This Week In The News
2010 Listing for Restoration-Related Conferences
March 10, 2010
 UVic professor to shed light on ethnoecology
Okanagan College will welcome a renowned ethnobotonist from the University of Victoria to present a lecture about ethnoecology at its Vernon campus on Monday, March 15. Dr. Nancy Turner is a professor in UVic’s School of Environmental Studies. An expert in ethnoecology, Turner will shed light on the traditional ways Indigenous peoples perceive, use and care for the natural resources around them. Her lecture, Not Just Any Old Place: Ethnoecology in a Changing World, is co-presented by the College and the Okanagan Science Centre and begins at 7:30 p.m.
‘Big Oil’ Biologist Defends Work
When Bill Streever took a job in 2000 with BP, friends, “friends of friends,” academics, students and people he barely knew asked him why he had “sold out” and gone to work for Big Oil. Why would someone like him go to work for an oil company? “I told them then, and I still tell them, you can make a difference, influence company policy, from within an oil company, more so than working from the outside,” Streever said.
University of Florida Online Program in Ecological Restoration
The University of Florida School of Forest Resources and Conservation (SFRC) has started a new online course program in Ecological Restoration offering a Masters Degree and a non-degree Certification Program. (Full disclosure: the Florida Wildland Fire Training site manager is a MS degree holder from the SFRC and current PhD student at the SFRC). The program is largely designed to assist working professionals who are looking to learn new skills and attain their academic goals. Courses offered tend to focus on the applied science of ecosystem management and restoration.
Wetland Restoration. A Handbook for New Zealand Freshwater Systems
Wetland Restoration: A Handbook for New Zealand Freshwater Systems brings together expertise from specialists and groups actively engaged in restoring wetlands throughout the country. The handbook builds on regionally based restoration guides and provides a detailed, comprehensive ecosystem approach toward understanding, protecting and enhancing our remaining wetlands. It is targeted at those who plan to, and those who already are making a difference to improving wetlands, and is written in a way that can easily be understood and importantly, acted on.
Australia: Can Species Reintroductions Aid Ecosystem Restoration
Whilst the primary goal of reintroductions has been the establishment of wild populations, there is increasing recognition of the potential for reintroductions to restore ecosystem function. The substantial range declines of the greater bilby (Macrotis lagotis) and the burrowing bettong (Bettongia lesueur) are thought to have had dramatic effects on ecosystem processes in the Australian arid zone because of their impacts on surface soils. We studied the effects of their reintroduction on litter and seed capture and soil nutrient levels, in comparison to two prevalent fossorial animals; the exotic European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and the native sand goanna (Varanus gouldii).
USDA Announces Formation of Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Advisory Committee
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced he is seeking nominations from the public for the new Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Advisory Committee. The committee will inaugurate a new level of collaboration between the USDA Forest Service and the American people in the restoration of forested landscapes.
West Africa Mangroves Impacted by Salt Extraction
Salt is precious in poverty-stricken coastal West Africa, but conservation experts say efforts to extract it are laying waste to mangrove swamps, causing erosion and ravaging fish stocks. In Sierra Leone, one of Africa’s poorest nations still recovering from a 1991-2002 civil war, lawmakers are preparing a bill to join a seven-nation charter to protect the region’s mangrove forests.
Mexico: Habitat Restoration on the Colorado River
In the next installment of this series, conservation and restoration efforts on the Mexican side of the International Border will be explored. With less money and less water available, several nongovernmental organizations are busily dedicated to preserving key wetlands in the Colorado River’s Delta, as well as restoring riparian habitat along its corridor. In the third and final segment, cooperation between American and Mexican entities will be examined. The Colorado River conservation community is tight-knit, but there are transnational political considerations to be made when working with a natural resource that isn’t confined by political boundaries.
