Table of Contents Letter from Executive Director Bethanie Walder

Volume 31 Issue 4 | December 2017 Botanic Gardens

Table of Contents Letter from Executive Director Bethanie Walder ...... 2 Botanic Gardens: Working Together to Scale Up Ecological Restoration Efforts in Africa ...... 3 Missouri Botanical Garden Shaw Nature Reserve: Restoration & Stewardship of Ozark Regional Diversity ...... 7 Forest Ecosystem Restoration at Brackenhurst Botanic Garden, Tigoni, Kenya ...... 12 Restoration Ecology, Editor’s Picks ...... 16 Society News ...... 18 In Case You Missed It ...... 28

Letter from Executive Director Bethanie Walder

Dear SER Members, The Chinese government is embracing environmental protection and restoration at the highest levels. While environmental degradation in China remains a significant concern, the change in policy and attitude is apparently not just lip service. Take, for example, the “ecological garden city” of Shenzhen – a planned city that has placed half of its total area under some type of environmental protection and has 45% of its urban area in greenbelt. I learned this while attending the 9th World Conference of the Ecosystem Services Partnership, in Shenzhen, to present and share SER’s International Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration. Driving through the city on our field trip, the greenbelts were continuously visible, accessible, and in use by locals. We visited the Fairy Lake Botanical Garden, which covers 546 hectares and features everything from bonsai gardens, to a cryptogram collection to cycads; the garden is a feast for all senses. While I did not have the opportunity to learn whether Fairy Lake Botanical Garden in particular is involved in ecological restoration, this issue of SERNews features the unique role and leadership of botanic gardens around the world in restoration. Many of our members might not even realize that Botanic Gardens Conservation International operates an “Ecological Restoration Alliance of Botanic Gardens” (ERA). Thanks to Kirsty Shaw and Yvette Harvey-Brown for introducing us to ERA and their specific work across Africa to build capacity for restoration. Mark Nicholson continues the discussion with his article about the Brackenhurst Botanic Garden in Kenya and its work to restore forest ecosystems. And our final article comes from Quinn Long and several other authors who discuss the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Shaw Nature Reserve and its restoration and stewardship program in the Ozarks in the Midwestern United States. Thanks to all of our guest authors for introducing us to some of the inspiring ecological restoration work being pioneered by botanical gardens. While in China I had the privilege of meeting HRH Princess Basma bint Ali of Jordan. She is the founder of the Royal Botanical Garden of Jordan (RBG), which is a member of ERA. I had the opportunity to visit the Fairy Lake Botanical Garden with Princess Basma and Tariq Abu Taleb, the Executive Director of the RBG. While it was too late to ask them to submit an article about their work on restoration for this issue of SERNews, they did graciously agree to join me for a 5-minute video interview in the bamboo collection at Fairy Lake. The RBG has recently completed an annotated classification of all of the plants in Jordan. Currently, they are collecting and documenting seed, and plan to restore multiple sites on and near their property. They are also partnering to help deliver the Middle East and North African regional conference of the Ecosystem Services Partnership in April 2018. The conference theme: Enhancing ecosystem services through ecological restoration for nature and people. In addition to the featured articles about restoration, be sure to check out the update from the Society; it’s been a busy end to the year including the release of several new resources. And speaking of the year-end, we wish all of our members, all across the world, a happy holiday season, and a happy, healthy and restorative year in 2018! All the best,

Bethanie Walder Botanic Gardens: Working Together to Scale Up Ecological Restoration Efforts in Africa Contributed by Kirsty Shaw and Yvette Harvey-Brown, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI)

Botanic gardens are ideally placed to take a leading role in the restoration of damaged, degraded and destroyed landscapes due to the unique combination of expertise they hold in plant taxonomy, horticulture, seed science, propagation and community engagement (Hardwick et al. 2011). Recognizing their important contribution, the Ecological Restoration Alliance of Botanic Gardens (ERA) was established in 2012 as a global consortium of botanic gardens actively engaged in ecological restoration. The ERA, coordinated by Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), has grown from five founding botanic gardens to over 30 members working in a diverse range of habitats around the world. ERA members have agreed to work together to scale up restoration efforts by developing exemplar restoration sites, improving the quality and volume of science-based ecological restoration, and building expertise and restoration capacity. This article explores ERA activities currently underway in Africa.

Photo: Directors of botanic gardens and BGCI (Left to right: Jardin Botanico Francisco Javier Clavijero, Jardim Botanico Rio de Janeiro, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Brackenhurst Botanic Garden, BGCI, Kings Park and Botanic Garden) signing the Ecological Restoration Alliance of Botanic Gardens MoU at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, 2012.

Many African countries have signed on to the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100), a commitment to bring 100 million hectares (ha) of deforested and degraded land in Africa under restoration by 2030. Many African countries have made large commitments to AFR100, but have a limited supply of native seed and seedlings available for restoration, and lack vital propagation information for native species. There is a risk that AFR100 pledges will over-utilize exotic species, which are often more readily available from tree seed centers and many commercial nurseries. Although exotic species may meet agroforestry needs, they are not suitable for forest restoration. BGCI and ERA member botanic gardens are working to build capacity for restoration in Africa, with an initial focus in East Africa. This work involves; ● Setting up long-term forest restoration plots that test native species performance and generate new information on native species ● Improving the supply of native material for restoration ● Building capacity for forest restoration.

