Resource Database

Using DNA metabarcoding to monitor mine site restoration: lessons learnt from vertebrate, invertebrate, and soil microbial communities

Restoration monitoring needs effective tools to assess ecosystem recovery in order to improve restoration methods and establish trajectories. Our research evaluates eDNA metabarcoding as a potential monitoring tool that can assess diversity and indicate whether ecosystems are on a trajectory indicating recovery. This research highlights that changes in soil microbial communities are not consistent between locations or taxonomic group (fungi or bacteria), but they can show patterns of recovery in certain systems. We also demonstrated the use of a novel substrate (pooled scat) to detect bird and mammal diversity, and showed the usefulness of this method was dependent on scat detectability. DNA metabarcoding enabled rapid survey of invertebrate communities which, even with poor taxonomic identification, demonstrated strong signal of community recovery over time. Additionally, DNA metabarcoding can be used to evaluate functional aspects of ecosystem recovery by detecting not only invertebrate communities, but also the interactions between groups of organisms such as invertebrates and plants. The wide-scale testing across different ecosystems revealed the importance of environment as a filter for suitable terrestrial eDNA substrates. The management implications of this finding are that eDNA surveys may require site-calibration before being applied to restoration monitoring. As a result, it may be challenging to standardize terrestrial eDNA surveys for multiple ecosystems, unlike in aquatic systems. Despite the limitations, this thesis demonstrates the potential of this technique to rapidly assess complex, biodiverse systems; and establish restoration trajectories that illustrate ecosystem recovery towards reference conditions.

Using Genetic Field Trials to Guide Management and Restoration of a Tree Species Under Threat by a Non-Native Pathogen and Climate Change

Maintaining healthy forests is a complex challenge, and climate change and invasive species are implicated in decreasing forest resilience. Southwestern white pine (SWWP; Pinus strobiformis), native to the southwestern US and Mexico, is vulnerable to climate change and a non-native tree disease, white pine blister rust (WPBR). Conditions are increasingly warmer and drier as precipitation patterns shift, and WPBR is spreading across the US range of SWWP. Proactive management and restoration require seed sources with durable genetic disease resistance and adaptative traits needed to survive the warmer, drier conditions predicted in the future. Seedlings from a range-wide SWWP seed collection were used to test for WPBR resistance at Dorena Genetic Resource Center in Oregon. Both major gene resistance and quantitative resistance are documented in SWWP, as well as an estimate of resistance levels and frequency throughout the range of the species. Seed from parent trees identified as resistant can be collected and used for restoration or genetic conservation. We established two genetic common garden field trials in the Southwest to validate seedling screening results and monitor durability and stability of resistance as well as assess adaptive traits. This information is critical to identify seed sources for future planting. This interdisciplinary, collaborative project includes international, academic, federal, and tribal partners. Challenges include funding ongoing activities (testing, outplanting and monitoring previous plantings), increasingly variable and unpredictably dry planting conditions, and mortality events in the original parent trees. We will present details of the project, early results, and applications for management and restoration.

Design-Build and Design Intent: An Ecological Restoration Paradigm for Successful Stewardship

San Felipe Creek runs through a former agricultural valley, but so do trails and roads serving public hikers, bikers, and equestrians. Humans shaped the landscape and are part of the ecosystem. How do we restore the landscape for humans and restore the natural resources that draw them there? As land stewards we asked ourselves these questions as we designed and built a 50-acre landscape restoration project in Northern California, USA. What started with a stream and watershed restoration vision quickly shifted. The ensuing rapid feasibility study revealed a complex site history, and a road as one of five tributaries to our stream. A field meeting with regulators at 35% design allowed us to explain site functions and values and how design elements would translate into credits – What were the impairments? What could be done to restore function and thus where should we focus? Early regulator collaboration and inclusion of road drainage improvements yielded compensatory mitigation credits for 4 permitting programs. Design elements were localized and diverse, and included restored wetlands, backwater channels, inset floodplains, gully plugs, staked wood jams, and graded swales. Advancing from 65% design to build allowed field-fit as plans became reality. The design-build approach and primary focus on design intent allowed for reuse of large wood on site, changing of geometries to preserve natural resources, and re-scaling built features to limit impacts. Following the design intent paradigm, the design-build team, including project partners, embraced their roles as stewards. Monitoring and adaptive management are underway.

