Resource Database

Participatory monitoring to connect local and global priorities for forest restoration

New, global initiatives to restore forest landscapes present an unparalleled opportunity to reverse deforestation and forest degradation. Participatory monitoring could play a crucial role in providing accountability, generating local buy in, and catalyzing learning in monitoring systems that need scalability and adaptability to a range of local sites. We synthesized current knowledge from literature searches and interviews to provide lessons for the development of a scalable, multisite participatory monitoring system. Studies show that local people can collect accurate data on forest change, drivers of change, threats to reforestation, and biophysical and socioeconomic impacts that remote sensing cannot. They can do this at one-third the cost of professionals. Successful participatory monitoring systems collect information on a few simple indicators, respond to local priorities, provide appropriate incentives for participation, catalyze learning and decision making based on frequent analyses and multilevel interactions with other stakeholders. Participatory monitoring could provide a framework for linking global, national, and local needs, aspirations, and capacities for forest restoration.

SER Certification Program Overview

Join SER’s Certification Program Coordinator Jen Lyndall to learn about the program and hear from Mel Asher, CERP, about a practitioner’s perspective.

Practical Restoration Design, Implementation, and Management for Coastal and Inland Wetlands – Three Case Studies

Co-hosted by SER and Society of Wetland Scientists.

Use of Living Shorelines for Nature-Based Shoreline Protection – Kevin Du Bois

The use of traditional bulkheads, seawalls, and rip rap revetments along low to moderate wave energy shorelines has led to the loss of valuable marine resources and the ecosystem services they provide. “Living Shorelines” are nature-based approaches for shoreline protection that conserve, create, or restore natural shoreline habitats. This presentation will provide an overview of Living Shoreline design and benefits and provide before-and-after photographs to illustrate project successes.

Kevin R. Du Bois is a certified Professional Wetland Scientist, Professional Wetland Delineator, and Certified Floodplain Manager. Over his career, Mr. Du Bois has worked as a state Fisheries Biologist, Sensitive Land Acquisition Specialist, USFWS Endangered Species Biologist, wetland regulator, and environmental educator. Mr. Du Bois has worked for the Navy for 2+ years providing Installation and Regional level services as a NEPA, Natural Resources, and Cultural Resources Project Manager. Mr. Du Bois currently serves as the DoD Chesapeake Bay Program Coordinator.

Little Pine Island Mitigation Bank, Lee County, Florida and Lake Wales Forest Mitigation and Net Ecosystem Benefit Site, Polk County, Florida – Kevin Erwin

The Little Pine Island Mitigation Bank in Lee County, Florida entailed restoration of 4,670± acres of coastal fringe wetlands and uplands that were drained by canals and infested with exotic trees, primarily Melaleuca and Brazilian pepper. This project included the restoration of 48.3± acres of mosquito ditches back to native habitat. The Lake Wales Forest Mitigation and Net Ecosystem Benefit Site in Polk County, Florida is a successful restoration project that encompasses a complex mosaic of hardwood swamp forests, freshwater marshes, and xeric scrub habitat on the Lake Wales Ridge. Both of these world-class restoration projects werefeatured as case studies in the United Nations Environment Program report entitled “Dead Planet, Living Planet – Biodiversity and Ecosystem Restoration for Sustainable Development” (Nellemann, C. and E. Corcoran, eds. 2010).

Kevin Erwin is an internationally recognized, Ecological Society of America certified senior ecologist (1985), specializing in large-scale wetland restoration, biodiversity conservation, and watershed evaluation. Since 1980 he has served as the President and Principal Ecologist of Kevin L. Erwin Consulting Ecologist, Inc. and is also a Courtesy Faculty Member of Florida Gulf Coast University in the Department of Marine & Ecological Sciences.

Restoration Ecology’s 25th Anniversary – Our Top 25 Publications

A collection of Restoration Ecology’s 25 most-cited articles to mark the 25th Anniversary of the journal.

Seed Dispersal and Soil Seed Banks – Promising Sources for Ecological Restoration

A collection of 15 papers from 10 countries discussing techniques, lessons learned, and knowledge gaps as it relates to seed-based restoration projects. Published with guest editors Péter Török, Aveliina Helm, Kathryn Kiehl, Elise Buisson, and Orsolya Valkó.