Forest restoration sites Brackenhurst Botanic Garden in Tigoni, Kenya, and Tooro Botanical Gardens in Fort Portal, Uganda, have established forest restoration plots to test native species performance and demonstrate that forest cover can be achieved quickly using native species. With 40 ha under restoration at Brackenhurst, and 16 ha under restoration at sites managed by Tooro - all of which incorporate rare species - these projects are delivering important ecosystem services, including biodiversity conservation. Both gardens are developing propagation protocols for native species, including many that have never been grown before. Improving the supply of native material for restoration African botanic gardens hold collections of native species not found in seed centers or commercial nurseries. To make it easier for restoration practitioners to incorporate a wider range of native species into their restoration projects, many botanic gardens have established indigenous tree nurseries and are supplying material to forest restoration projects. Brackenhurst Botanic Garden and Tooro Botanical Gardens, for example, have also established native seed orchards to scale up the availability of native seed for restoration.

A 20 year old seed orchard of Prunus africa at Tooro Botanical Gardens in Fort Portal supplies seed to restoration projects across Uganda

Building capacity for forest restoration Many ERA member botanic gardens are working on forest restoration projects outside of Africa (see http://www.erabg.org/projects for current projects led by ERA members). The experiences gained on other continents is helping to build capacity for restoration in Africa. ERA runs training courses hosted at botanic gardens in Africa, with guest instructors from ERA member gardens sharing their experiences working on forest restoration projects elsewhere. In March 2017, ERA delivered a training course at Tooro Botanical Gardens with instructors from Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, who are restoring forest slopes in Hong Kong that have been denuded of native vegetation since the 16th century. Through classroom and practical sessions, the course covered forest restoration planning, selecting appropriate native species for restoration, propagating trees from seeds and cuttings, and monitoring progress at restoration sites.

Working group session on experimental design: Gertrude Ogwok from IUCN Uganda, explains the different approaches suggested by her group that could be used to engage local communities in restoration work.

In addition to formal training sessions, working group sessions aimed to solve common barriers to achieving forest restoration success, including tackling invasive species. Participants came from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Nigeria and included government representatives and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) partners working on large-scale Forest Landscape Restoration initiatives. The site of Tooro Botanical Gardens, which was previously dominated by exotic Eucalyptus trees, has been under restoration since 2000. Instructors delivered practical training sessions at recently cleared sites, restoration plots of varying ages, seed orchards and the nursery, all within Tooro Botanical Gardens. Sessions led in the forest restoration plots allowed course participants to learn from practical examples and experiences. For instance, because people live so close to the garden, initial plantings were lost to grazing and seedling theft. Adjacent communities are now allowed to plant leguminous vegetables in between native trees – communities manage the site, weed around the native trees and get fresh vegetables! This has helped build community support for the project and reduced grazing and seedling theft. As an added bonus, the nitrogen-fixing vegetables improve tree growth rates. The combination of practical examples, experience from other ERA projects, classroom sessions and practical training in the nursery, equips participants with skills to improve their own restoration projects and emphasizes a strong focus on incorporating a diverse mix of native species.

Training course participants in Tooro Botanical Gardens

Looking ahead With vast amounts of African forests destroyed or degraded, the need for forest restoration in Africa is immense. Botanic gardens are home to collections and knowledge that can help improve forest restoration across the continent, and ERA is committed to scaling up these efforts. BGCI just set up a new office in Kenya, and expanding this program is one of our key objectives. We look forward to seeing you at SER2019 in South Africa, where African botanic gardens and ERA members from around the globe will be showcasing our work to build restoration capacity on the continent! If you are interested in working with us, please contact [email protected] For more information about the Ecological Restoration Alliance of Botanic Gardens and our global program, please visit our website: www.erabg.org To learn more about forest restoration work at Brackenhurst Botanic Garden please see Mark Nicholson’s article in this issue. Literature Cited Hardwick, K.A., P. Fiedler, L.C. Lee, B. Pavlik, R.J. Hobbs, J. Aronson, … S.D. Hopper. 2011. The role of botanic gardens in the science and practice of ecological restoration. Conservation Biology 2: 265–275.

Missouri Botanical Garden Shaw Nature Reserve: Restoration & Stewardship of Ozark Regional Diversity Contributed by Quinn Long1, Matthew A. Albrecht2, J. Leighton Reid2, James C. Trager1, Michael Saxton1, and James Aronson2 1Shaw Nature Reserve, Missouri Botanical Garden 2Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development, Missouri Botanical Garden

Nearly 100 years ago, in 1925, the Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) acquired 530 hectares (1,300 acres) located 56 kilometers (35 miles) west of Saint Louis to provide a refuge for prized orchids and other exotic plant collections threatened by industrial air pollution. Today, Shaw Nature Reserve encompasses over 990 hectares (ha) that provide a sanctuary for native biodiversity from contemporary threats of habitat loss and degradation. In the intervening years, the transformation of this property from degraded farmland into a diverse mosaic of natural communities has paralleled a shift in purpose and title from Shaw Arboretum to Shaw Nature Reserve (SNR). This transition is emblematic of a broader evolution in the role of botanic gardens to address global challenges for plant conservation, environmental education, and ecological restoration. Today, the mission of SNR – to inspire stewardship of our environment through education, restoration and protection of natural habitats, and public enjoyment of the natural world – has never been more critical.