Manipulating soil fungal communities as a tool to restore forests post-mountain pine beetle in western Canada

Mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) has killed large areas of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) forests in western Canada. In some stands of beetle-killed trees, lodgepole pine regeneration is limited, possibly as a consequence of the loss and change in community composition of ectomycorrhizal fungi associated with pine trees. In this landscape-level field experiment, we tested whether we could improve pine seedling establishment in these stands by manipulating the communities of ectomycorrhizal fungi with which seedlings interact. Specifically, we tested whether we could restore ectomycorrhizal fungi in stands of beetle-killed trees by first inoculating seedlings with soil from intact pine forests and then transplanting them to field sites. Two years following transplanting, we compared the survival, height, and biomass of inoculated seedlings with those that received inoculum from stands with extensive beetle-induced tree mortality or no inoculum. Fungal community composition on roots of pine seedlings differed by inoculation treatment, however, inoculation had no effect on survival, height, or biomass of seedlings. We tested whether the best performing seedlings were selective of fungi from the soil fungal community but found no relationship between dissimilarity of soil and root-associated fungal communities and any seedling performance metric. Our results demonstrate soil inoculation was not an effective practice to increase pine seedling establishment in west-central Alberta forests post-mountain pine beetle.

Restoring Degraded Areas with the Cocoon Ecotechnology

In the current climate change situation, one of the most serious ecological threats is the increase of desertification risks. These risks are especially high in the Mediterranean basin. In this context, the LIFE project ‘The Green Link’ (LIFE15 CCA/ES/000125) was launched with the aim of testing a new planting technology, the Cocoon™, which increases the seedling survival in new plantations. The Cocoon consists of a donut-shaped container basically made of recycled cardboard. The container holds 25 liters of water. Within the central space a seedling is planted. Its design aims to provide water and shelter to the seedling during its first year, the most critical for plant establishment. The Cocoon was tested in seven planting trials, five of them in Spain (Canary Islands, Almería, Catalonia and two in Valencia), one in Calabria (Italy) and one in Ptolemais (Greece). The areas included in the project cover a variety of soils, Mediterranean mesoclimates, vegetation and land uses that allowed testing the effectiveness of the Cocoon methodology in different situations. With the objective of studying its functionality, the survival of the seedlings and their vigor were analyzed along with their growth. The degradation an incorporation to the soil of the Cocoon was also measured. The evolution of the plantation areas was also monitored through data on the structure, composition and vegetation diversity. Additionally, soil characteristics and fauna presence in the restored areas were also monitored. In general, Cocoon has proven its effectiveness by increasing seedling survival compared to the control group, especially under dry growing conditions (low rainfall, soils with low water retention capacity). Cocoon also allowed a higher growth of some species (olive trees, olm oaks and Aleppo pines). However, for other species these differences were less evident. A positive correlation between the rainfall of the site and the degradation degree of the Cocoon device was observed. Overall, and after three years of monitoring, it is possible to state that restoration of the areas shows a positive trend in terms of seedlings survival and vigor as well as vegetation cover and biodiversity.

The potential of green manure for greater cost-efficiency when active restoration is needed

Ecological restoration of tropical forests plays an important role in minimizing the consequences of environmental degradation. Among the active restoration techniques, seedling planting has been the most used, although it still has a high cost, especially to control non-native species. This study aims to experimentally assess the cost-efficiency of three active restoration techniques: (1) simultaneous random planting technique, (2) simultaneous technique using functional groups approach (50% of fast growing and covering species and 50% of late successional species), and (3) non-simultaneous technique (late successional species planted one year after the initial planting) based on structural and functional parameters. The three techniques were implemented with and without direct sowing of green manure between the lines of native species seedlings, aiming to control competitive non-native grasses in the initial phase. The experiment was carried out in Atlantic Forest, Paraguay. Green manure contributed to the increase of forest structure complexity by closing the canopy and controlling competitive grasses. Plots with green manure also had taller seedlings with better quality, such as growth, color and canopy architecture. Besides the ecological benefits, plots with green manure had lower maintenance costs as the fast shading inhibits the growth of competitive grasses, leading to less control interventions. The treatments show sing of difference that can be expressed in later samplings. Overall, the simultaneous treatment using functional groups approach with green manure was the most suitable technique combining the lowest maintenance cost and the lowest invasive grass coverage.