Oregon Invasive Species Council – A Comprehensive Review of the State Strategy

Invasive species are nonnative organisms that can cause devastating economic and environmental harm. In Oregon, a diversity of organizations across the state are focusing efforts on preventing the establishment of new invasive species and taking actions to eradicate, control, and/or manage the invasive species that have already arrived. In order to conduct a comprehensive and coordinated effort to prevent, detect, control, and eliminate invasive species, the Oregon Legislature established the Oregon Invasive Species Council (OISC) in 2001.

The OISC is comprised of members from state and public agencies, tribes, scientists, educators, and members of the public who lead Oregon’s fight against invasive species and protect Oregon’s natural resources and economy from the harm that invasive species cause. After a collaborative process of input and engagement of many colleagues across the state working to protect Oregon from invasive species, the Council adopted the Statewide Strategic Plan and Action Plan for Invasive Species in 2016, which lays out the long-term and short-term strategies for invasive species control in Oregon. Among the strategies, ecosystem recovery and resilience are prioritized as essential to long-term protection of Oregon’s resources and environments. This holistic approach is necessary for our state to be successful in its battle against invasive species.

Jalene Littlejohn is co-founder and director of Samara Group, an Oregon-based consulting firm that was created to enhance environmental projects. Jalene is the Lead Coordinator for the Oregon Invasive Species Council (OISC) and supports a number of other invasive species and conservation initiatives in the region. She has been involved with the SERNW Chapter since 2015 and continues to support the upcoming SER-SWS Joint Regional Conference.

Landscapes, at your service

The Restoration Opportunities Optimization Tool (ROOT) was developed out of a need to more efficiently and effectively communicate the importance of ecosystem services to decision makers. IUCN’s collective experience working to increase ecological productivity and improve human well-being through forest landscape restoration (FLR) demonstrated that although stakeholders were interested in generating ecosystem services from proposed restoration activities, the many services and their interactions with each other were often too complicated to communicate clearly. Furthermore, as a social process, decision makers working towards restoration were interested in more than just the biophysical gains from restoration for different services; they wanted evidence for how restoration might benefit agricultural production, access to jobs or different sources of income, and how investments in restoration might help underserved or marginalized groups. The case studies in this report were chosen based on ongoing FLR assessments as well as the existence of ecosystem services data, and are intended to demonstrate the applicability of ROOT to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Post-fire Restoration in the Great Basin – Challenges, Opportunities, and a Call to Make Adaptive Management Real

The vast sea of sagebrush-steppe rangelands that supported iconic wildlife and many ecosystem services has been heavily impacted by exotic plant invasions and altered wildfire, motivating one of the largest restoration and rehabilitation efforts globally. Members of the Great Basin Chapter of SER will describe the efforts, past and future, from scientific and management perspectives, and address the needs and prospects for an adaptive management approach.

Restoring Forests and Landscapes: The Key to a Sustainable Future

This report, produced by the Global Partnership for Forest and Landscape Restoration (GPFLR), includes a number of principles to be applied throughout the design and implementation of Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) strategies: 1) focus on landscapes; 2) engage stakeholders and support participatory governance; 3) restore multiple functions and multiple benefits; 4) maintain and enhance natural ecosystems within landscapes; 5) tailor to the local context using a variety of approaches; 6) manage adaptively for long-term resilience.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
This report contributes to the development of safeguarding measures in accordance with activity B5.

Biotic interactions in the tropics – challenges for restoration and conservation in the Anthropocene

When ecosystems are lost or transformed, not only is biodiversity simplified or displaced, but key interactions that modulate ecosystem structure and function are also affected.  Therefore, restoration and conservation must have a complete view of the ecosystems to ensure their recovery.

This webinar explores how biotic interactions influence the restoration of natural tropical ecosystems. We examine how feeding interactions, such as predation and frugivory, affect the carbon cycle in the soil-atmosphere and in the trees. In addition, we will discuss changes in animal composition that may induce changes in the spatial organization of tree cohorts and its implication for restoration as a strategy for reviving and sustaining forests.

