SER2013 Early Registration - Closes July 15
Register before July 15 to receive $125 off regular registration! Registration fees 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 and Island Press Student Video Contest with $500 Scholarship- "Why Restore?"
 Final submissions for the Island Press Student Video Contest on ecological restoration projects are due September 1, 2013. The top five, 1-4 minute videos will be chosen by public vote and the winner will be selected by a panel of expert judges. The winner will be announced at SER2013, will receive a $500 travel scholarship to the conference, and the potential to work with an Island Press publishing team to author a short E-ssential on restoration. Click here to learn full details on how to submit your prize winning video.

Don't forget! SER Members receive a 25% off ALL Island Press book purchases. Active SER members can enter promo code 2SER to receive the discount.

India: Environmental 
Arun Krishnmurthy, a 26 year-old environmentalist quit a stable career at Google to found his NGO Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI) in Chennai, which is active in three Indian cities. Under EFI's Lake Biodiversity Restoration Project, he has already restored six lakes. Read more about Krishnmurthy in an interview by Postnoon, a local Indian newspaper.

Restoration Ecology (Open Access): Rehabilitation Seagrass by Facilitating Recruitment
 Coastal habitats are facing unprecedented scales of anthropogenic stress. Seagrass meadows in particular are threatened because the estuaries that they thrive in are also popular areas for urbanization. Since 1879 about 29% of the world's seagrass has been destroyed, which have ultimately jeopardized fundamental ecosystem services. There are numerous techniques for seagrass rehabilitation but one method that has proven to be very promising is the use of hessian bags made from biodegradable jute fibers that facilitate in situ recruitment of amphibolis seedlings. The results of the study suggest hessian bags can be a relatively simple, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly method for rehabilitating Amphibolis seagrass, with few considerations in their use other than their physical architecture and arrangement (e.g. isolated coarse-weave bags).

Farming Carbon: Study Reveals Potent Carbon-Storage Potential of Manmade Wetlands
After being drained by the millions of acres to make way for agriculture, wetlands are staging a small comeback these days on farms. Some farmers restore or construct wetlands alongside their fields to trap nitrogen and phosphorus runoff, and research shows these systems can also retain pesticides, antibiotics, and other agricultural pollutants. Important as these storage functions of wetlands are, however, another critical one is being overlooked, says Bill Mitsch, director of the Everglades Wetland Research Park at Florida Gulf Coast University and an emeritus professor at Ohio State University: Wetlands also excel at pulling carbon dioxide out of the air and holding it long-term in soil.

Climate Change May Hinder Regeneration of Conifers after Forest Fires
From clearing out dead leaves and trees, to jump-starting new growth, to returning minerals to the soil, forest fires have many benefits. According to researchers from Oregon State University, moisture stress is a key limitation for conifer regeneration following major forest fires that occur on dry, low-elevation sites. As a result, reforestation post-fire recovery on dry sites may be slow and uncertain.

Scotland: Ripping Out Disused Wind Farms 'Will Harm Environment'
Dismantling and removing onshore wind farm infrastructure at the end of its operational life could be more harmful to the environment than leaving it in place, according to a new report published today. The study, commissioned by government agency Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), focuses on the benefits and drawbacks of restoring a site to its original state when a wind farm is decommissioned.

Florida Property Owner Challenges Wetland Credit Program
 The Florida Supreme court last week sided with a property owner who argued it was wrong for local government to require the owner to pay for wetland restoration elsewhere in exchange for permission to develop wetlands on his property. The so-called "wetlands trading" or "wetlands credit" has long been widely used in Minnesota and elsewhere. The Florida court ruled that requiring the landowner to restore parts of his or her land or pay for wetland restoration elsewhere was "extortion."

Australian Government Ends Aid to reforestation Program in Indonesia
The Australian Government's aid agency, AusAID, has quietly ended an ambitious project in Indonesia to reforest and rehabilitate peatlands, with the aim of helping reduce carbon emissions. The $100 million scheme was launched in 2007 with much fanfare, but nearly seven years on very few of the project's initial targets have been achieved.