Volunteer Land Stewards collecting seed of Monarda bradburiana (eastern beebalm) for use in woodland restoration at SNR (Photo: Michael Saxton).

Located on the edge of the Ozark Plateau, SNR supports a mosaic of natural communities including woodlands, savannas, and dolomite grasslands in uplands and riparian forests along the Meramec River. These natural communities were heavily degraded by unsustainable timber harvest and grazing practices following Euro-American settlement. In addition to remnant natural communities in various stages of recovery and active restoration, the Nature Reserve also encompasses former croplands, in which no vestige of historical reference plant communities remained following decades of cultivation. Restoration efforts on these former croplands began with a 20-ha prairie planting in 1980. Former croplands at SNR have been converted to over 120 ha of tallgrass prairie plantings and 40 ha of wetlands. These prairie and wetland plant communities provide a model for seed-based reconstruction of plant communities that naturally occur within the Ozark Plateau region in which the Nature Reserve resides. Natural communities of the Ozark Plateau have been shaped by frequent, low-intensity surface fires. Although some fires result from lightning strikes, aboriginal burning greatly increased fire frequency since Native Americans settled the region approximately 10,000 - 12,000 years ago (Nelson 2005). Following Euro-American settlement and accompanying fragmentation, fire frequency dramatically declined or ceased all together, resulting in dramatic shifts in vegetation composition as fire intolerant species, both native and exotic, increased in abundance to suppress the more diverse assemblage of fire tolerant species of the Ozark Plateau flora. As fire-intolerant species such as Juniperus virginiana(Eastern red cedar) and Acer saccharum (sugar maple) become dominant, a positive feedback loop of fire suppression ensues as the increasing dominance of fire-intolerant trees further inhibits surface fires because their leaf litter burns poorly and their dense shade inhibits the drying of other surface fuels. Accordingly, at SNR and throughout the Ozark Plateau, labor- intensive mechanical removal of large, fire-intolerant trees is often necessary to restore a low- intensity surface fire regime for land management. Shaw Nature Reserve has been a pioneer in both the interpretation and application of fire for land management. August Bielmann, manager of SNR from 1941-1956, and his assistant Louis Brenner, were ahead of their time when they published a study (Bielmann & Brenner 1951) citing dendrochronology, historical accounts of vegetation, and other lines of evidence supporting the vital role of fire in shaping the composition and structure of Ozark vegetation. Their pioneering work was controversial at the time, but is now considered to be a classic in the field of fire ecology. Today, woodlands and grasslands at SNR are managed with frequent prescribed fire to promote the diversity of native species and to suppress invasive species. A 12-year vegetation monitoring effort was recently completed at SNR to document plant community response in a degraded woodland to the restoration practices of prescribed fire and mechanical removal of fire intolerant J. virginiana. Over the 12-year period, native ground-layer species richness increased from 155 to 210 (+35%), thus providing an encouraging confirmation of widely applied restoration practices (Reid et al. In prep).

A prescribed woodland burn at SNR consumes surface litter and maintains an open woodland canopy to support diverse ground-layer flora (Photo: Glenn Beffa).

Shaw Nature Reserve is also at the forefront of regional efforts to increase awareness and build capacity for invasive species control, with practices tested and honed over many years providing a model for private landowners and conservation professionals alike. The unique legacy of the era in which the property served as an arboretum, complete with collections of Asiatic trees and shrubs, created an unintentional litmus test for both the invasion potential of species that were included in these collections and optimal methods for their control. Examples of species that widely escaped cultivation to become locally invasive include Phellodendron amurense (Amur corktree), Castanea mollissima(Chinese chestnut), and Ligustrum obtusifolium (border privet), each of which are known to be invasive in other regions of North America, but are relatively unknown from the Ozark Plateau. Limiting their spread is a high priority, as is promoting awareness of their invasion potential and the need for early detection and management throughout the broader region.

Before (A) and After (B) removal of invasive Lonicera maackii (Amur honeysuckle) and Ligustrum obtusifolium (border privet) from a degraded woodland by Volunteer Land Stewards at SNR (Photo: Michael Saxton).