Drawing restoration goals from the bottom-up: Assessing local interest in ecosystem services

Successfully achieving our urgent and ambitious global restoration goals will depend on how well communities embrace restoration programs at a local scale. Restoration initiatives are frequently implemented using top-down decision-making strategies where non-local organizations determine the goals and expected restoration outcomes on the ground, which can result in conflicting expectations among stakeholders. But empowering local communities in restoration planning can enhance the success of restoration initiatives over the long-term. This study aimed to assess local interest in enhancing ecosystem services associated with forest restoration in landscapes of varying degrees of degradation, as a means to promote inclusive, diverse and ethical restoration planning. We used an interdisciplinary mixed-methods approach to collect and assess both quantitative and qualitative data. We facilitated focus group interviews and community mapping activities using satellite imagery for 26groups of local community members in 14 rural districts in the Ecuadorian Andes and Amazon in 2019. Our results show that community members are more interested in enhancing regulating ecosystem services (45%) than cultural (30%) or provisioning (25%) services. Interest in ecosystem services depended on local need (e.g., landslide mitigation, water supply) and the degree of landscape degradation. Locals living in landscapes with higher degradation preferred a higher number and diversity of ecosystem services compared to locals in less degraded landscapes. Learning about the local needs, interests, and landscape conditions can help restoration practitioners to support the design of restoration initiatives that empower locals to guarantee the persistence of restored areas for the achievement of the restoration goals.

In search of disturbed lands: a community science approach for landscape level restoration priority setting and planning

Amid a crisis of biodiversity loss and estimates of degraded lands between 1–7B ha, ecological restoration is seen as an important pathway to restore and sustain biodiversity, ecosystem services, and related benefits. However, many managers lack the tools they need to systematically and comprehensively identify disturbed sites to prioritize restoration efforts given limited resources. We developed a novel, inexpensive, low-tech approach for training and engaging citizen scientists to identify areas in need of restoration within a defined area. The mapping process follows four phases: 1) Landscape scans by volunteers using Google Earth Pro (GE) imagery; 2) A second scan of all detected disturbances based on high resolution aerial photography; 3) Compilation of basic information about the degraded sites; 4) Addition of associated plant communities. We detected 67 new sites not previously identified by managers using an estimated 220 volunteer hours and only 20 staff hours. Each site has accompanying information including distance from nearest access point, cause of disturbance, and plant and soils detail. After completion, we conducted independent field visits of 33% of the detected sites and verified disturbance in all cases. We found that the remotely sensed approach provided better perspective to accurately measure the scale and original source of disturbance compared with field visits. The approach can be conducted over a relatively short period of time, using multiple volunteers, and allows managers to undertake landscape level restoration prioritization and planning and, if repeated, it can be used to monitor changes in degradation over time.

Science Based? Yes, but Ecological Restoration is also all about Compromise

When planning projects, ecological restoration practitioners aim for the gold standard based on the best available science. In many instances, however, we are confronted with a barrage of challenges including, but not limited to, conflicting interest groups, competing habitat interests, scope/budget challenges, regulatory barriers, funder priorities, historical relationships and public distrust. These challenges often require adjustment to the scientific method and ultimately alter the end project – it
all boils down to compromise. In academia, as in our careers, we are trained to focus on science-based procedures that lead to predictable outcomes. As a practitioner with over 10 years of experience I have learned that ecological restoration, while science-based, is much more complex when put into practice. The soft skills required to manage these projects are just as valuable as the science itself. This presentation will explore the complexities of restoration projects, with an emphasis on stream restoration in highly altered, heavily used locations with sensitive habitats in regulated environments. I will reference Southern Ontario case studies, emphasizing the importance of honest communication, ongoing engagement and tactful negotiation to fulfill project goals and satisfy the needs of diverse parties. Establishing a culture where compromise is accepted, and even encouraged, is crucial for creating successful, resilient projects that have long lasting benefits within an entire community.