Minnesota: Restoring Wetlands Part Science, Art and Patience
Megan Lennon and Eric Mohring are debating which shade of "muck" they're staring at. Were they not rapidly becoming covered in dirt and swiping ticks off their pant legs by the half-dozen, you might think Lennon and Mohring were picking out wallpaper patterns for some hipster decor. This, in part, is how wetlands are restored. It's both art and science, and takes years. The typical narrative of a wetland restoration project goes like this: A government agency announces acquisition of land; years later, a ribbon-cutting ceremony is held, and hunters and birdwatchers enter with high hopes. In between is the restoration itself. A land transforms from bean farm to construction site to something that, hopefully, looks as if humans never had touched it.

Michigan: River Restoration Projects Revitalize Ecologies, Economies
Grand Rapids, MI recently announced its $2.7 million plan to restore rapids to the Grand River. The river restoration project, "Green Grand Rapids," aims to reshape the physical structure of the river and repair the natural habitats of various aquatic species. The Grand Rapids Project is one of 11 newly selected additions to the Urban Federal Waters Partnership.

Indonesia: Bengawan Solo in Need of Restoration 
A recent study by the Green Society Forum in Indonesia determined that the Bengawan Solo river basin in Central Java, Indonesia, is in urgent need of restoration. One of five highly polluted river basins in Indonesia, Bengawan Solo contained heavy metals such as chromium, copper, lead, and zinc. Action taken thus far is limited to mitigation efforts, such as addressing floods by relocation, while an action plan for the causes of the condition will be published in the near future.

California: Bay Restoration - Lines in the Mud, The Battle for Softer Shores
Once upon a time we had 196,000 acres of tidal wetlands ringing San Francisco Bay. Then, in short order, settlers dug ditches and heaped up walls of dirt, and later concrete, around all these wetlands. They drained them and sent in the horse and plow, the cow and oats. In the late 1990s, as the paradigm shifted from defense to offense, scientists and resource managers drew a blue-green line in the mud along the shoreline and produced the first maps of what needed to be saved or restored to achieve some kind of ecological equilibrium.

US: Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council Extends Public Comment Period
The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council has extended the period for formal public comment on the Restoring the Gulf Coast's Ecosystem and Economy and accompanying Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment the Draft Initial Comprehensive Plan to July 8, 2013.

Pennsylvania: Don't Muddy Restoration - New Bill to Manage Chesapeake Run-Off
The Susquehanna River watershed delivers most of the pollution to the Chesapeake - 44 percent of suspended solids or sediment, 45 percent of nitrogen and 45 percent of phosphorous. The bigger problem now is known as "non-point source" pollution, the runoff from paved surfaces that carries chemical pollution, and especially the runoff from livestock operations. The state Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee has approved a bill, the Major Watershed Improvement Act that would radically alter the state's approach to complying with the Chesapeake improvement program.

Nevada: Relocation Program Restoring Bighorn Sheep to the Hills East of Reno
The huge population of bighorn sheep in Nevada is a success story spanning decades. Nevada is now home to more bighorn than any other state in the nation save Alaska with nearly 11,000 of the animals estimated to live in the state. It's a success story that spans decades and involves the determined efforts of government scientists, volunteers and sportsmen with a vision. It's a story, some involved say, worthy of superlatives.

A Mozambican Lion Story: Working to Save Africa's Lions
The Projecto Leões da Gorongosa (the Gorongosa Lion Project) in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, is working to monitor Gorongosa's lion population to better understand how to support their full recovery in this unique ecosystem. In 1977 came a 15-year civil war and by the time peace returned to the country in 1992 lions were few and far between. Since then a large-scale restoration project in the form of a partnership between the Gorongosa Restoration Project (a U.S. non-profit) and the Government of Mozambique is now restoring the park and its wildlife through a combination of strengthening wildlife protections, scientific research, and reintroductions of zebra, buffalo and wildebeest.

British Columbia: First Nation Sets Fires to Save Bison
The Fort Nelson First Nation is reviving the age-old practice of controlled burning in order to improve the health of forest and restore the population of the wood bison in a corner of northeastern B.C.

Australia: Mines May be Judged by Koalas
The performance of Australia's mining industry in restoring the native landscape could one day be judged by koalas. According to new research, in some parts of the country, koalas and other native animals may be best suited to judge whether mine site rehabilitation is a success.