Missouri Botanical Garden is an executive council member of the Ecological Restoration Alliance of Botanic Gardens (ERA), a global consortium of botanic gardens engaged in ecological restoration with a suite of ambitious objectives, including establishing a network of research, training, and demonstration restoration sites, and restoring at least 100 damaged, degraded, or destroyed ecosystems around the world. Restoration of diverse natural communities at SNR serves as a model project from which lessons learned will be applied regionally and globally, enhancing the contribution of restoration to achieving global conservation targets and sustainable development goals. Missouri Botanical Garden also endeavors to conserve plant diversity in all its forms, with the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation(GSPC) serving as a framework and catalyst for this effort. Ecological restoration at SNR contributes to targets of the GSPC, specifically Target 4 (at least 15 percent of each ecological region or vegetation type secured through effective management and/or restoration) and Target 10 (effective management plans in place to prevent new biological invasions and to manage important areas for plant diversity that are invaded). An emerging restoration science program, in collaboration with MBG’s Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development (CCSD), capitalizes upon the diverse mosaic of natural communities at SNR to provide a living laboratory for restoration ecology and conservation biology. This program builds upon the inherent strengths of botanical gardens, including targeted seed collection for seedbanks, species-level conservation, and horticultural expertise with germination and propagation, all integrated with restoration and stewardship at the larger scale of plant communities. Researchers are currently working to identify species from the regional species pool that are absent from SNR, but for which ecologically appropriate habitat conditions exists, so that these species can be reintroduced to further amplify the Nature Reserve’s role as a repository for regional biodiversity. As another example, this research collaborative has established experimental ex-situ populations of a federally endangered and globally critically imperiled plant species to determine the influence of fire seasonality on growth, reproduction, and longevity, thus informing management of the remaining wild populations. The findings of this collaborative research are disseminated formally through peer- reviewed publication and through informal channels such as the Garden’s Natural History of Ecological Restoration blog.

A research study at SNR examined the effects of fire seasonality on the demographic performance of the federally endangered Astragalus bibullatus (Pyne’s ground-plum). A) Burn boxes were created to experimentally control fire season in replicated plots in a dolomite grassland. B) Astragalus bibullatus resprouting in spring with flower buds before a growing season burn (Photo: Matthew A. Albrecht).

At a local and regional scale, the staff at SNR, in association with many collaborators, work to build capacity for the science and practice of ecological restoration through numerous educational workshops and volunteer opportunities that provide researchers, students, professional managers, and private landowners firsthand exposure to best-practices for invasive species control, application of prescribed fire, and seed-based woodland and grassland restoration. Shaw Nature Reserve’s Volunteer Land Steward program aims to train and educate participants in all aspects of restoration and land stewardship, empowering stewards to work with minimal supervision to gain a sense of ownership and commitment to the management units in which they work. Teenage student participants in the Shaw Institute for Field Training gain firsthand experience with invasive species control and seed collection for restoration projects. In 2018, SNR will offer an inaugural year-long fellowship to train recent college graduates in the hands-on practice of ecological restoration, vegetation monitoring, and restoration science. A joint effort of CCSD, SNR, and MBG’s Horticulture division developed a new geospatial database, the Restoration Web Application, to document restoration activities such as prescribed fire, invasive species control, and sowing of native seed to enhance diversity. Collectively, these capacity-building activities help ensure that the impact of ecological restoration transcends multiple generations and extends beyond the borders of Shaw Nature Reserve. Literature Cited: Beilmann, A.P., and L.G. Brenner. 1951. The recent intrusion of forests in the Ozarks. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 38:261–282. Nelson, P.W. 2010. The Terrestrial Natural Communities of Missouri. The Missouri Natural Areas Committee, Jefferson City, Missouri. Reid, J.L., N. Holmberg, M.A. Albrecht, S. Arango-Caro, O. Hajek, Q. Long, and J. Trager. (In preparation) Vascular plant community change in relation to ecological restoration in a Missouri woodland.

Forest Ecosystem Restoration at Brackenhurst Botanic Garden, Tigoni, Kenya Contributed by Mark Nicholson, PhD, Director of Plants for Life International (PLI). PLI is a co- founder of the Ecological Restoration Alliance and also collects rare species within the Global Trees Campaign under the aegis of Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).

Working in the restored forest of Brackenhurst Botanic Garden, Kenya (Photo: Mark Nicholson)

Native forests blanketed the highlands (>1600 meters) of Kiambu County north of Nairobi, Kenya, until the end of the 19th Century. Extensive deforestation began as early as the 1890s, and picked up after World War I, when tea became an important cash crop in the region. More native forests were cleared for agriculture and exotic tree plantations, which supplied tanning, fuelwood, tea-drying and building activities. Today, tea, coffee, exotic timber plantations, flower farming, smallholder agriculture and urban expansion cover more than 99% of the original extent of native forest in Kiambu County. Remnant specimens of muna trees (Pouteria adolfi-friedericii) rising on buttress- roots 40 meters (m) above the Limuru Tea Company’s plantations serve as some of the last visible evidence that remains of the area’s native forests. With the destruction of the forests came the gradual disappearance of the large game species (buffalo, elephant, rhino, hippopotamus, and leopard), all of which were once common in the area. A few kilometers to the north, the Aberdare Forest Reserve and National Park, a major water source for Nairobi, provides a valuable example of indigenous forest that remains in good condition. In 2000, a small Kenyan Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Plants for Life International (PLI), had the vision of restoring an area of land in Kiambu County situated near Brackenhurst Convention Centre into a model native forest that emulated the remnant indigenous forests in the area. Since the Brackenhurst land had been exclusively covered in plantations of exotic trees for many decades, the project started by completely removing the exotic species (mainly eucalyptus, wattle, cypress and pine) followed by active restoration of native flora. This method contrasts with enrichment, where native trees are planted in a degraded forest, or natural regeneration, where sources of degradation are removed and trees repopulate an area thanks to seed spread from nearby intact forest. In the case of the Brackenhurst forest, the area had been devoid of indigenous trees for nearly 100 years, requiring active restoration to return indigenous forest to the area. Brackenhurst Garden is working to do just that.

