Resource Database

Recovery strategies for industrial development in native grassland in the Northern Fescue natural subregion of Alberta

Alberta’s Grassland Natural Region is significantly modified by land use practices. Much of the native grassland in the Northern Fescue Natural Sub-region (NF) has been lost to cultivation and fragmented by industrial activity and roads. Soils and climate of the NF promote the spread of invasive non-native plants when soils are disturbed. This document identifies strategies designed retain and restore NF grassland plant communities following industrial disturbance.

The manual describes tools available for planning native grassland retention and restoration, including pre-disturbance planning and recovery strategies, such as minimal disturbance, buffers, natural recovery and native seed mix design. Implementing a strategy is explained including site preparation, soil amendments and procuring native seed, then maintaining the pathway using invasive plant and grazing management, and long-term monitoring. Appendices include a summary of regional reclamation studies and suitable seed mixes to develop target plant communities for ecological range sites common in the NF.

Climate Smart Restoration Tool

The Climate Smart Restoration Tool (CSRT) is an interactive web-based application that allows the user to match current seed sources with future climate conditions. The CSRT is designed to (1) easily incorporate new scientific information (e.g., climate projections, physiological thresholds) and (2) allow users to select parameters of interest (e.g., climate change scenarios, and time periods). Climate associated with existing ecoregions and seed zones will be displayed so that natural resource managers can choose the appropriate seed source for their restoration site, or decide where seed from a particular source can be planted in the future. Managers will also be able to view spatial maps of current and future climate, seed zones, ecoregions, and other contextual map layers.  The CSRT will provide the ability to download outputs of the tool to share with others and perform additional analysis within desktop data processing environments.

From a Biodiversity Perspective: Risks, trade-offs, and international guidance for Forest Landscape Restoration

Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) has become one of the most important international policy topics in the environmental sector; it is a comprehensive concept to implement the objectives of all relevant international forest policy processes. The Bonn Challenge and related policy initiatives have put a strong emphasis on enhancing ecosystem services and contributing to the well-being of humans – framing FLR as the ´restoration of ecosystem services´.While proponents of FLR emphasize the potential synergies between environmental, economic and social objectives, in practice a number of factors will be decisive for the nature and dimension of trade-offs on the ground. The expert survey confirmed the findings of the literature review: experts are aware of potential risks and trade-offs between different environmental, economic and social objectives of
FLR measures.

Morphological traits of common autumn-ripening bird-dispersed fruits in southeastern Michigan

Fruit size, seed load, and seed size are considered important metrics influencing fruit choice and subsequent seed dispersal by birds. I describe these traits for 37 plant taxa in southeast Michigan, based on measurements of over 5,800 fruits and 8,000 seeds. I also provide nearly 200 measurements for the same taxa found in the literature. These data can be used in biogeographical studies and aid conservation and restoration efforts by describing traits preferred by birds which in turn influence seed dispersal throughout landscapes.

Incorporating food web dynamics into ecological restoration: a modeling approach for river ecosystems

This finding illustrates that forecasting responses to restoration may require accounting for the structure of food webs, and that changes in this structure—as might be expected with the spread of invasive species—could compromise restoration outcomes. Unlike habitat-based approaches to restoration assessment that focus on the direct effects of physical habitat conditions on single species of interest, our approach dynamically links the success of target organisms to the success of competitors, predators, and prey. By elucidating the direct and indirect pathways by which restoration affects target species, dynamic food web models can improve restoration planning by fostering a deeper understanding of system connectedness and dynamics.

Exclosures for ecosystem restoration and economic benefits in Ethiopia: A catalogue of management options

This catalogue provides an overview of management options
that can enhance the ecological and economic benefits of exclosures, promote local ownership and support communities
to adopt exclosures. Particularly, this catalogue discusses
management option that can be implemented during the
regeneration of phase of exclosure land management. This catalogue of options can provide guidance in the establishment
and rehabilitation phases of exclosure management.

Wetland Restoration: Contemporary Issues & Lessons Learned

Numerous studies have documented the shortcomings of wetland mitigation and voluntary restoration projects to achieve stated goals. However, despite these findings, there is little overall evidence that wetland restoration outcomes have significantly improved, and wetlands continue to be lost. There is general agreement among restoration professionals that the science exists to achieve restoration goals and that wetland restoration performance will improve if certain barriers are addressed. In 2013, the Association of State Wetland Managers began to identify some of the barriers and established a Work Group of 25 restoration experts, including practitioners, academics, consultants, regulators, and policy makers, to further identify and analyze these barriers and develop recommendations to address them. The Work Group was tasked with identifying the most significant barriers to wetland restoration and identifying actions to address these challenges based on lessons learned and the substantial collective expertise of the Work Group and others.