Structured decision-making for Maritime Live Oak forest restoration

Maritime Live Oak (Quercus virginiana; MLO) forests along the Georgia (U.S.A.) coast are highly regarded for their multiple natural and cultural heritage values. In recent decades, MLO forests have shown evidence of limited live oak recruitment, which may result in undesired long-term effects on tree community structure, function, and resilience. Many MLO forest stewards and scientists share a common interest in conserving forests by planting live oaks to augment existing populations. But there is uncertainty regarding potential restoration strategies because knowledge about MLO ecosystem dynamics is limited and fragmented among stakeholders. We used structured decision-making to collaboratively develop a decision-support tool for live oak tree-planting strategies. First, we held workshops with MLO forest stewards to identify: the managers’ long-term objectives and shorter-term success indicators; spatial and temporal scales of likely management actions; a set of potential management options; and data, legal, and resource constraints. Then we constructed a transition matrix model using empirical data and expert knowledge to estimate parameters for juvenile tree growth and survival rates associated with alternative treeplanting strategies. The decision support tool incorporated the transition model and associated cost estimates of management alternatives in order to project likely outcomes, costs, associated uncertainties, and the degree to which alternatives would meet different management objectives. This process ensured that we capitalized on diverse understandings and perspectives and that the decision support tool would be directly relevant to stewards’ values, objectives, and information needs.

Tools for developing trajectory-based goal structure for restoration planning

The US National Park Service (NPS) has long endorsed the concept of trajectory-based restoration strategies. However, with many of its larger projects, descriptions of biological community response, once geomorphology and hydrology of a site was corrected, were vague at best. More complex projects and global change agents make it much less certain that this approach will help managers avoid the increasing likelihood of systems moving towards undesirable states. Data-driven tools and products can be coupled with adaptive management, scenario planning and bet-hedging frameworks to help practitioners develop alternative trajectory-based goals and objectives. We will review applications of the National Vegetation Classification System, Rosgen’s Stream Classification and LANDFIRE Successional Models with biodiversity databases to several NPS projects in process and additional modeling tools to support restoration planning for potential projects. Even in retrospective analyses, efforts to incorporate concepts related to system stability, assembly rules filters and emerging climate barriers are challenging to incorporate in a standardized planning framework. We will present these issues in the context of several examples including stream systems and tallgrass prairie degraded from excessive grazing; contaminated, denuded hillslopes; fire-excluded ecotones; and agriculture to meadow transitions.

SER Webinar: Urban Ecological Restoration in Aotearoa, New Zealand

Urban ecological restoration has been the focus of our New Zealand government funded research since 2005. Our most recent research program People, Cities and Nature was initiated in 2016 and concludes in 2021.The program seeks to improve the quality of life, health and economic wellbeing in New Zealand’s cities and towns through advanced understanding of urban ecology and the creation of flourishing natural environments. Multidisciplinary research is being undertaken in nine New Zealand cities via six inter-related projects: ▪ Restoration plantings ▪ Urban lizards ▪ Mammalian predators ▪ Māori restoration values ▪ Green space benefits ▪ Cross-sector alliances. While our emphasis was on the ecological science of urban biodiversity restoration at the outset, we have become increasingly involved in understanding the multiple benefits of urban ecological restoration projects including social cohesion and health and recreation benefits. This webinar will focus on the progress made in bringing indigenous nature back into Hamilton City on North Island New Zealand since the advent of two community-based initiatives the Gully Restoration Program (2000) and the establishment of Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park (2004). Our research has strongly underpinned the design and management of both projects and documented the many benefits they provide to the city and its people. Professor Bruce Clarkson is a restoration ecologist interested in habitat restoration to bring indigenous nature back into towns and cities based at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand. He leads a New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment funded research programme: People, Cities and Nature: restoring indigenous nature in urban environments (https://www.peoplecitiesnature.co.nz/). Bruce has been a member of SER since 2005, a Director of the Australasian chapter board since 2011. He is currently chairperson of SERA and on the He is currently chairperson of SERA and on the SER Board as Regional Director for the Pacific.

