF has an ambitious goal to restore 20 landscapes of outstanding importance within priority ecoregions by 2020. In order to help accomplish this goal, WWF's Russell E. Train Education for Nature (EFN) program, with generous funding from the UPS Foundation, has launched a special grant opportunity focused on Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR). Local organizations from select WWF-US priority ecoregions must meet all of the following eligibility criteria to be considered for a grant. WWF-US Priority ecoregions include: Mesoamerican Reef, Amazon, Congo Basin, Coastal East Africa, Madagascar, Eastern Himalayas, Greater Mekong, Borneo and Sumatra, Coral Triangle (www.worldwildlife.org/places). All project activities must be completed before September 1, 2013.
The Commonwealth Financing Authority is now accepting applications for grants under the Act 13 Marcellus Legacy Fund Programs covering abandoned mine drainage abatement and treatment, watershed restoration and protection, water quality data, greenways, trails and recreation and orphan and abandoned well plugging programs. Applications are due July 31 and will be considered at the CFA's November 13 meeting. For more information, contact Brian Eckert or Matthew Karnell at 717-787-6245 to discuss potential projects before commencing the application process.
US: Sustain Our Great Lakes Offers Funding for On-the-Ground Habitat Restoration & Enhancement
Sustain Our Great Lakes is a public-private partnership that works to sustain, restore, and protect fish, wildlife, and habitat in the Great Lakes basin by leveraging funding, building conservation capacity, and directing partners and resources toward key ecological issues. Administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the program is accepting applications for competitive funding to be awarded through the 2013 funding cycle. In 2013, grant funding will be awarded in three categories - habitat restoration, delisting of beneficial use impairments within Great Lakes areas of concern, and private landowner technical assistance. Approximately $5 million to $9 million is expected to be available in grants ranging from $25,000 to $1.5 million.
US: DEP Grants to Restore & Protect Coastal Zones in Pennsylvania- 2013 Applications Open
The Department of Environmental Protection has awarded more than $900,000 in annual coastal zone management grants to organizations dedicated to protecting and preserving Pennsylvania's coastal zones along Lake Erie and the Delaware Estuary. The agency is now accepting applications for 2013. Coastal zone management grants support programs that measure the impact of various pollution sources; improve public access; preserve habitats; and educate the public about the benefits of the state's coastal zones.
US: Wildlife Restoration Program- Region 5 Grants- Applications Due August 31, 2014
WR provides Federal grant funding to the 50 States, Commonwealths, and territories for the selection, restoration, rehabilitation, and improvement of wildlife habitat; wildlife management research; wildlife population surveys and inventories; land acquisition; hunter education and safety programs; coordination; development of facilities; facilities and services for conducting a hunter education and safety programs; and provisions for public use of wildlife resources.
US: Conservation Reserve Program Initiative to Restore Grasslands, Wetlands and Wildlife
USDA's CRP has a 25-year legacy of successfully protecting the nation's natural resources through voluntary participation, while providing significant economic and environmental benefits to rural communities across the United States. Rather than wait for a general sign-up (the process under which most CRP acres are enrolled), producers whose land meet eligibility criteria can enroll directly in this "continuous" category at any time.
US: Emergency Forest Restoration Program
The 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 are ensuring the collective success of restoring some of the earth's most fragile ecosystems.
The Gulf of Mexico Foundation's Community-based Restoration Partnership Funding for the 2012 cycle of the Gulf of Mexico Foundation's Community-based Restoration Partnership (CRP) is now available. The CRP 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. By 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.
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
Tamarisk Coalition, a non-profit advancing the restoration of riparian lands throughout the American west, posts current funding and training opportunities applicable to riparian restoration on the Riparian Restoration Connection. |
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