A view of restored forest of Brackenhurst Botanic Garden 17 years after planting. The iconic muna tree towers above the canopy on the left (Photo: Mark Nicholson).

Brackenhurst Botanic Garden (BBG) was founded in 2001 and registered with Botanic Gardens Conservational International (BGCI) in 2006. BBG began as a small arboretum of indigenous East African trees. As of 2017, we have planted over 100,000 trees and shrubs of over 500 species on about 28 hectares with a goal of 40 ha by 2030. PLI has collected, conserved and propagated native upland species of trees, shrubs and lianas from forest in Kenya. In the past we also propagated rare species from seed sourced from other montane areas of East and Southern Africa, such as Widdringtonia whytei from Malawi and W. cedarbergensis from South Africa. However, our primary goal is to restore the upland forest and regain some of the charismatic animal and bird species (e.g., Colobus monkeys, Greater Galago, Hartlaub’s Turaco, Black and White Casqued Hornbill, White-starred Robin).

A pair of Colobus monkeys at Brackenhurst Botanic Garden (Photo: Mark Nicholson).

Our biggest challenge at BBG is the control and eventual elimination of invasive species, particularly Cestrum aurantiacum (introduced to Kenya as a garden plant from Guatemala many decades ago), Solanum mauritianum and Acacia mearnsii (Black Wattle). The first two are garden escapes or introduced weeds which are aggressive, fast-growing understory species that have a major growth-retarding effect on our indigenous species through shading and competition for water and nutrients. The Australian Black Wattle seeds are largely fire-germinated, but even without fire, the seeds remain viable in the soil for decades and keep germinating. The only ecological control measure is hand-weeding. The project has four main goals. 1) Restore ecosystem services such as perennial stream flow, improved soil quality, and restored trophic levels (e.g. the return of Colobus monkeys, our flagship species, in 2015). 2) Restore high native plant biodiversity. We have reintroduced over 1500 plant species including lianas, ferns, orchids, forest grasses and other understory species, making our collection the largest cultivated indigenous collection of flora in East Africa. Concomitant with this is high carbon sequestration typical of a young forest with an average 5-year survival rate over 90 percent. 3) Provide ecotourism opportunities: Brackenhurst had over 28,000 overnight stays in 2017, enticing guests with walks in our forest and a quiet, clean environment on the inner compound where we plant rare trees. 4) Provide environmental education at all levels. Students young and old can attend a wide variety of courses, from ecological restoration to plant identification in collaboration with BGCI and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Brackenhurst is working to encourage ecological restoration in all parts of East Africa and to foster a community that will support the creation of a regional chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER). Other benefits of the project include the employment of the local rural community as permanent and casual staff, as well as negotiating with local businesses such as Unilever and private tea plantations for the establishment of forest and wildlife corridors. Plants for Life International supplies local community-based organizations and schools with free trees for school compounds and religious institutions. We conduct a variety of monitoring programs and eventually hope to show that income- generation is possible from various sources such apiculture, selective harvesting of indigenous hardwood, the production of understory coffee or the harvesting of indigenous vegetables.

A Basella alba harvest at Brackenhurst Botanic Garden (Photo: Mark Nicholson).

Our vision at Brackenhurst is to bring awareness of ecological restoration to all Kenyans, particularly the younger demographic, many of whom are brought up in an urban environment with no access to nature. We are expanding the work we are doing at Brackenhurst to other places, such as the Mt. Kenya area and the Taita Hills, which forms part of the Eastern Arc Mountains. In January 2018, we will be holding another training course on ecological restoration and plant identification for ecological restoration practitioners all over East Africa. These activities all contribute to the goal of maintaining and elevating BBG’s role as the hub of restoration for the region. Restoration Ecology, Editor’s Picks The November 2017 issue of Restoration Ecology (Vol. 25, Issue 6) is available online. Featured below are some Editor’s Picks courtesy of Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor of Restoration Ecology, Stephen Murphy and Valter Amaral. Want to subscribe to Restoration Ecology? Email [email protected] to add a subscription to your current SER membership, or renew your membership with a subscription online: www.ser.org/membership.

Restoration of contaminated ecosystems: adaptive management in a changing climate

Aïda Farag, Diane Larson, Jenny Stauber, Ralph Stahl, John Isanhart, Kevin McAbee, and Christopher Walsh Aïda Farag and colleagues subtly note that there is a vernacular use of ‘adaptive management’ – even amongst professionals – that seems to equate this term as ‘anything goes’. In this paper, they tackle the difficult question that bedevils restoration ecologists – how do we really account for human-caused climate change in setting goals for, implementing, and monitoring restoration projects? Drawing from the risk literature and stakeholder input best practices, this review article drives home how adaptive management modelling can advance our ability to do better restoration ecology given the fast pace and wide scope of climate change impacts.