Finally, we will explore how changes in animal composition (pollinators and disperser) can be partially reversible if we develop functional ecosystem restoration strategies.

Monitoring the social benefits of ecological restoration

Ecological restoration has traditionally been evaluated by monitoring the recovery of ecological conditions, such as species abundance and diversity, physical form, and water quality; monitoring the social benefits of restoration is uncommon. Current monitoring frameworks do not track who benefits from restoration or by how much. We investigate how ecological restoration could be monitored to provide indications of improvement in terms of social conditions. We provide suggestions for measuring several categories of social indicators, including access, beneficiaries, and quality of benefit, using information compiled from natural and social science literature. We demonstrate how to evaluate ecological and social indicators over time at a site or landscape scale using multi‐criteria analysis. We use flood protection and recreation as example benefits to monitor.

CERP Application Webinar

CERP Program Coordinator Jen Lyndall will walk you through the application process. Certification Committee Member, Anne Halford, CERP, will provide a reviewer’s opinion on what works what well on an application. Continuing Education Committee Member, John Wigginton, CERP, will briefly discuss continuing education requirements.

Sage-grouse Habitat Conservation Through Prisons

The purpose of the “Sagebrush in Prisons Project,” is to improve habitat for the greater sage-grouse by engaging state prison systems in production of sagebrush and other important plants for habitat restoration on BLM lands. The Institute for Applied Ecology (IAE) has partnered with the BLM to grow sagebrush with ten prisons in six states. Inmates are involved in sowing plants, growing them over the summer and planting-out on BLM land in the fall. The program is a win-win-win for inmates, community and the environment. Inmates learn horticulture skills, gain confidence from sowing seeds to daily care for the plants to planting-out on greater sage-grouse habitat.

Stacy Moore is the Ecological Education Program Director with Institute for Applied Ecology, a non-profit located in Corvallis, Oregon.

Coastal Zone Management Trust, Quintana Roo, Mexico

This green infrastructure finance mechanism is an innovative financial framework that provides a tool for mobilizing resources to implement restoration. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) designed and will test this first-ever mechanism that leverages the protective service of reefs and secures that ecosystem service with an insurance policy and funding structure. In partnership with the State Government of Quintana Roo, academic institutions, and the tourism and insurance industries, the project lays the groundwork for vulnerable coastal communities to strengthen both physical and financial resilience against climate change. This pilot project will support tourism and local communities by funding reef and beach protection and restoration after severe storms.

Recovery strategies for industrial development in native grassland in the Foothills Fescue, Foothills Parkland and Montane natural subregions of Alberta

Alberta’s Grassland Natural Region has been significantly modified by land use practices.  The black Chernozemic soils and rough fescue plant communities typical of the Foothills Fescue, Foothills Parkland and Montane Natural Sub-regions (FFPM) are extremely difficult to restore once disturbed due to the prevalence of invasive species in the region and a shortage of suitable reclamation plant materials. Avoidance and minimizing topsoil disturbance are critical to minimize further loss of these communities to development in the FFPM.

This manual describes tools for planning native grassland retention and restoration, including pre-disturbance planning and recovery strategies, such as minimal disturbance, buffers, sourcing plant materials and native seed mix design. Implementing a strategy is explained, including site preparation, soil amendments and procuring native plant materials, then maintaining the pathway through adaptive management. Appendices include suitable seed mixes to develop target plant communities for ecological range sites and ecosites common in the FFPM.

Wetland Revegetation: Tools, Techniques and Best Practices

North Fork Native Plants specializes in innovative products for the restoration, reclamation and landscaping industries. An array of products feature wetland sod, bare root wetland plants, deep rooted willows, custom grown coir logs, wildlife islands, containerized native plants and custom growing services. Current projects include large scale restorations of aquatic habitats in Idaho, Montana and Colorado.

1) Tim Watters, Owner, North Fork Native Plants. Tim joined NFNP in 2006 after moving from the Midwest to eastern Idaho. He has prior experience in business management/ ownership and investment banking. Tim leads the sales and marketing team and oversees all operations and finance matters.

