1. Restoration Ecology
Burning South Prairie – April 2013

2. What are we trying to do in our ecological restorations?
“Ecological restoration is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed.” (Society for Ecological Restoration Science and Policy Working Group 2002)

3. Another definition
Ecological Restoration- the full or partial replacement of biological populations and/or their habitats that have been extinguished or diminished.
Ideally the restoration will return normal ecosystem function to an area and hopefully the project will also have social or economic value to humans
Restoration Ecology is the study of restoration; ER is the process of restoration

4. of Ecological Restoration
A (Very) Brief History
of Ecological Restoration

5. Early examples of ecological restoration
1300s – forest restoration Nurnberger Reichswald
1660 – John Evelyn – restoration of English landscape
Late 1700s, early 1800s – restoration of Italian and French mountain forests
1859 – restoration of the Thames River, London
1878 – restoration of the Back Bay Fens, Boston
Early 1900s – restoration of rangeland in American West
1936 – Restoration of Curtis Prairie – U. of Wisconsin Arboretum

6. King’s College Chapel, Cambridge

8. The Man Who Planted Trees

9. Environmental Restoration in the American West

10. Restoration in London – after the Great Stink of 1858

11. Response to the Great Stink – Improve Drainage and Restore Streams

12. Improved Drainage Following The Great Stink

13. Improving sewage flow in London – an on-going project – Jan
Improving sewage flow in London – an on-going project – Jan proposal

14. Restoration in Boston - 1879

15. Back Bay Fens Today

16. Restoration in the Midwest
Nachusa Grasslands

17. Aldo Leopold planting at the Shack - 1936

18. CCC crewman planting Curtis Prairie - 1936

19. CCC crew watering Curtis Prairie – late 1930’s

20. University of Wisconsin Arboretum
Curtis Prairie – planted
Greene Prairie – planted
University of Wisconsin Arboretum

21. The Founders of Green Oaks – Henry Green, George Ward,
Alvah Green, and Paul Shepard

22. Green Oaks prior to prairie restoration – South Prairie

23. Early prairie establishment at Green Oaks – late 50’s

24. Pete Schramm
burning the
Prairie – 1980’s

25. Prairie Fire April 2013

26. Green Oaks from the Air

28. 100 sites monitored for long-term studies of restoration success

29. Plan for Green Network, Chicago Area

30. Restoration Projects Can Be Highly Variable

33. Excellent story on wolf restoration in the West

34. A more complex
and typical
restoration
project

35. Salt marsh restoration plan in Rhode Island

36. Salt marsh restoration plan in Rhode Island

37. Phragmites and Spartina

38. Mine Reclamation – the most difficult restoration project

39. Mine reclamation in progress

40. Mitigation Mitigation is the alleviation of some process
Compensatory Mitigation is related to restoration - mitigation is sometimes required when a group wants to develop a wild area such as a wetland and thus destroy the wetland

41. Controversies about Mitigation
Often the success rate for mitigation projects is fairly low
Many ecologists fear that if mitigation is seen to be successful we will allow many development projects to proceed with the assumption we can easily recreate nature - however there is some question as to how well we can actually restore what is lost or destroyed

42. Mitigation with Woodrow Wilson Bridge Construction

43. Restoration of Louisiana salt marsh - post BP oil spill mitigation

44. Mitigation of ANWR?

45. 1967 Torrey Canyon Oil spill

47. 1989 – Exxon Valdez oil spill

48. 1989 – Exxon Valdez oil spill

49. Exxon Valdez oil spill clean efforts

50. Tony Bradshaw

52. Flavors of Reclamation
Reclamation is the general process of repairing damaged ecosystems
Restoration - here we attempt to put back exactly what existed in the ecosystem prior to the disturbance
Rehabilitation - here we attempt to put back most of what existed in the ecosystem prior to the disturbance, but we don't try to put everything back
Replacement - no attempt is made to restore what was lost - here we replace the original ecosystem with another one
Recovery or neglect - here we allow nature to takes it course - depend upon natural processes of seed dispersal and germination to start plants, natural dispersal of animals to repopulate the area
Enhancement - activity designed to improve the ecosystem, even if the change is fairly minimal

53. Walnut Creek NWR – now named Neil Smith NWR

54. Neil Smith National Wildlife Refuge

55. Neil Smith NWR Prairie

56. Neil Smith NWR Prairie

58. Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie

59. Nachusa Grasslands

60. Restoration of a Garbage Dump – Fresh Kills, Staten Island, NY

61. Fresh Kills

62. Fresh Kills Restoration – Replacement of Ecosystem

63. Enhancement

64. Reintroduction of Animals
Only 16 of 145 reintroductions of captive bred individuals have been successful
86% of reintroductions of native game animals have been successful
46% of reintroductions of native threatened, endangered or sensitive animals have been successful

65. European Bison
Historic (Holocene) Distribution

66. European Bison – Current Distribution

67. Six basic steps for restoring an ecosystem
1. Set a goal
2. Determine a strategy and methods
3. Remove the source of degradation
4. Restore the physical environment
5. Restore the biota
6. Be patient – restoration takes time

68. Always Remember:
As Frank Egler said, “Ecosystems are not only more complex than we think, ecosystems are more complex than we can think.”