©Stephen Glass
The RRC provides a searchable database of restoration projects from around the world intended to serve as a resource for practitioners, researchers, educators, students, and the general public. Projects have been freely contributed by users of the SER website, or have been compiled from publicly available information by SER staff or other designees of SER. Expand the filter tool below to search for projects by country, region, biome, ecosystem, cause of degradation, or any combination of these factors.
Although SER does review all submissions for relevance, quality, and completeness before approving them for inclusion in the database, they are not subjected to peer review nor has project information been independently verified in the field. SER therefore makes no claim as to the accuracy of the information presented here or the degree to which the methods, techniques, and strategies used for a particular project adhere to generally accepted standards for ecological restoration practice. Anyone interested in learning more about a particular project is encouraged to contact the project lead or the responsible organization directly for further information.
If you have field experiences you’d like to share, we encourage you to submit your own project to the database!
The Project Database is generously supported by Stantec
Israel: Coral Reef Restoration in the Gulf of Eilat, Northern Red Sea
Country: Israel
Abstract: Like many of the world's coral reefs, the Gulf of Eilat reef system in the northern Red Sea has been severely degraded by a combination of anthropogenic pressures and changing global conditions. Due to its increasing fragility and inability to cope with further disturbances, the Eilat reef has been targeted for active restoration. Citing the ineffectiveness and impracticality of traditional coral transplantation techniques, project planners developed and implemented a new "coral gardening"...USA: Washington: Paradise Meadow Restoration, Mount Rainier
Country: United States of America
Abstract: The Paradise meadows, on the south slope of Mount Rainier in Washington State, have been subject to heavy recreational use since the early 1900s. Easily accessed from the main road through Mount Rainier National Park, Paradise hosts more than one million visitors per year and is the most frequented site in the park. The heavy volume of visitors, and the myriad impacts that result therefrom, has left many areas degraded and threatens the overall integrity of the ecosystem. In 1986, the National...USA: Louisiana: The Duralde Cajun Prairie Restoration Project, Evangeline Parish
Country: United States of America
Abstract: Coastal tallgrass prairie was once abundant along the Gulf of Mexico in southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana. However, land conversion for agriculture and livestock has reduced the coastal prairie to under 1% of its pre-settlement area--from over 9 million acres to approximately 65,000 acres. Of this remaining area, only 100 acres can now be found in the state of Louisiana, and most of these are narrow strips lying along railroad rights-of-way. Due to the dire need for preservation of...New Zealand: Forest Restoration at Aratiatia, North Island
Country: New Zealand
Abstract: The construction of a hydroelectric dam along New Zealand's Waikato River in 1964 resulted in the degradation of more than 108 hectares of native forest. The site's proximity to a major tourist destination, Aratiatia Rapids, prompted the government to conduct a revegetation effort aimed at improving the aesthetic qualities of the area and, thus, ensuring the continued vitality of the tourism industry there. Forty-six native species of trees and shrubs were initially sown--all fast-growing and...China: Grassland Restoration in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
Country: China
Abstract: The degradation of grasslands has become a serious problem in China, as once-productive lands are being lost to desertification and destructive sandstorms are occurring with increasing frequency. Past restoration efforts have focused on planting trees to mitigate these storms and disseminating seeds from airplanes in an attempt to re-establish native vegetation. Because these techniques have proven largely unsuccessful, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) conducted a pilot project in the...India: Tamil Nadu: Tropical Forest Restoration in the Auroville Township
Country: India
Abstract: In the late 1960s, the Auroville Township was founded as an intentional community in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India. Upon their arrival, the township's first residents found a severely degraded forest ecosystem that had become a barren plain largely devoid of shade and water. In the absence of vegetation, erosion from monsoon rains was a serious threat, as it had already washed away much of the topsoil. Thus, beginning in the early 1970s, Aurovilian "greenworkers" (as they came to...Canada: British Columbia: Restoration in Coastal British Columbia Riparian Forests