2) Ann Lefler, Marketing, Sales & Operations Support Manager, North Fork Native Plants. Ann joined NFNP in 2017 and is a fifth generation Idaho native. She earned a B.S. in Natural Resource Management and Watershed Science from Colorado State University and is currently pursuing an MS in Restoration Ecology at the University of Idaho. Ann has 20 years experience in hydrology, water quality and botany.

GIS-based Vulnerability Assessment of Upland Forests in the Cedar River Waters

Presented by SERNW and Rolf Gersonde. Climate change presents new challenges for ecological restoration. The recovery of ecological functions, either through reducing disturbance or by actively promoting ecosystem development is put into question as climate change is likely to alter ecosystem development and composition with uncertain outcome for ecological functions. In the diverse landscape of the Cascade Range, climate impacts are going to vary depending on topography and ecosystem composition. While exposed sites are likely to experience stronger climate impacts and have greater uncertainty regarding ecosystem recovery, other sites (climate refugia) are likely to be less impacted or will be altered more slowly. To aid forest and aquatic restoration at the landscape scale in the Cedar River Municipal Watershed, we conducted a vulnerability analysis of ecosystems to guide ecological restoration efforts at the landscape scale and adapt to projected climate change. We identified elements of climate exposure and ecosystem sensitivity that could be spatially represented and scaled. The elements were combined in an additive model to result in a landscape representation of climate vulnerability. Adding a spatial filter of areas where climate impacts would have greater effect on management goals and adding operational constraints enabled us to identify priority areas for conservation measures to restore late-successional forest habitat and ecosystem resilience. This approach could be adapted to other landscapes and management goals and offers managers a tool to prioritize restoration efforts in an uncertain future.

Soil Bioengineering for the Restoration of Steep and Unstable Slopes and Riparian Areas

Presented by Dave Polster and SER Northwest. Soil bioengineering is the use of living plant materials to perform some engineering function. In some cases, other materials are included. Soil bioengineering systems can be used to treat steep slopes and to provide stability to unstable sites. Soil bioengineering treatments use pioneering species that initiate the natural successional processes associated with the region in which they are applied. This means that in the long run, soil bioengineering systems promote the successional movement of the ecosystem towards later successional stages.

Soil bioengineering systems can be used to stabilize sites that conventional systems would cost millions of dollars to stabilize. In addition, since the soil bioengineering systems promote the natural successional development of the site, there is a long term recovery of the site that does not occur with traditional treatments. In addition unlike traditional treatments, soil bioengineering systems promote the sequestration of Carbon thus help with the current climate crisis.

Pichimahuida: website of a private restoration project in Chilean Patagonia

A dynamic website describing different aspects of a multifaceted private restoration project located in a severely degraded area of Patagonia, Chile. Specific aspects of the project: reforestation with native tree species for the purpose of ecosystem restoration, under Chilean national Law on Native Forest (N° 20.283), more than 230 000 trees of local species planted, 310 hectares affected, average recent documented survival rate is 85 %, largest project in the area; degradation of the whole region is due to catastrophic clearing fires of the ancient forest of the last century, further overgrazing and soil erosion and disappearance; the project is set in an area where the socio-economic approach to such initiatives is challenging; funded by private means, with the reforestation part being partly financed by State subsidies; the operational part, including energy and other supply, is ensured by personally developed and privately funded methods; remotely located and entirely off-grid.

Spatial decision-support tools to guide restoration and seed-sourcing in the Desert Southwest