Survival and early growth of 51 tropical tree species in areas degraded by artisanal gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon

Artisanal gold mining in Amazon forests and rivers has been reported in all Amazonian countries. Amazon mining has a wide range of negative effects and severe environmental and social consequences. Given that the activity in the region is mostly illegal, there are few studies published in the scientific literature on recovery of areas degraded by gold mining. This study conducts an experimental reforestation project aimed to evaluate soil degradation and explore the seedling survivorship and early growth of 51 tropical tree species in gold mined areas at 5 study sites distributed across the Madre de Dios region, in the Peruvian Amazon. The study provides guidance on the post-ASGM restoration potential for 51 common and useful tree species and gives practitioners recommendations for combinations of species and fertilization treatments to optimize restoration designs.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
Adequate planning and implementation of restoration

SER Webinar: Seeds of Success: Fort Belknap Indian Community-BLM-SER Native Seed and Grassland Restoration Program

The Fort Belknap Indian Community (FBIC) Native Seed & Grassland Restoration Program was designed to meet DOI, BLM, and Plant Conservation and Restoration Program Strategic Goals, via partnerships with FBIC and the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER). Launched in 2019, and led by an Indigenous PI, this Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)-based program focuses on developing genetically appropriate native plant material for habitat restoration; inventorying and prioritizing plant populations; and implementing and assessing restoration efforts through monitoring. Working on BLM lands, in consultation with Aaniiih and Nakoda elders and employing and empowering tribal youth, we are using Assessment, Inventorying, and Monitoring (AIM) protocols to identify plant populations, and then making collections from them for the Seeds of Success (SOS) program. Our long-term goal is to empower FBIC in creating a community-led greenhouse program to grow out native seeds, focusing on culturally significant species, thereby benefitting the community financially in increasing BLM Stock and Foundation seed amounts to use on larger programs and for restoration of FBIC and other Native American lands. FBIC has invited us to expand seed collection onto FBIC land, to help the community advance restoration efforts of degraded rangelands to support Greater sage-grouse and bison conservation.

THE SECURITY THREAT THAT BINDS US: THE UNRAVELING OF ECOLOGICAL AND NATURAL SECURITY AND WHAT THE UNITED STATES CAN DO ABOUT IT

The Converging Risks Lab of the Council on Strategic Risks (CSR) released a landmark report, The Security Threat That Binds Us, that identifies ecological disruption as a major and underappreciated security threat and United States to reboot its national security architecture and doctrine to better respond to this evolving threat landscape. Ongoing stresses to critical Earth systems, including to water, food, wildlife, forests and fisheries, heightens the risks of future pandemics, conflict, political instability,  loss of social cohesion, economic harm, and other security outcomes.

SER Webinar: Enabling factors to scale up forest landscape restoration

A study of 10 long term and large scale forest restoration initiatives reveals some of the key governance and economic factors that support restoration. This WWF and IUFRO study entitled “Enabling factors to scale up forest landscape restoration: the roles of governance and economics” highlights the key factors at the national or sub-national scale that motivate the initiation of forest restoration, enable its implementation at scale and sustain it. The report features examples of how these enabling factors have played out in different countries, and finds that approaches have to be context-specific to be successful.

Speaker: Stephanie Mansourian has been an environmental consultant for the last 16 years and is also a research associate with Geneva University (Switzerland). Her work in the last 25 years has spanned several environmental topics, including forest restoration, environmental governance, protected areas, sustainability among others. She was at the forefront of the development of forest landscape restoration (FLR) at the time when she was managing WWF’s related programme. Since then, and based on her observations of FLR programmes and projects, she carried out her PhD specifically on governance challenges related to FLR. In her work, she takes an integrated approach and seeks to span disciplines wherever possible. As a consultant her clients include NGOs, conventions, UN agencies and foundations. Her voluntary commitments include her board membership with the Society for Ecological Restoration, and her role as deputy coordinator of the IUFRO Task Force on “Transforming forest landscapes for future climates and human well-being”. She has published three books and authored several articles in peer reviewed journals.