Status and trends of dam removal research in the United States

Aging infrastructure coupled with growing interest in river restoration has driven a dramatic increase in the practice of dam removal. With this increase, there has been a proliferation of studies that assess the physical and ecological responses of rivers to these removals. As more dams are considered for removal, scientific information from these dam-removal studies will increasingly be called upon to inform decisions about whether, and how best, to bring down dams.

Applying seed-based approaches to ecological restoration

Stephanie Frischie, Chris Helzer, and Todd Erickson present the rationale and successive steps that are required for the efficient delivery and use of seeds in ecological restoration. Case studies from prairie ecosystems in North America and the hot deserts of north-western Australia illustrate the process.

Bioinvasion: When does it really matter?

Presented by Dr. David Sabaj-Stahl of the SER Northwest chapter. Novel approaches were developed to assess the occurrence and potential impacts of spatial autocorrelation on correlation analyses involving invasive/native species and related community constructs. Results suggest new significance levels are warranted for correlation analyses. The sequential reduction of autocorrelation in the data revealed habitat- v. ecosystem-level effects and non-effects relative to bioinvasion. Taken together, these outcomes provide a novel framework for prioritizing land management and restoration-related decisions.

Steelhead conservation concerns amid accelerating climate dynamism

Parks Canada: Restoration Case Studies

This compendium of case studies is a companion to the Principles and Guidelines for Ecological Restoration in Canada’s Protected Natural Areas. The case studies are from a variety of parks and other protected natural areas across Canada and illustrate a broad range of restoration challenges and solutions. They demonstrate approaches to ecological restoration that are 1) Effective in restoring and maintaining ecological integrity, 2) Efficient in using practical and economic methods to achieve functional success, and 3) Engaging through implementing inclusive processes and by recognizing and embracing interrelationships between culture and nature.

InfoFLR

Country profiles highlighting domestic targets and policies related to restoration can be found along with news, resources, and updates on Forest and Landscape Restoration around the world.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
This website, managed by IUCN, is relevant to activity B6 by providing reviews of targets and policies by county.

Building Africa’s Great Green Wall: Restoring degraded drylands for stronger and more resilient communities

This publication presents efforts by FAO and partners on mapping the intervention area of the Great Green Wall initiative and restoration opportunities based on data gathered through Collect Earth and in support of presenting FAO’s effort at COP22 in Marrakech on 14 November 2016.

Developing wetland restoration priorities for climate risk reduction and resilience in the MARCO region

This report examines the current state of practice for identifying and prioritizing wetlands for their usefulness in climate risk reduction and climate resilience. It is intended to identify promising paths to advance current practice and to improve implementation of strategies across the coastal states of the Mid-Atlantic Region in order to achieve regional protection of human communities and maintenance of ecological functions over the coming century of climate change impacts.

Forest landscape restoration for Asia-Pacific forests

Work on forest restoration is not new in the Asia-Pacific region. Classical achievements include the planting of teak in Java, and the ‘taungya’ system, first introduced in Burma for afforesting swidden areas. The need for restoring forests is increasing in the Asia-Pacific region considering the extensive areas of degraded forests and lands. In this context, a new approach, called forest landscape restoration (FLR) is currently being promoted widely. With a view to strengthening FLR approaches in the region, the FAO Regional Office for Asia-Pacific (FAO RAP) and RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests undertook a multicountry study to review the status of forest and land degradation, restoration approaches commonly used and the policy and institutional environments which can support the introduction of FLR approaches in the region.

Forest landscape restoration in Brazil

This work aims to offer an optimistic view of future forest landscape restorations in Brazil. We present the book Forest Landscape Res- toration in Brazil. We hope that the work can conquer many other leaders who, like us, believe that it is possible to restore the functionality of ecosystems and land productivity, for this and future generations, through restoration techniques of native vegetation.

Governance innovations from a multi-stakeholder coalition to implement large-scale forest restoration in Brazil

An effective large-scale forest landscape restoration program requires the mobilization and engagement of a diverse group of stakeholders and sectors. In the Atlantic Forest biome of Brazil, a coalition of more than 270 members represented by private sector, governments, NGOs and research organizations joined efforts to transform the way large-scale and high-quality restoration is governed and implemented.

Have we been successful? Monitoring horizontal forest complexity for forest restoration projects

Forest management today often seeks to restore ecological integrity and enhance human well-being by increasing forest complexity, resilience, and functionality. However, effective and financially expedient monitoring of forest complexity is
challenging. In this study, we developed a practical and inexpensive technique to measure horizontal forest complexity.

How to manipulate landscapes to improve the potential for range expansion

The authors use a recent method to approximate the speed of a species’ range expansion through a landscape by an analogy to an electrical circuit, which takes into account both the rates of colonisation between patches and therates at which occupied habitat produces ne w emigrants. Based on this, we propose and test two methods that can help to optimise the spatial arrangement of habitat for range expansion. Thus, we lay the foun dation for anew genre of systematic conservation planning, which e_ciently proposes restoration as well as minimising loss.