Altered disturbance regimes and shifting climates have increased the need for large‐scale restoration treatments across the western United States. Seed‐sourcing remains a considerable challenge for revegetation efforts, particularly on public lands where policy favors the use of native, locally sourced plant material to avoid maladaptation. An important area of emphasis for public agencies has been the development of spatial tools to guide selection of genetically appropriate seed. When genetic information is not available, current seed transfer guidelines stipulate use of climate‐based or provisional seed transfer zones, which serve as a proxy for local adaptation by representing climate gradients to which plants are commonly adapted. Despite this guidance, little emphasis has been placed on identifying best practices for deriving provisional seed zones or on incorporating predictions from future climate. We describe a flexible, multivariate procedure for deriving such zones that incorporates a broad range of climatic characteristics while accounting for covariation among climate variables. With this approach, we derive provisional seed zones for four regions in the Desert Southwest (the Mojave Desert, Sonoran Desert, Colorado Plateau, and Southern Great Basin). To facilitate future‐resilient restoration designs, we project each zone into its relative position in the future climate based on near‐term, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 emissions scenarios. Although provisional seed zones are useful in a variety of contexts, there are also situations in which site‐specific guidance is preferable. To meet this need, we implement Climate Distance Mapper, an interactive decision‐support tool designed to help practitioners match seed sources with restoration sites through an accessible online interface. The application allows users to rank the suitability of seed sources anywhere on the landscape based on multivariate climate distances. Users can perform calculations for either the current or future climates. Additionally, tools are available to guide sample effort in regional‐scale seed collections or to partition the landscape into climate clusters representing suitable planting sites for different seed sources. Our tools and analytic procedures represent a flexible and reproducible framework for advancing native plant development programs in the Desert Southwest and beyond.

Protocol Development Tool (PDT) for seed encrusting and pelleting

Seed encrusting and pelleting are seed coating technologies that increase seed size and weight, improving handling, consistency in seed delivery and providing active ingredients for seed protection and enhancement. Though widely used for crop and vegetable seeds, with an estimated value of more than a billion dollars per annum globally, the know-how and methodologies are rarely disclosed by the commercial seed industry sector. As a result, it is difficult to reproduce specific seed coatings for research and comparative evaluation. For small seed producers, particularly the emerging native seed sector, seed enhancement technologies are either unavailable or rarely adopted due to their inaccessibility. Here, we present the first fully disclosed Protocol Development Tool (PDT) for seed pelleting and encrusting. The PDT is customisable, applicable to a wide range of agricultural, horticultural and restoration purposes, and adaptable to suit a variety of seeds and coating materials. The PDT will allow researchers and seed suppliers to test and develop project-specific pelleting and encrusting methods within a standardised and replicable framework.

Best practices for implementing forest landscape restoration in South Asia: An international knowledge sharing workshop

In 2018, the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment and Forest Department, Sri Lanka, in cooperation with the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) and others, members of the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration (GPFLR) held a knowledge-sharing workshop on best practices in implementing forest landscape restoration in South Asian countries.

The workshop aimed at:

• Sharing and discussing lessons from current state-of-the-art scientific and technical knowledge on FLR both at global and regional scales;
• Connecting FLR experts in South Asia and further stimulating exchanges of information, thus providing feedback into national and global FLR policy initiatives such as the Bonn Challenge process;
• Identifying challenges of current land management and impediments to sustainable land management and ecosystem functionality across the region; and
• Contributing to the development of a regional FLR implementation strategy in support of continuous sub-regional learning, sharing of experiences and FLR practice improvements.

This webpage houses a summary of the workshop conclusions, as well as all of the workshop presentations.

Failing Forward and Lessons Learned

We often hear about restoration success stories – but what about projects that struggled or failed? During this webinar we will heard from members whose projects didn’t go as planned, and the critical insights they learned.

Mapping social landscapes: A guide to identifying the networks, priorities, and values of restoration actors

The guidebook takes a new approach to environmental governance by focusing on identifying the social capital of actors within the landscapes. It centers on two main approaches: 1) mapping actors’ resource flows and 2) mapping actors’ priorities and values. Co-written by WRI international offices, this methodology has been tested in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, and Rwanda. The guidebook focuses primarily on restoration, but the same methodologies can be adapted to broader analysis of natural resource governance. By using this guidebook, environmental practitioners can be more efficient with resources, collaboration, and outreach, and better anticipate potential conflicts and bottlenecks.