SER-NW Inclusion in Ecological Restoration: Reimagining Restoration

What does inclusion in ecological restoration look like? How would it feel to truly welcome, celebrate, and protect marginalized members of our communities and ecosystems? In this ecosystem of social change, we must initiate and continue timely conversations surrounding race, gender, class, ability, ageism, and violence in the science and practice of ecological restoration. To disentangle restoration from social injustices, we are obligated to openly reflect on the racist lineage of conservation, uncover mutual interests in solidarity efforts, explore our own racial development, commit to training about implicit bias and interrogate how our institutions collude with BIPOC erasure, heteropatriarchy and extractive capitalism. Implications for Practice include decolonizing our media consumption/presentation, shifting language, mapping our roles in social change, evaluating people’s access to restoration benefits, and elevating untold stories. Michael Yadrick (CERP) endeavors to revive forest ecosystems and our relationship with nature in a warming world.

Coral Reef Restoration Guidelines

Restoration activities are becoming more and more popular across the world, in an attempt to restore/sustain the function and services associated with coral reef ecosystems. It should be noted that these efforts are unlikely to be effective as a stand-alone action, they should always be done as part of a larger integrated management strategy.

This website collects some of the most recent guidelines on coral reef restoration, including webinars and technical documents.

SER-Europe Webinar: State of Ecological Restoration in Hungary

Join Dr. Melinda Halassy, of the Centre for Ecological Research, to learn about the state of ecological restoration in Hungary.

This is the second of a 2021 webinar series by SER Europe – every 2nd Wednesday of the month at 18hr CET a member of SER-E will lecture us on the State of Ecological Restoration on her/his Country, followed by a Q&A and a conclusion on best practices and further research + innovation networking.

SER-RM Webinar: Wildfire Restoration: After the Feds Leave

The Burn Area Emergency Recovery (BAER) team has produced burn severity maps, USGS debris flow maps and reports. They have moved on to the next emergency. This talk is about cheap action items and tasks. They range from on the ground prescriptions to resources that keep the community safe. It takes time for funding to arrive and more time to determine where it will be spent. But patience is not high on the community’s list.

Speaker Bio: Theresa Springer is a Wildland Fire Rehabilitation Coordinator with the Coalition for the Upper South Platte. In her own words, “Chicken Little/Fearmonger to Clairvoyant/Expert” was a short ride for Theresa. In 2000, her job was to raise awareness that it was not a matter of “if” but “when” then forest would burn. She spread the word that forest fires would just get bigger and bigger. Then on June 8th, 2002, Colorado’s Hayman Fire roared through 138,000 acres and tragically her predictions proved true. Since then, Theresa has led recovery efforts on too many fires to count. She has learned: “Equality is a trait of wildland forest fires. Recovery efforts are anything but equal.”

SER Webinar: Peatland Restoration as a Natural Climate Solution in Minnesota

Wetland restoration is increasingly being considered as a climate change adaptation by conservation organizations globally. Peatlands store as much as 30% of the world’s terrestrial carbon. The Nature Conservancy is developing natural climate solutions (NCS) as an approach to address climate change. Since peatlands are abundant in Minnesota, in the northern U.S., covering approximately 1,400,000 hectares, the TNC regional chapter is assessing the potential for peatland restoration as an NCS strategy. There are 2 to 3 million acres of wetlands classified as histosol soils, mucks with less organic matter than peat, that support other wetlands types  Most organic-soil wetlands in the southern half of Minnesota were drained for agriculture, while about 1/6 of northern peatlands were impacted by drainage for forestry, grazing or agriculture. Although most of the peatlands remain intact, recent research estimates annual loss of 38,000 Mg of carbon from oxidation from drainage. Carbon accumulation rates in Minnesota peatlands have been estimated to range from 0.5 Mg/ha/yr in northern peatlands to 3.0 Mg/ha/yr in southern Minnesota wetlands. Re-wetting of drained peatlands greatly reduces decomposition of organic matter, but can increase release of methane. Logistically it is easier to block shallower ditches surrounded by public lands then deep ditches near pastureland or roads.  Therefore, a three-pronged peatland restoration strategy for is recommended: protect large standing stocks of carbon in peatlands, re-wet partially drained peatlands in the north and restore large southern “mucklands” for short-term carbon sequestration and multiple benefits.