Time, space, place, and the Bonn Challenge global forest restoration target

Michael Verdone and Andrew Seidl The Bonn Challenge global target of 350 million hectares of degraded forest restored by 2030 was received with apprehension by several governments that need a clear cost-benefit structure to support public investments. This apprehension often stems from a limited valuation of restoration- derived benefits that tends to be confined to financial terms. Here, Verdone and Seidl present a methodology for valuing integral net benefits of large-scale ecosystem restoration, using the Bonn Challenge objective. They conclude that the net benefits of achieving the Challenge objectives can largely exceed the implementation costs, and that this may depend on different social discount rates (used to weight future resources relative to present ones) — the lower the discount rates, the higher the restoration rates.

Environmental and socioeconomic drivers of woody vegetation recovery in a human- modified landscape in the Rio Grande basin (Colombian Andes)

Omar Camelo, Ligia Urrego, and Sergio Orrego The rate and success of natural regeneration of woody vegetation can be related to many biotic and abiotic variables, from soil fertility and light availability to a country’s economic development mechanisms (existence of protected areas, human emigration, etc). This paper addresses how potentially important biotic, abiotic, and socioeconomic drivers interact at different scales to influence forest recovery, and the direction of such influence, using the Colombian Andes as a model system. The result is a set of guidelines tailored to augment recovery of degraded Andean forest sites in different settings (e.g., near/away from human settlements or remnant forest) and environmental conditions (e.g., high/low precipitation, depth or soil organic horizon).

Society News

Dear Colleagues, It’s hard to believe it’s already been three months since the World Conference in Iguassu. For those of us in North America, autumn is a time of giving thanks. We’d like to extend a tremendous thank you to all of you, around the world: thank you for not only your membership and dedication to SER, but your dedication to the field of restoration! Be it as a professor, a practitioner, or a researcher, your work is so important to the health of our world. In October, we said farewell to Marguerite Nutter, who had been our Membership Director for the past two years. Marguerite’s first day on the job was actually at our 2015 World Conference in Manchester, and from that first week she jumped into her SER duties headfirst! From overhauling our website and database to creating tutorial videos for new members, Marguerite brought an incredible level of professionalism and expertise to SER. She has returned to her media roots building membership for First Look Media, just down the street from SER headquarters. She also generously continued to support SER membership tasks as we search for a new director. We miss her greatly, and wish her all the best! We hope that you were able to attend our most recent webinar presented in partnership with ATBC, The Role of Tropical Secondary Forests in Conservation and Restoration. Keep a look out soon for our announcement of our entire 2018 webinar series, which will feature speakers including practitioners and researchers from across the globe. An important update about our webinars: archived webinars will be now accessible to members only. Simply sign in to enjoy all of our archived webinars! Read on to hear more about our section and chapter updates, certification news, and upcoming conferences! Best,

Rebecca Shoer Communications & Operations Associate

SER Conference Highlights TXSER 2017 Annual Conference Contributed by Gwen Thomas

Kelly Lyons, Trinity University & TXSER Board President, with UNT and TAMU SER Student Association Leaders

One of the great pleasures of the TXSER conference is that each year is different and special in its own way - different location, different population of attendees, different projects, and different discussions. This year, TXSER's 2017 Annual Conference: Resilience & Connectivity at Our Roots exemplified just that. We returned to our roots where TXSER was founded in 1995 at the University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton. Much of what took place over the November 10-12 weekend demonstrated the importance of organizational and ecological resilience, connectivity, and growth from roots. We have seen TXSER grow and flourish from its early days, making connections across the state with like-minded academics and practitioners concerned about the restoration of the Texas landscape. We learned about and discussed ecosystem resilience as well as the importance of connectivity among, and between, natural systems that allow for the recovery of damaged systems and their continued ability to provide the ecological and social services to sustain our growing Texas population. Ken Steigman’s keynote address on Saturday morning set the stage for intense discussions about where we are, what works, what mistakes we have made, and where we are going in the future. He also conveyed the urgency with which we need to act. “When Steigman raised the issue of the 6th extinction, I knew he was calling us all to action,” exclaimed one enthusiastic student. Steigman’s keynote address encouraged us to be open to new partnerships that will foster collaboration across diverse groups, allowing for creative ways to protect our biodiversity. The time is now for the restoration community to consolidate our resources, reach out to others, and to dig in to protect these natural resources that we all treasure.

SERSE Annual Symposium Contributed by Jim Kelly

Dr. Andy Clewell with some of the many students that came from all across the southeast.

The Society for Ecological Restoration Southeast Chapter (SER-SE) held its Annual Symposium and Membership Meeting from October 18-20, 2017 at the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. This year’s theme was NEXT GENERATION RESTORATION: Emerging Practice and Policy, which set the stage for participants to present and to learn about the evolving methods and motivations that are shaping the landscape in which ecological restoration will be viewed and conducted in the southeastern USA in the coming years and possibly decades. To encourage more student participation in symposium activities, all students received free admission. The event was well-attended with upwards of eighty people participating over the three days. Stimulating presentations and great networking opportunities filled the program, and students participated in large numbers, with many sharing their own research. Federal and state agencies, as well as universities from across the southeast had representatives present, and the event enjoyed tremendous support from several sponsors. Local television news station WXXV 25 covered the event, taking videos at the aquaculture field trip and interviewing SER-SE member Connie Bersok who represents the Southeast Region on SER’s international board. You can view the clip that aired on the nightly news at https://wxxv25.com/2017/10/18/ecological-restoration-society-town/.

