Global Restoration Network

This Week In The News

September 1, 2010

Restoring the Environment – Making Dollars and Sense in the Face of Climate Change
Well planned, appropriate restoration, compared to loss of ecosystem services, may provide benefit/cost ratios of 3–75 in return of investments and an internal rate of return of 7–79%, depending on the ecosystem restored and its economic context, thus providing in many cases some of the most profitable public investments including generation of jobs directly and indirectly related to an improved environment and health. Ecological restoration can further act as an engine of economy and a source of green employment. Let’s pass this info along so we make sure it gets into the right circles on Capitol Hill!

Bold action is needed to protect the diversity of life on Earth
Instead of spending taxpayers’ money propping up factory farms, UK government should support planet-friendly farming.

Wisconsin: Casper Farm recognized for habitat restoration
In an effort to help keep the water in the creek on their farm as clean as possible and the creek banks from eroding, the Casper family of Knapp has worked in the past with the Fish & Game Association and U.S. Department of Agriculture to create a wildlife refuge on a stretch of Wilson Creek approximately one mile in length through fencing and a buffer strip.

Washington: Repairing aging roads to aid forest restoration
A coalition of 18 groups is pushing to restore national forest lands in Washington through the removal and repair of forest roads left behind from decades of timber harvesting. State and federal officials say mud and runoff from abandoned roads pose a problem for water quality, salmon and the ailing Puget Sound. They say the roads can also block fish passage and wildlife migration.

California: Wetlands restoration on Napa River in final phase
Work has begun on the final phase of a massive, $25 million wetlands restoration project along the Napa River. An excavator on Wednesday ripped through a barrier between the river and a 1,400-acre swath of former salt ponds on an island near the Napa County Airport. It’s the final phase of the Napa-Sonoma Marshes Wildlife Area restoration project.

Vermont: State Restores Lost Wetlands to Protect Lake Champlain
Farmer Bob Forrest used heavy equipment in the 1970s to gouge a network of 5-foot-deep drainage ditches through swampy, low-lying land on the banks of Otter Creek. Muscling Mother Nature did not work very well. Last year, the retired dairyman conceded defeat. He stopped growing crops on 130 acres of wet fields and joined an effort aimed at nothing less than reversing 100 years of wetland conversion in the Champlain Valley. Forrest pocketed $253,780 for selling the federal government a conservation easement. His drained acres are being transformed back into wetlands.

Watershed Restoration Film Contest Recognizes Seven Northwest Films
Regional filmmakers receive $4,100 in prize money from the Stories From Our Watersheds film contest sponsored by Ecotrust, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, the PNW Region of the USDA Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management.

California: Congressman Thompson, DU celebrate historic restoration project
Ducks Unlimited hosted a media event and site tour of the Napa Sonoma Marshes Restoration Project near American Canyon. DU and its partners assisted the California Department of Fish and Game in restoring the area, which is being transformed from a large expanse of salt evaporation ponds into 1,400 acres of natural tidal wetlands that support populations of migratory waterfowl, endangered fish species, shorebirds and other wildlife. These acres join 5,000 acres previously restored by DU on the Napa Sonoma Marshes Wildlife Area.

Audio: Shelling Out For A Chesapeake Bay Oyster Comeback
Chesapeake oysters are a succulent treat that for centuries have been loved almost to extinction. But some scientists and business people are making headway in bringing back the bivalve, for the sake of oyster lovers and the bay. A successful restoration project, a report showing that fewer oysters are dying from disease, and the growth of oyster farming all give cause for optimism. Still, experts caution that Chesapeake oysters have a long way to go. President Obama has pledged to make good on decades-old promises to restore the Chesapeake, the nation’s largest estuary, and scientists and environmental activists say he needs oysters to help him do that.

British Virgin Islands: To Rescue a Reef
Snorkel through the middle of Guana Island’s White Bay, and you’ll see a common sight: a dead elkhorn coral reef. Even in the region’s most pristine waters, much of the species has been killed off in recent decades by disease, bleaching and climate change. But a closer look at the Guana reef is more encouraging: Dozens of pieces of live elkhorn coral have been attached to it. The fragments are part of a project led by Dr. Graham Forrester, a longtime participant in Guana’s Marine Research Programme, in partnership with the Association of Reef Keepers and the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College.

UAE: Abu Dhabi to Breathe Life into Coral Reefs
On a mission to breathe life into degrading coral reefs, the Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi (EAD) has embarked on a two-year project to learn more about the colourful world of corals.

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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.

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.

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: 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

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