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Welcome to the GRN
The Global Restoration Network (GRN), a project of the Society for Ecological Restoration International (SER), offers the field of ecological restoration a new database and web-based portal to trustworthy and hard-to-find information on all aspects of restoration, from historic ecosystems and causes of degradation to in-depth case studies and proven restoration methods and techniques. The overriding mission of the GRN is to link research, projects, and practitioners in order to foster an innovative exchange of experience, vision, and expertise.
The GRN is fast becoming the central hub for ecological restoration – a vital resource for policymakers, professionals and communities, whether researching options for habitat restoration, writing a project proposal, coordinating volunteers, or looking for educational programs and funding. Perhaps the most exciting feature of the GRN is the database where you can make a specific query and find restoration case studies and annotated links to a wide variety of relevant resources including experts, organizations and literature. Here is a small sample of the links you will find in the GRN website and database.
CASE STUDIES
Alexander River Restoration Project, Israel
The Alexander River Restoration Project is Israel’s leading river restoration and was awarded the Thiess International Riverprize in 2003. Implemented by Israeli agencies, with cooperation and support from local Palestinian officials in an unprecedented show of solidarity, the project aims to restore a river severely degraded by untreated sewage and pollution from more than 70 sources–in both Palestinian and Israeli territory.
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Restoration of the Mata Atlantica, Brazil
Instituto Terra is a non-profit organization founded in 1999 by Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado and the renowned photographer Sebastião Ribeiro Salgado. It is located at the Bulcão Farm in Aimorés, Minas Gerais, and it covers an area of 676 hectares.Â
Mangroves Restoration in Andhra Pradesh, India
This project was launched in Andhra Pradesh with the aim of inducing concerted action towards conservation and sustainable management of the mangrove wetlands on the east coast of India. The restoration employed canal techniques, instead of simple plantation of seedlings, and a fish bone pattern of canals was utilized.
ORGANIZATIONS
Earth Restoration Service takes a proactive approach to ecosystem restoration worldwide, forming partnerships with community groups, charities, NGOs, governments and businesses in support of a broad range of environmental restoration projects.
Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration is a network of governments, organizations, communities and individuals who recognize the importance of forest landscape restoration and want to be part of a coordinated global effort.
European Centre for River Restoration supports the development of river restoration as an integral part of sustainable water management throughout Europe ensuring that projects will be more cost effective, more likely to succeed, and will encompass multifunctional objectives.
LITERATURE
Saltmarsh Restoration – Rebuilding Habitat with a Community Partnership
A recent project in the Tweed Estuary has shown that when the shared goal of committed stakeholders is the rehabilitation of a damaged saltmarsh ecosystem, then progress is definitely possible.
Sustainable River Restoration in Urban Streams
Based on a review of the literature, we identified candidate indicators of hydrologic alteration and ecosystem response that could be used to guide restoration. Using available biological and hydrologic data we tested candidate indicators to determine if flow-biology relationships could be identified and used as guidance in restoration programs.
The Restoration of Forests:Â Temperate Zone of China
The restoration of forests in the northeast and northern China, including the loess plateau, is of benefit to biodiversity conservation and the improvement of the natural environment.
VIDEO
Post Tsunami Mangrove Restoration in Sri Lanka
The video is part of the Global Nature Fund’s project to restore mangrove forests and livelihoods in Sri Lanka after the Tsunami of 2004.
Regrowing the Borneo Rainforest
By piecing together a complex ecological puzzle, biologist Willie Smits has found a way to re-grow clearcut rainforest in Borneo, saving local orangutans — and creating a thrilling blueprint for restoring fragile ecosystems.
A River Reborn: The Restoration of Fossil Creek
The inspiring rebirth of a biologically critical river in Arizona is recounted in A River Reborn: The Restoration of Fossil Creek. The one-hour documentary examines the ecological effects of a dam and hydroelectric facility on the waterway and chronicles the 15-year effort that led to decommissioning.
Click on the logo below for some great videos of coastal and salt marsh restoration projects
Science and Practice of Ecological Restoration