SERSW Annual Conference Contributed by Carianne Campbell

Former ED Don Falk speaking at SERSW while current ED Bethanie Walder advances presentation slides.

The 3rd Annual Conference of the Society for Ecological Restoration Southwest Chapter (SERSW) welcomed 85 participants from across the region to Albuquerque, New Mexico, on December 6-8, 2017. One of the great highlights of the event was having both the first SER Executive Director, Don Falk, and the current SER Executive Director, Bethanie Walder, join us in discussions about how to have the most effective SW Chapter possible. Approximately 85 practitioners, students, researchers, and land managers gathered in Albuquerque Dec 6th - 8th for the Southwest Chapter's third solo annual conference. John Waconda, the Restoration Partnerships Coordinator for the US Forest Service Region 3 and a tribal member of the Isleta Pueblo, welcomed participants to the region with his presentation that weaved together the cultural heritage of the region with restoration practices. Don Falk got us started on the second day of the conference with his presentation about conducting restoration in a changing climate. Concurrent sessions featured riparian restoration, drylands restoration, seeding and plant materials, assessment and monitoring, and workshops included a hands-on conservation GIS workshop with Happy Desert GIS Services and a drylands restoration workshop with the Restoration Assessment & Monitoring Program for the Southwest (USGS). Field trips were well-attended and included outings to the Rio Grande River to experience the Bosque Ecological Monitoring Program; the Santa Ana Pueblo Native Plant Nursery; and to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. With the help of our generous sponsors, we were able to provide 7 scholarships for students to attend the conference. Stay tuned for next year's location announcement!

SER Section Update: International Network for Seed-Based Restoration (INSR) Contributed by Nancy Shaw, SER Board Member, Representative-At-Large and Director-At-Large of INSR

Seed collection training session in subarctic Ontario, Canada

This update features articles from Brazil, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. In addition, we report on the Native Seed Science, Technology and Conservation Initial Training Network (NASSTEC) Conference held at Kew Gardens, September 25-29, 2017. We encourage submission of articles on your seed-based restoration projects. Please contact me at [email protected] for guidelines. To join INSR or become a partner, please visit the INSR website. Xingu Seed Network in Brazil. The Xingu Seeds Network involves 30 organizations and 450 seed collector groups in 19 municipalities of the Xingu River’s watershed in the Brazilian Amazon. These groups encompass 14 rural settlements, one extractive reserve, and 6 indigenous ethnicities. Moreover, there is a management office based in Canarana City (Mato Groso State) and 4 seed storage houses. In one decade, this network has facilitated the production of a substantial volume of seeds (175 tonnes) and generated about 750 thousand US dollars for 450 households. Collecting native seed in subarctic Ontario, Canada. Mineral resource extraction is expanding to remote locations in high boreal and subarctic northern Ontario, Canada. Revegetation expectations are high, with local communities demanding the use of only native species. However, native seed supply is limited to non-existent. Our research goals were to create simple protocols for collecting wild native seed and to build the capacity in remote communities to collect and sell seed to mining companies. --Brittany Rantala-Sykes and Daniel Campbell, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Botanic Gardens and native seed production. Botanic gardens play a leading role in the conservation of rare and threatened plant species around the world. Increasingly they are active in ecological restoration. Scaling up the use of seed banking facilities and the horticultural skills of botanic gardens should help to address the global shortage of native seed for ecological restoration. --Sara Oldfield, Cambridge, UK. The College First Program opens doors to new possibilities in plant conservation and ecological restoration. The College First internship program brings students from the Chicago public schools system (IL, USA) to spend the summer exploring potential environmental science careers, an opportunity often missing in the city’s highly racially and ethnically diverse high schools. The program is based at the Chicago Botanic Garden, where students work alongside researchers and college-age mentors. The program’s goal is to increase diversity in science fields, with an emphasis on a university education as a means of creating and achieving career aspirations. --Olga Kildisheva and Isaiah Spears, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL, United States. The NASSTEC Conference – The first Europe-based international conference on native seeds. On September 2017, the final conference of the NASSTEC (Native Seed Science, Technology and Conservation) Initial Training Network, was held at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (United Kingdom). NASSTEC main objectives were to train a new generation of native seed specialists in Europe and to better connect European native seed stakeholders in order to improve the native seed supply and success in grassland restoration. —Marcello De Vitis

SERAustralasia Launch of 2nd National Standards Contributed by Kingsley Dixon

SERA Chair Kingsley Dixon at the launch

On November 30, Minister Anne Ruston, representing Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, launched the 2nd Edition of the National Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration produced by the Society for Ecological Restoration Australasia. Attendees from across Australia representing First Australians, government, community and non- government organizations attended the announcement. Minister Ruston outlined the importance of the restoration standards for Australia, and why now is the time for all Australians to be part of restoring the health of ecosystems and biodiversity. “The health of all Australian’s depends upon clean water, clean air and good soils," said the Minister. “With 51% of Australia disturbed or degraded by humans, now is the time for all of us to be part of the restoration economy and rebuild landscapes using the best possible principles and standards."

