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SER2013
October 6-11, 2013
Madison, Wisconsin
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Restoration Ecology
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SER is proud to affiliate with HaloCard Visa, which allows SER members to direct 1% of their purchases (at no cost to the user) to SER. Use code 2199 to direct your proceeds to us.
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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
RESTORE is Going on Vacation - RESTORE will be taking a short break during the month of August. Stay tuned, we'll be back September 4th.
We're pleased to pass along an exciting offer from Island Press, our partner in publishing The Science and Practice of Ecological Restoration series. For this week only, July 29 - Aug 5, more than 500 of their e-books are on sale for $4.99 or less.
Which Social Media Site Do You Use Most? - Click Here to Take Our 1-Question Survey
SER and Island Press Student Video Contest with $500 Scholarship- "Why Restore?"
Submit a 1-4 minute video on ecological restoration by September 1, 2013 to win a $500 travel scholarship to SER2013 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.
SER Partners Up with HaloCard™
We are excited to announce our affiliation with the HaloCard™ Project, which provides a revolutionary way to raise additional funds from supporters without asking for any out-of-pocket donations. Please check them out at and consider using a HaloCard™ to support the Society.
SER2013 - Regular Registration Deadline September 27
With over 1,000 early registrants, you don't want to miss SER2013! Sign up online before September 27th to avoid on-site registration costs. Members get $75 off the cost of regular registration.
SER2013 - SER Welcomes News Conference Sponsors World Resources Institute (WRI) and Wiley Blackwell. Click here for a full list of our sponsors.
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. |
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People in the News
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New Books & Articles
In humanity's relentless search for the industrial minerals that undergird our modern technology and economy, we have extensively and comprehensively ravaged natural landscapes. Indeed, as an industry quip has it, mining is primarily a waste management business. The narrative of mine remediation has long focused on the cosmetic benefits of replanting and repurposing old mine sites. In fact, the environmental harms from mining, often unaccounted for, tend to occur out of sight, deep underground, where they can persist for millennia.
US: New USDA Maps Show the Way for Rangeland Management
A new tool for guiding decisions about rangeland restoration is now available, thanks to mapping innovations developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist Brandon Bestelmeyer and others used a variety of ecological data to create "ecological states maps" which show environmental factors that affect landscape restoration efforts.
Wales: A Policy Analysis Perspective on Ecological Restoration
Using a simple stages model of the policy process, authors S. Baker and K. Eckerberg explore the politics of ecological restoration using an array of examples drawn from across sectors, different size and scale, and from different countries. A policy analysis perspective reveals how, at both the program and project levels, ecological restoration operates within a complex and dynamic interplay between technical decision making, ideologies, and interest politics.
A U.S. Geological Survey Science Plan for Support of Restoration and Recovery
Hurricane Sandy resulted in widespread and substantial physical, environmental, ecological, social, and economic impacts estimated at near $50 billion. This science plan was developed immediately following Hurricane Sandy to coordinate continuing USGS activities with other agencies and to guide continued data collection and analysis to ensure support for recovery and restoration efforts. |
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Agro-Ecology
US: Prairie Plants Help Restore Farmland Soil
The world's soil is in trouble, even in the fertile Midwest. Some experts warn that if degradation continues to go unchecked, topsoil could be gone in 60 years. That has implications for agriculture and the broader environment. Schulte Moore and her colleagues had been experimenting with how to restore native prairie landscapes in a state where the dominant land use today is agriculture. |
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Biodiverity & Climate Change
From Mexico, Global Lessons for Forest GovernanceIn Mexico, the experience of community forest management is characterized by the devolution of successively expanded property rights, especially timber rights, over sometimes-large forests, combined with community-level governance institutions that mobilize social capital and an intermittently supportive policy environment. There are regions of Mexico that already resemble the anticipated outcome of successful REDD+ projects, even though no market opportunities for investors were created. |
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Forest Restoration
Hiding in a 63-acre sanctuary 'forest garden' and refuge for the beleaguered plants of this region is an experiment in restoration ecology. A small team of 10 residents has created a microcosm of the Ghats, which now harbours over 2,000 species of orchids, ferns and trees - more than a third of the total found in the Western Ghats.
A nursery project on Roberton Island (Motuarohia) in the Bay of Islands on Saturday saw 46 young kakabeaks planted in a public/private partnership scheme involving Department of Conservation, volunteer environmental group Guardians of the Bay, a Roberton Island property owner and Hawkes Bay-based Forest Lifeforce Restoration Trust (FLRT). The intention on Roberton Island is to create a "seed orchard" providing stock for the wild - with the help of the birds and bees, and conservationists.