Integrating diverse social and ecological motivations to achieve landscape restoration

Landscape‐scale restoration requires stakeholder collaboration and recognition of diverse social and ecological motivations to achieve multiple benefits. Yet few landscape restoration projects have set and achieved shared social and ecological goals. Mechanisms to integrate social and ecological motivations will differ in different landscapes. We provide examples from urban, agricultural, and mined landscapes to highlight how integration can achieve multiple benefits and help incentivize restoration. Better communication of ecological and especially social benefits of restoration could increase motivation. Social and economic incentives from carbon markets are evident in agricultural landscapes, biodiversity offset schemes are unlikely to motivate restoration without proof‐of‐concept, and framing restoration in terms of ecosystem services shows promise. When setting restoration goals, it is important to recognize the diverse motivations that influence them. In doing so, and by evaluating both social and ecological benefits, we can better achieve desired restoration outcomes. Customizing incentives to cater for diverse stakeholder motivations could therefore encourage restoration projects.

Business for Water Stewardship Project Bank

The Business for Water Stewardship Project Bank was developed in response to growing business interest in projects that restore river flows and recharge ground water and offers an opportunity for organizations to represent their restoration projects on a national platform.

The Bonneville Environmental Foundation uses the Project Bank to share and learn about organizations and restoration projects and to represent specific projects to businesses seeking opportunities to support environmental water stewardship. Where there is a match between business water stewardship goals and restoration projects, the companies may elect to support those efforts.

River Network and BEF teamed up to create easy access for River Network dues paying members to submit their projects for inclusion in the BWS Project Bank.

IPBES Assessment Report on Land Degradation and Restoration

The Assessment Report on Land Degradation and Restoration by the IPBES provides a critical analysis of the state of knowledge regarding the importance, drivers, status, and trends of terrestrial ecosystems. The assessment covers the global status of and trends in land degradation, by region and land cover type; the effect of degradation on biodiversity values, ecosystem services and human well-being; and the state of knowledge, by region and land cover type, of ecosystem restoration extent and options. The assessment was undertaken to enhance the knowledge base for policies for addressing land degradation, desertification and the restoration of degraded land.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
Chapter 8.2 of the Assessment Report on Land Degradation and Restoration of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES 2018) reviews and discusses information, knowledge and decision support tools to identify land degradation problems, prevention and restoration options, which operate at the global, national, subnational, watershed, and sub-watershed scales. The section on identifying and mapping current land degradation directly addresses activity A1 and provides links to and descriptions of multiple land degradation assessment tools. Activity A2 is addressed in the sections on analyses of land degradation avoidance solutions and restoration options, including quantitative and comparative tools for finding restoration solutions, and tools for spatial prioritization (e.g., ROAM). Stakeholder participation (A3), costs and benefits of different management options (A4), institutional and financial aspects of decision-making (A5), and tools to reduce degradation and biodiversity losses (A6) are also discussed.

A Natural Priority: A report on Parks Canada’s Conservation and Restoration Program

Parks Canada’s Conservation and Restoration (CoRe) projects are as varied as the 33 national parks, national historic sites and national marine conservation areas in which they occur. The diverse projects we report on here run the gamut from restoring forests to re-establishing eel grass; from recovering threatened whales to saving endangered plants; from reducing over-abundant moose to decreasing plentiful urchins; from mitigating invasive species threats to alleviating problems caused by roads. Different contexts, different ecosystems, different communities – and different collaborators. Despite the ways in which CoRe projects differ from one and other, they also have much in common. CoRe projects are organized according to a set of methodological standards. They are designed to identify problems, collaborate with others, invest in solutions and realize achievements in a common manner. By following practical approaches to conservation and restoration, CoRe projects succeed in ways that engage and benefit society.

Getting Better Value from Our Coasts

Scott Cole, EnviroEconomics Sweden Consultancy, talks about valuing multiple eelgrass ecosystem services in coastal ecosystems followed by Johan van der Koppel, Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, on using 3D computer graphics to convey restoration goals to decision makers and the general public.

Private Finance in Marine Ecosystem Restoration

Rolf Groeneveld, Wageningen University, talks on identifying private financing mechanisms for marine ecosystem restoration followed by Wenting Chen, Norwegian Institute for Water Research, describing how private finance is being used to restore kelp ecosystems in Northern Norway.