Winter 2017 Certification Updates

CERP Lynde Dodd at the Texas chapter conference

Application Windows Our amazing volunteer Certification Committee members are finishing up the review of our applicants from the July-September application window. Be sure to check our CERP/CERPIT directory and our social media accounts for the latest class of certified practitioners. The next application window will be open from January 15 to March 16, 2018. If you want to get a jump start on the process you can start the e-learning course, request your transcripts, and give your references a heads-up that you would like a reference letter. More information on the certification requirements and guidelines for reference letters can be found at www.ser.org/certification. CERP Ambassadors at Chapter Conferences Special thanks to our CERP program ambassadors for representing the program at SER chapter conferences. Make sure to look for those CERPs with “Ask Me” buttons to find out more about how you can get certified. Continuing Education Have an event that you would like to get pre-approved for continuing education credits under the CERP program? The process is easy (and free)! Go to www.ser.org/certification to see the requirements and submit your course/event.

SER Executive Director Bethanie Walder presenting the CERP program poster at the Texas SER Chapter meeting.

SER Board Elections The SER board will be holding elections for 12 Board of Directors positions in 2018! The open positions are: 8 Regional Representatives, 2 Directors-at-Large, the Treasurer, and the Student Representative. The nomination period will be open from now through January 8. After the board development committee certifies nominations, voting will take place in January and February. Our call for nominations was released last week, so be sure to submit nominees and vote!

End of Year Fundraising Campaign

Birch Woodland Succession Kolbjörk (CarbBirch) Project, Iceland

As 2017 comes to a close, we know it’s more important than ever that governments and organizations across the world come together to promote a sustainable future for our planet. With the momentum of international agreements, local initiatives, and exciting new SER resources, we have a window of opportunity to elevate the importance of ecological restoration as a critical tool for combatting climate change. SER is working aggressively at the international level to do just that, while also continuing to provide the tools and resources to ensure our members can implement the best possible restoration projects on the ground. Help us help you - our community of researchers, practitioners, and advocates - as we work together to turn the promise of restoration into reality. Donate today!

Restoration Resource Center Launch SER is thrilled to debut the Restoration Resource Center, an online portal for information on all aspects of restoration, from proven restoration methods and techniques, to in-depth project profiles, to professional development opportunities. The overarching mission of the Restoration Resource Center (RRC), is to facilitate the exchange of knowledge among scientists, practitioners, policymakers and others in order to improve restoration effectiveness and foster community and collaboration within the field. To that end, the Restoration Resource Center houses both a Resources & Publications Database, with articles, technical documents, webinars and other resources, and a Project Database, composed of detailed profiles of actual restoration projects. In addition to the databases, the RRC features professional development and networking opportunities, as well as links to other SER resources. The RRC is and will always be a work in progress – we are still in the process of streamlining the site, and will continuously update the databases and content to maintain its relevance to the restoration community. For this reason, a critical feature of the RRC is the option for users to submit their own resources and projects to the databases via easy-to-use fillable forms. We encourage everyone to explore the RRC, and consider submitting a resource that might be missing, or a project that other RRC users would find valuable in their own restoration work. Look for more on the RRC in future SER correspondences, as we continue finding ways to make it your go-to resource for restoration information.

Calling All Authors! SER is seeking book proposals for the Science and Practice of Restoration book series, co- sponsored by Island Press. We are particularly interested in short books, books appropriate for our certification program, or summaries of debates and discussion in the field. Check out the guidelines for proposals and more information.

Where's the SER Board?

SER Executive Director Bethanie Walder just attended the 9th World Conference of the Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP) in Shenzhen, China, and gave a symposium on the International Standards. SER Board chair Al Unwin attended and spoke at a restoration and biodiversity side event at Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) technical meeting -SBSTTA-21 on December 12, in Montreal, Canada. In addition, SER joined several other organizations, including CBD and Partners, to release a policy brief on the role of natural regeneration as a tool for ecological restoration. Thanks to Robin Chazdon for her leadership in developing this important policy brief and thanks to the CBD Forest Ecosystem Restoration Initiative for providing funding to SER to coordinate the project! SER Board Vice chair Jim Hallett will be attending the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration and the Global Landscape Forum meetings in Bonn, Germany in late December. SER will be co-hosting a pavilion on natural regeneration and biodiversity in restoration with CBD and the Forest Stewardship Council.

SER Chapter Conferences & Events SER-Western Canada 2018 Conference – Restoration for Resilience February 13-17, 2018 – Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada Hosted by SER-Western Canada in partnership with the joint Ecological Restoration program of British Columbia Institute of Technology and Simon Fraser University, SERWC2018 is an excellent learning, networking and tradeshow opportunity for researchers and students, resource industries, government regulators and managers, consulting practitioners, Indigenous peoples, and community- based organizations. Online registration is now open.