Impacts of land use, restoration, and climate change on tropical peat carbon stocks in the twenty-first century: implications for climate mitigation

The climate mitigation potential of tropical peatlands has gained increased attention
as Southeast Asian peatlands are being deforested, drained and burned at very high rates,
causing globally significant carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to the atmosphere. We used a process-based dynamic tropical peatland model to explore peat carbon (C) dynamics of several management scenarios within the context of simulated twenty-first century climate change.

Institutional innovation and forest landscape restoration in China: Multi-scale cross-sector networking, household fiscal modernization and tenure reform

From 1999, China launched the Conversion of Cropland to Forest Program, an expansive forest landscape restoration project engaging 17% of the rural population in tree planting and management on ca. 30 million ha of degraded land and farmland in vulnerable watersheds. We describe the emergence of innovative institutions, horizontally and vertically networked from central to village government scales, articulating forestry with planning, finance, land, agriculture and water sectors.

Integrating plant-and animal-based perspectives for more effective restoration of biodiversity

Ecological restoration of modified and degraded landscapes is an important challenge for the 21st century, with potential for major gains in the recovery of biodiversity. However, there is a general lack of agreement between plant- and animal-based approaches to restoration, both in theory and practice. Here, we review these approaches, identify limitations from failing to effectively integrate their different perspectives, and suggest ways to improve outcomes for biodiversity recovery in agricultural landscapes.

National standards for the practice of ecological restoration in Australia

This document identifies the need and purpose of ecological restoration and explains its relationships with other forms of environmental repair. The Standards identifies the principles underpinning restoration philosophies and methods, and outlines the steps required to plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate a restoration project to increase the likelihood of its success. The Standards are relevant to – and can be interpreted for – a wide spectrum of projects ranging from minimally resourced community projects to large-scale, well funded industry or government projects.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
This document contains an appendix on genetics, fragmentation and climate change, and implications for the restoration of indigenous ecosystems. This is in line with activity C2.

Natural regeneration as a tool for large-scale forest restoration in the tropics: prospects and challenges

We discuss economic, social, and legal issues that challenge natural regeneration in tropical landscapes. We conclude by suggesting ways to enable natural regeneration to become an effective tool for implementing large-scale forest and landscape restoration. Major research and policy priorities include: identifying and modeling the ecological and economic conditions where natural regeneration is a viable and favorable land-use option, developing monitoring protocols for natural regeneration that can be carried out by local communities, and developing enabling incentives, governance structures, and regulatory conditions that promote the stewardship of naturally regenerating forests. Aligning restoration goals and practices with natural regeneration can achieve the best possible outcome for achieving multiple social and environmental benefits at minimal cost.

Integrated policy for forests, food security and sustainable livelihoods: Lessons from the Republic of Korea

This publication, produced in collaboration with the Korea Forest Service (KFS), offers
an opportunity to learn from the country’s highly successful experience in formulating
and effectively implementing integrated forest rehabilitation and food security policies
and programmes.

Linking REDD+ to support Brazil’s climate goals and implementation of the Forest Code

Brazil has made significant progress in reducing deforestation in recent years while increasing agriculture production. Full
implementation of the Forest Code will be the central element in achieving the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)
Brazil has made in context of the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Forest Code could
be achieved while still leaving a theoretical potential for substantial legal clearing of forests. Therefore, Brazil should aim for
more ambitious targets for avoided deforestation than simply “zero illegal deforestation.”
The overall financing needed to achieve these outcomes amounts to billions of dollars. This will require linking restoration programs
with improved agriculture productivity, valuing carbon and other environmental benefits to help finance these efforts,
and efficient integration of investment at scale (public and private, international and domestic).

Mapping and assessing the condition of Europe’s ecosystems: progress and challenges

This report describes the stages of the methodology, with a focus on data requirements, and then presents the ecosystem map for Europe. Analysis of the underlying data reveals that many ecosystems are highly concentrated in a small number of
countries, which could increase their vulnerability to environmental change, and a substantial proportion of the most vulnerable ecosystems are not protected within Natura 2000 sites, Marine Protected Areas or equivalent zones.

Protecting drinking water at the source: Lessons from watershed investment programs in the United States

Watershed investment programs offer promising pathways to securing safe drinking water. But what does it take to establish and grow a successful watershed investment program? Program investors and practitioners are looking for guidance and ideas on how to build a program that works for their own context.

This report addresses this need by compiling experiences and lessons from 13 watershed investment programs from across the United States. Based on a 3-year comparative case study analysis, it serves as a roadmap to guide utilities and communities as they work together to protect precious source waters.

River restoration and biodiversity : nature-based solutions for restoring the rivers of the UK and Republic of Ireland

Rivers and their fl oodplains are among the most important environments in the UK and Republic of Ireland. They support highly diverse habitat and wildlife despite their small area in the landscape. In this report, we make 20 recommendations for policy makers and practitioners to promote and improve river restoration.