Speaker: Dr. Chris Lenhart is SER’s CERP coordinator and a Research Assistant Professor with the BBE Department at the University of Minnesota and contributes to The Nature Conservancy, Mn-ND-SD chapter. His work focuses on focused on treatment wetlands, stream restoration and water quality management, particularly in agricultural areas.

SER-NW Webinar: Tribal leadership and sovereignty and the relevance of restoration planning

This webinar is the second in SER-NW’s series: Inclusion in Ecological Restoration.

Speaker: Dezarae Hayes, Sound Transit Director of Tribal Relations, and the Director of Transportation for the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe.

SER-E Webinar: State of Ecological Restoration in Spain

Join Dr. Josu Alday, of Lleida University, to learn about the state of ecological restoration in Spain.

SER-RM Webinar: Tree regeneration post-wildfire in Southern Rocky Mountains forests

Across the Western United States, wildfires are increasingly posing significant risks to ecosystems and society, largely due to climate warming, increases in human, past land management practices, and increasing development in the wildland urban interface (WUI). Notably, this past an unprecedented series of large wildfires burned extensively in areas of subalpine forest in the Southern Rocky Mountains. To provide insight into how these forests may respond, here I will review recent research that examines the drivers of post-fire regeneration in Colorado’s subalpine forests and the implications for forest management.

Speaker Bio: Sarah Hart is an assistant professor in the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship at Colorado State University. Her research integrates fine-scale mechanisms with large-scale patterns and processes to understand the causes and consequences of forest disturbance, including wildfire and insect outbreaks.

SER Webinar: Developing rehabilitation plans for riparian corridors in arid/semi-arid conditions

In Lebanon, as in other countries worldwide, riparian ecosystems are more susceptible to declines in biodiversity than other terrestrial ecosystems (Sala et al, 2000). Riparian forests cover a surface area of 58 hectares, representing 0.04% of the total forest cover (MoA/FAO, 2005). Considering the existing number of permanent and seasonal streams and rivers in Lebanon, this percentage can be described as low.

The ecological status of riparian habitats in Lebanon has drastically changed, mainly due to land use changes. The privatization of lands adjacent to riverbanks has led to the noticeable land cover changes in riparian areas. Major areas have turned into intensive agricultural and industrial activities, with a lack of urban planning regulation on important buffer zones and impacting natural resources and functions of riparian areas . In addition, as a result of the continuing political conflicts in the region, refugee settlements near rivers have added pressure on riparian ecosystems, hindering the proper implementation of rehabilitation/restoration measures. With current management still failing at enabling a proper ecological functioning of these areas (González, et al. 2017), appropriate rehabilitation/restoration practices are needed considering a multi-scale approach.

The following webinar will cover how to accurately plan riparian rehabilitation projects and develop customized rehabilitation plans targeting fauna and flora conservation and re-establishing riparian functions, in areas with limited resources, while taking into considerations the social norms and other political and economic limitations.

SER-WC Webinar: The Peninsula Stream Society: Headwaters to Deepwaters

The Peninsula Streams Society helps coordinate stream restoration and habitat conservation on the Saanich Peninsula. We provide our associated groups with the technical expertise and resources to help achieve their goals.

Our goal is to achieve healthy aquatic habitat that supports self-sustaining populations of native species in both freshwater and marine environments. We accomplish this objective through research, restoration, innovative projects, public education and private land stewardship

SER Webinar: Advances in Remote Sensing to Support Coastal Habitat Monitoring & Resiliency

Satellite imagery provides cost-effective and reliable information to aid in coastal restoration and resiliency efforts. Learn about Stantec’s recent pilot study on the Louisiana Barrier Islands where new innovative remote sensing technologies are being used to help our client monitor and prioritize restoration efforts in the face of climate change and natural disasters. We acquired high-resolution satellite imagery daily in optical (red, green, blue) and near-infrared (NIR) channels for the entire Barrier Island chain at a fraction of the cost of traditional aerial photos. For the past five years, Stantec, in partnership with the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) have been using Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) and Interferomic Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) to establish baseline conditions for this site with incredible precision and accuracy, including vegetation health, shoreline delineation, and land changes resulting from erosion and deposition.