Country: Canada
Abstract: In the 1990s, British Columbia began an ambitious program to restore fish habitat affected by steep-slope logging and the removal of timber from stream edges. Early efforts to restore riparian stands focused on the use of vegetation to stabilize gravel bars, and the planting of long-lived conifer trees in stands dominated by red alder (an early-successional tree species that flourished in logged riparian areas). More innovative approaches were sought, and two BC forestry...Czech Republic: Forest Restoration in the Krkonoše Mountains of Northeast Bohemia
Country: Czech Republic
Abstract: Krkonoše National Park in northeastern Bohemia, Czech Republic has been the focus of ongoing restoration efforts since the early 1990s. As part of the Sudeten Range shared by Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic, the Krkonoše Mountains were severely degraded by heavy industrial pollution resulting from intensified local industry under the Soviet Union. Because the damage was so extensive and the effect on ecological processes so lasting, large sections of forest have continued to decline...Finland: Forest Conservation and Restoration under the METSO Programme
Country: Finland
Abstract: In October 2002, the Government of Finland approved the Forest Biodiversity Programme for Southern Finland (METSO). METSO was designed as a land management strategy that would bring important tracts of privately held forest into a national conservation framework. Unlike previous conservation programmes that lacked provisions for interfacing with landowners, and thus failed to protect important areas, METSO centers around close cooperation with forest owners and allows programme managers to...Belize: Restoration in the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve
Country: Belize
Abstract: The Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve in the Cayo District of south-central Belize is unique for its mountain terrain, ancient forests, dense Caribbean pines, giant ferns, granite outcroppings, tumbling waterfalls, huge limestone caves, and open savanna grasslands--all bordered by lush tropical rainforest. An attack by the southern pine bark beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis) has placed the reserve's endemic Caribbean pine (Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis) at risk, as more than 80% of the trees...Mexico: Chiapas: Community-Based Forest Restoration as a Strategy for Sequestering Carbon
Country: Mexico
Abstract: Started in 1996 as the original Plan Vivo project, Scolel té ("the tree that grows" in the Tzeltal and Tojolobal Mayan dialects) pays members of rural communities in the Mexican state of Chiapas to plant trees and restore stands of forest in order to create carbon sinks that offset some of the gases causing global climate change. Farmers decide what species to plant and where to plant them, and then they make a proposal--in the form of a Plan Vivo (or "working plan")--to project managers....Costa Rica: Tropical Dry Forest Restoration in the Guanacaste Conservation Area
Country: Costa Rica
Abstract: The Guanacaste Conservation Area (ACG) in northwestern Costa Rica is the site of the largest forest restoration project in the tropics. The project is aimed at restoring a major tropical dry forest ecosystem that has been severely degraded as a result of anthropogenic fires associated with farming and ranching activities. These fires damage indigenous tree species that evolved in an ecosystem devoid of natural fire, and they also enable the invasive African grass jaragua (Hyparrhenia rufa) to...Tanzania: Forest Restoration in the Shinyanga Region
Country: Tanzania
Abstract: In 1986, the government of Tanzania launched the Shinyanga Soil Conservation Programme (HASHI) with the aim of restoring severely degraded woodlands in the Shinyanga Region and providing local villagers access to important natural resources. Under this programme, the ngitili, a traditional resource management system, is being employed as the engine for remediation. Ngitilis are carefully managed tracts of land, held individually or communally, that are excluded from grazing during the wet...Brazil: Restoration of the Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica)
Country: Brazil
Abstract: Instituto Terra is a non-profit organization founded in 1999 by Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado and the renowned photographer Sebastião Ribeiro Salgado. It is located at the Bulcão Farm in Aimorés, Minas Gerais, and it covers an area of 676 hectares. Since its inception, the institute has dedicated itself to the restoration of degraded stands of Atlantic Forest both on the farm and in the surrounding region. Nurseries have been established to raise seedlings from local sources, and these...Honduras: Tree Islands as a Tool for Tropical Forest Restoration