Scientist Praveen Saxena of the University of Guelph is turning to the science of cryogenics to ensure that the trees he's culturing in his lab have a place in the landscapes of the future. With the help of a $2-million private donation announced this week, Prof. Saxena is building a state-of-the-art facility in which living tree tissue can be frozen, preserved and revived as needed for decades to come. |
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Wetland Restoration
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River & Watershed Restoration
Maine: Down Comes Another Dam
On Monday, a demolition crew will begin removing the Veazie Dam on the Penobscot River just above Bangor, ME. The Veazie is the lowest of the Penobscot dams and closest to the river's mouth on the Maine coast. |
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Grassland Restoration
A long-planned ecological restoration at Bush Heritage Australia's Monjebup Reserve is transforming this former farm. A team of scientists and volunteers is planting and seeding more than 120 native plant and tree species. According to Bush Heritage, the vegetation will bridge a critical habitat gap. |
Lake Restoration
US: Critics Slam House Bill That Would Slash Great Lakes Restoration Funding by 80%
The bill, which includes funds for the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Forest Service, proposes an overall $2.8 billion reduction - 34% - in funds for the EPA in fiscal year 2014. The proposed cuts would reduce funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative from the current level of $285 million to $60 million.
India: How To Restore Our Lakes
In India, citizens have come to dread water bodies in their cities only because instead of rainwater, it is sewage and effluents that are filling up their urban lakes and ponds.The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), working closely with the Institute of Environment Education and Research, Bharati Vidyapeeth University (BVIEER) launched an eco-restoration project that is a good showcase for the partnership between experts and municipal authorities. |
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Coastal & Marine Restoration
West Virginia: Biologists Using Fish to Help Restore Mussel Population
West Virginia fisheries biologists are using fish to help restore mussel populations wiped out by two major chemical spills. Natural resources officials are hoping to correct the damage wrought by a 1999 chemical spill on the Ohio River near Parkersburg and a 2009 spill on Dunkard Creek north of Morgantown.
Kelp Forest Restoration Project Begins off Southern California Coast
After 15 years of scientific monitoring, research, and planning, the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation (SMBRF), with funding and technical assistance from NOAA's Montrose Settlements Restoration Program (MSRP), begins a large-scale kelp forest restoration project off the coast of California's Palos Verdes peninsula this July. SMBRF will bring kelp forests back to life in an area that has experienced a 75% loss of kelp canopy.
Louisiana's Disappearing Islands
A string of uninhabited islands in the Gulf of Mexico have gone from teeming with wildlife to nearly non-existent thanks to constant pummeling from tropical systems, and according to some scientists, climate change is making matters far worse. Part of a $320 million settlement has been designated to help restore parts of North Breton Island, according to the Federal Register, which tracks all federal environmental action. |
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Wildlife Restoration
Mauritius: Can Introduced Animals Replace Extinct Ones?
In the past, introduced animals have often been a threat for ecosystems, however the approach to introduced animals seems to be changing. On Ile aux Aigrettes, a small island just off the coast of Mauritius, certain animals are being introduced to take over the jobs of those species that have become extinct. |
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Extractive Industries
Louisiana Sues Over 100 Oil & Gas Companies for Coastal Loss
The board that oversees the levees in the New Orleans region filed suit in state court last week against about 100 leading oil and gas companies, asking that they repair damage done by the industry's network of access roads and pipeline canals, which has contributed to the loss of thousands of acres of wetlands a year since the 1930s. In the suit, the flood authority asks the oil and gas companies to restore the wetlands, which once acted as essential buffers against storms. |
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Get Involved
Panama: Ecosystem Services and Tropical Forest Restoration Course - August 12-17
Webinar: Effects of Fuel Treatments On Wildfire Severity in Texas - August 21
Vienna: 5th European River Restoration Conference - September 11-13
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
SER Texas will hold its annual chapter meeting November 1-3, 2013 in Junction, Texas.
Iraq: Impact of Climate Change on the Marine Environment and Arid Regions-Nov 26-28
California: Workshop - Applied Watershed Restoration - November 1-3
Michigan: 2014 Science, Practice & Art of Restoring Ecosystems Conference- January 2014
Colorado: Tamarisk Coalition's 12th Annual Conference- 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. |
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Funding Opportunities
This program is to support environmental education outreach for watershed restoration with non-BLM partners on Federal and non-Federal lands within the Calapooia watershed. Educational outreach programs aimed at landowners, volunteers, private and non-profit organizations are to encourage public involvement in riparian restoration in order to foster better stewardship of watersheds in advance of resource degradation to ensure sustainable watershed health, functions and uses. The objective of this program is to coordinate comprehensive planning, assessment and educational outreach for the strategic management of watershed systems.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 GrantsDirectory 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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