Speakers: Grant Wiseman (Stantec Geomatics Remote Sensing Specialist) and Carl Ferraro (Stantec Senior Environmental Scientist).
Grant’s diverse remote sensing background sets him apart from other remote sensing professionals—he’s completed studies across the globe. Grant has worked in the rainforests of central Borneo and in the Canadian high arctic, applying his remote sensing skillset on a wide variety of applications, mapping mountain gorilla habitats and delineating native American archaeology. He’s also utilized many types of remotely sensed imagery from ultraviolet light and thermal energy to synthetic aperture radar. With more than 25 years of experience working in coastal programs, Carl provides clients with the expertise needed to successfully plan coastal restoration and economic development projects. These innovative plans and designs work with natural systems, leveraging our “eco capital” to reduce impacts to coastal resources.

SER-E Webinar: State of Ecological Restoration in Estonia

Join Aveliina Helm of the Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences at the University of Tartu, to learn about the state of ecological restoration in Estonia.

This is the fourth of a 2021 webinar series by SER Europe – every 2nd Wednesday of the month a member of SER-E will lecture us on the State of Ecological Restoration on her/his Country, followed by a Q&A and a conclusion on best practices and further research + innovation networking.

SER Webinar: Kūkulu Ke Ea A Kanaloa – Restoring the Kaho’olawe Island Reserve

Kaho‘olawe is a single shield volcano located 7 miles southwest of the island of Maui in the Hawaiian archipelago. The island is approximately 11 miles long and 7 miles wide, encompassing roughly 28.000 acres (45 sq.mi.). Kaho‘olawe is a cultural treasure, possessing unique archeological sites that have put the entire island on the National Register of Historic Places. After the arrival of Europeans though, the island underwent a harsh evolution. The island was decimated of its natural dryland forest ecosystem from nearly 200 years of uncontrolled ungulate grazing and 50 years of use by the military for live fire training and bombing exercises.  Although a major clean-up of unexploded ordnance (UXO) was conducted between 1998 and 2003, the island and its surrounding waters are still littered with UXO.
Paul Higashino, Restoration Program Manager with the Kaho’olawe Island Reserve Commission, will be discussing the past and present restoration efforts on island, as well as future directions for the work. Paul will share the innovative and unconventional planting methods one must employ when attempting to reforest a former bombing range, where digging into the ground is impossible.  He will also discuss the use of erosion control devices, like gabions and wattles, in areas of hardpan to help slow the flow of water and minimize sedimentation in the nearby marine ecosystems.

Paul has a BS in Tropical Agriculture from The University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa. Paul has been with the KIRC since 1996 and is the Restoration Manager for the Restoration Program. He is responsible for the biological management for Kahoʻolawe and planning restoration activities on island. This includes planting, erosion control, planting strategies, faunal restoration, and logistics of KIRC personnel and volunteers. Previous work history included working for The Nature Conservancy of Hawaiʻi, Maui Preserves as Field Naturalist and Assistant Preserves Manager, Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, Research Division as a Research Associate, and many more.

SER-RM Workshop: Practical Tools and Sample Designs for Ecological Restoration Monitoring

These three presentations make up SER-RM’s recent three-day workshop: Practical Tools and Sample Designs for Ecological Restoration Monitoring. On day one (May 4), Dr. Tim Robinson will lay out a path for avoiding failure in environmental monitoring related to ecosystem restoration and a framework for the necessities of a solid sampling plan. On day two (May 5), Dr. Blair Robertson will discuss the benefits of spatially balanced sampling designs for environmental resources. On day three (May 6), Mr. Sam Cox from the US Department of Interior – Bureau of Land Management – Wyoming State Office will discuss and show examples of how to use remote sensing with free, open-source software.