Country: Honduras
Abstract: This study examined how the creation of tree islands can serve as seed and seedling recruitment foci to help accelerate the reforestation of abandoned tropical pastures. At three experimental sites in northern Honduras, two species commonly used in the region to create living fences--Gliricidia sepium and Bursera simaruba--were planted in grids to create tree islands. Many of the islands had complete canopy cover in two years and were popular stopovers for roosting birds. The increased seed...USA: Maryland: Salt Marsh Restoration on Barren Island in Chesapeake Bay
Country: United States of America
Abstract: Over the past century, the Chesapeake Bay has lost hundreds of acres of tidal wetlands due to human related and natural factors. The National Aquarium in Baltimore initiated a wetland restoration project on Barren Island in order to help offset these losses and restore critical habitat in the Bay region. Since 2001, the Aquarium has been working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Maryland Conservation Corps, Friends of Blackwater and community volunteers to...Netherlands: Restoration of the Scheldt Estuary’s Sieperda Tidal Marsh
Country: Netherlands
Abstract: During a severe storm in 1990, a dike was breached in the brackish part of the Scheldt estuary, and tidal influence was returned to the Sieperda polder. Tidal intrusion into the former polder turned crop fields into mudflats and changed pastures into salty marsh vegetation. The digging of a new creek in 1993 improved marsh hydrology and enhanced tidal intrusion further into the marsh. Ten years after the dike breach, the former polder has changed into a brackish tidal ecosystem, and monitoring...Australia: Salt Marsh Restoration at the Olympics 2000 Site (Homebush Bay)
Country: Australia
Abstract: As part of a large-scale remediation strategy for the Olympics 2000 site, the New South Wales Olympic Coordination Authority commissioned the restoration of two saline wetlands in Homebush Bay near Sydney, Australia--North Newington and Haslams Creek. Before beginning the full restoration of both sites, however, project planners first conducted experimental transplantation at a pilot site in the Haslams Creek wetlands. Modifications were made to the site's hydrology and sedimentation dynamics,...USA: California: Dutch Slough Tidal Marsh Restoration
Country: United States of America
Abstract: The Dutch Slough site offers an opportunity for large-scale tidal marsh restoration, habitat enhancement and open space preservation in the rapidly urbanizing area of eastern Contra Costa County. During the past twenty years, eastern Contra Costa County has undergone a rapid urbanization, and in 1997, the county approved a development agreement for this property that would have allowed for the construction of 4,500-6,100 housing units on the site. When the City of Oakley incorporated in 1999,...USA: Washington: Duwamish River Estuary Intertidal Wetlands Restoration
Country: United States of America
Abstract: The Duwamish Estuary in Seattle, Washington has been subject to heavy industrial development and pronounced anthropogenic disturbances associated with the Port of Seattle and other commercial facilities along its waters. This project sought to restore intertidal wetlands at three sites in the estuary, and to thereby enhance public access to the river and create vital habitat for several important species of birds and fish. While project activities varied from site to site, hydrologic...United Kingdom: England: Salt Marsh Reclamation in the Blackwater Estuary
Country: United Kingdom
Abstract: Managed realignment, or depoldering, is a cost-effective means of restoring tidal flow to coastal areas in order to encourage the re-establishment of salt marsh ecosystems. This technique involves breaching or dismantling earthen embankments along the coast in order to ensure regular tidal flooding of a given site, and thereby facilitate its natural recolonization. England has more than 50 such restoration sites, and several of these are located in the Blackwater Estuary of Essex on the...Canada: Nova Scotia: Cheverie Creek Salt Marsh Restoration Project
Country: Canada
Abstract: The Cheverie Creek Salt Marsh Restoration Project began as a pilot project for the province of Nova Scotia and is the first such restoration effort to be undertaken there. Aiming to restore tidal flow to Cheverie Creek, project staff coordinated the replacement of an existing, undersized culvert in the Highway-215 causeway with a larger aluminum culvert that allows greater tidal flooding of the ecosystem. It is hoped that restoring the hydrologic integrity of the site will yield more vibrant...Denmark: Restoration of Dune Habitats along the Danish West Coast