3er Diplomado Online "Restauración del Bosque de Niebla"- Julio 19 - Noviembre 20
La 3ra edición del Diplomado aporta herramientas y conocimientos de excelencia académica, desde las bases de la restauración para este tipo de bosque hasta las valiosas experiencias de expertos de todo el continente americano. Los alumnos de ediciones anteriores han apreciado mucho el incluir un concepto equilibrado entre teoría, práctica y actividades, todo ello en un modelo flexible y autodidacta que permite al alumno ser arquitecto de su propio conocimiento. El Diplomado es organizado por Pronatura Veracruz A.C., el Instituto de Ecología, A.C. y Natureserve con el apoyo financiero de US Fish and Wildlife Service, programa Wildlife Without Borders.

Diplomado en línea: Restauración de ecosistemas y servicios ambientales -- 2 de Septiembre de 2013 al 7 de Febrero de 2014
El diplomado 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). Los profesores son investigadores consolidados de estas y otras prestigiosas instituciones de Iberoamérica y España. Dirigido a profesionales del área de las ciencias ambientales y afines, investigadores, docentes, estudiantes y representantes del sector público y privado, cuyo interés y trabajo se enfoque en la restauración de ecosistemas degradados.

2013 International Congress for Conservation Biology- July 21-25

5^Th National Conference on Ecosystem Restoration (NCER) - July 9- August 2

Vienna: 5^th European River Restoration Conference - September 11-13

SER2013: 5^th World Conference on Ecological Restoration- October 6-11, 2013
SER will hold its 5^th World Conference on Ecological Restoration in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, on October 6-11, 2013. This event marks the 25^th 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
SER Texas will hold its annual chapter meeting November 1-3, 2013 in Junction, Texas.

Michigan: 2014 Science, Practice & Art of Restoring Ecosystems Conference- January 2014

Quebec - Responsible Management of Peatlands: Implications of the Industrial Sector- Feb 2014

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.

Minnesota: Wetland Restoration Program Sign-Up Now Available - July 2013
 The Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced today that the 2013 RIM-WRP program sign-up is now open. The program offers competitive payment rates for landowners to restore wetlands that have been drained and have a history of being used for agricultural production. The RIM-WRP sign-up period begins June 3, 2013, with funding decisions expected by mid-July. Eligibility is statewide, but priority is given to areas of Minnesota that have experienced the greatest wetland losses.

Pennsylvania: CFA Offering Abandoned Mine, Watershed, & Greenways Grants - Due July 31, 2013
The Commonwealth Financing Authority is now accepting applications for grants under the Act 13 Marcellus Legacy Fund. Program cove 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.

Pennsylvania: DEP Growing Greener Watershed Restoration Grants - Due August 16, 2013
The Department of Environmental Protection is now accepting applications for its latest round of Growing Greener Plus Watershed Restoration and Protection Grants. Applications are due August 16. (formal notice)The Department anticipates there will be approximately $18 million available for Growing Greener grants, $3 million available for 319 NPS grants and $2 million available for acid mine drainage set-aside grants in this round. For the upcoming grant round, the Department will invest in projects that will ultimately protect or restore, or both, this Commonwealth's watersheds from impairment due to nonpoint source pollution.

US Mid-Pacific Region: Central Valley Project Conservation & Restoration Program - October 4, 2013
 The Bureau of Reclamation intends to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), R13AF20026, for grants/cooperative agreements for the following program: The Central Valley Project Conservation Program (CVPCP) and Central Valley Project Improvement Act Habitat Restoration Program (HRP). These programs will improve conditions for species and habitats impacted by the Central Valley Project (CVP), excluding fish. Prospective recipients must be registered on the SAM database or offeror is ineligible for an award.

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.

WWF-US: EFN Reforestation Grants- Applications Due September 1, 2013
 EFN, with generous funding from the UPS Foundation, has launched a special grant opportunity focused on Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR). FLR is defined as a planned process that aims to regain ecological integrity and enhance human wellbeing in deforested or degraded forest landscapes. (WWF and IUCN 2000.) Local organizations from select WWF-US priority ecoregions must meet all of the eligibility criteria to be considered for a grant. Applications must be completed online and submitted to the EFN Conservation Workshop Grants by September 1, 2013.

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.

USDA Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
 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 Directory 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.