Country: Denmark
Abstract: Through a grant from the European Union's LIFE program, this project sought to restore more than 8,000 hectares of dunes and dune heaths on the western coast of Denmark, fully 65% of the country's dune area. Under pressure from several invasive species, principally Pinus mugo and Pinus contorta, the dunes were cleared using a variety of techniques and approaches. Densely overgrown areas were felled and cleared, while less dense areas were rehabilitated with a combination of controlled burning,...Portugal: Leirosa Coastal Dune Restoration
Country: Portugal
Abstract: The Leirosa sand dunes on Portugal's central Atlantic coast were damaged in 1995 with the construction of a pipeline for industrial effluent. A restoration project was begun in the spring of 2000, and the dunes were reconstructed using the Artificially Inseminated Dune System (AIDS) method. Once rebuilt, dunes were planted with Ammophila arenaria transplants from a nearby donor site, and the site exhibited favorable rates of recovery during initial monitoring activities. In the winter of 2001,...USA: Texas: West Galveston Bay Seagrass Restoration
Country: United States of America
Abstract: In spring 1994, 2.5 acres (1 hectare) of Halodule wrightii (shoal grass) were planted at two sites in West Galveston Bay using donor plants from eastern and western Matagorda Bay. This project was intended as a pilot project to guide the eventual restoration of over 567 hectares of submerged aquatic vegetation in Galveston Bay under the Galveston Bay Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan. As such, it examined the effects of planting depth, planting density, and fertilizer application...USA: New Jersey-Delaware: Delaware Bay Oyster Restoration Project
Country: United States of America
Abstract: The Delaware Bay Oyster Restoration Project is a cooperative initiative carried out by the Delaware Bay Oyster Restoration Task Force to revitalize the Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) population in Delaware Bay. A signature species of the Delaware Estuary and a commercially important fishery, the once-abundant Eastern oyster has experienced serious population declines as a result of over harvesting and Dermo disease. With congressional support and federal funding, the task force...Antigua: Maiden Island Total Reef Restoration
Country: Antigua & Barbuda
Abstract: Stanford Development Company Ltd. (SDC) and the Reef Ball Foundation, Inc. recently conducted the world's largest total marine ecosystem restoration, which included both coral reef and mangrove habitats. Approximately 3,500 Reef Balls, prefabricated concrete modules designed to mimic natural reefs, were installed around Maiden Island on both its windward and leeward sides. On the windward side of the island, 1,200 Reef Balls were used to create the world’s largest fringing breakwater reef...Indonesia: Bali: Pemuteran Coral Reef Restoration Project
Country: Indonesia
Abstract: Twenty eight Biorockâ„¢ coral nursery structures have been installed in the Pemuteran Village Marine Protected Area in Northwest Bali, Indonesia, making this the largest Biorockâ„¢ coral reef nursery and restoration project worldwide. The nurseries are welded steel matrices that are electrically charged via two electrodes supplying low-voltage, direct current from an onshore site. The submerged electrodes generate electorlytic reactions that cause minerals naturally present in sea water...USA: Florida: Molasses Coral Reef Restoration Project
Country: United States of America
Abstract: On August 4, 1984, the M/V Wellwood, a 122-meter Cypriot-registered freighter, ran aground on Molasses Reef about 6 nautical miles southeast of Key Largo in Monroe County, Florida. The grounding destroyed 5,805 square meters of living corals and injured 644 square meters of coral reef framework. The Molasses Coral Reef Restoration Project, implemented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), involved the restoration of fourteen separate reef sites damaged during the 1984...Mauritius: Mangrove Restoration
Country: Mauritius
Abstract: In 1995, the Mauritius Ministry of Fisheries started a Mangrove Propagation Programme with the aim of protecting and reforesting denuded areas, and also educating the public about the importance of this ecosystem. The programme consisted of several distinct planting phases, some of which utilized nursery-reared seedlings, while others involved the direct planting of propagules. A project of considerable duration, the planting effort ultimately resulted in 13 hectares of restored mangroves (a...