In 2004, the Society for Ecological Restoration’s past Executive Director Don Falk and MK LeFevour, along with former Executive Director Don Falk had a vision of a unified body, a hub that would contain information on all-things restoration. At the time, there was no go-to destination that housed all of the information from things like journals, press releases, conferences, news stories and more on ecological restoration. Thus, the Global Restoration Network was born, and it was launched on March 15, 2007.

Restoring the Cheonggyecheon River in Seoul, Korea

Today, the GRN is home to hundreds of members that are in some way involved in restoration. Whether they be individuals looking for ways to replant native flora in their own backyard, or experienced practitioners devoted to restoration worldwide, the GRN is a central hub for restoration knowledge.

“The primary emphasis was to create a database that would help practitioners at all levels around the world. There was a degree of isolation among people doing restoration. Our vision was that this would help connect [people] to the wider network of people doing restoration.” - Sasha Alexander

The goal was to “create a database where people could learn lessons from other projects around the world,” says Sasha Alexander, Program Director of the Society for Ecological Restoration. The GRN was conceived as a “tool for practitioners in the field,” where they can cross-reference ideas, see what works and what doesn’t work, and monitor restoration projects everywhere. What’s more, the content needed to be available to anyone with an internet connection. This means that anyone can hop onto the GRN website and get informed on the latest restoration work being done. Of course, membership in the society is available for those who want exposure for their restoration efforts, conference discounts, and access to their journal, Restoration Ecology, which focuses on the exchange of ideas in all aspects of restoration and is full of original papers on studies across various ecosystems.

“We are members of society, and we work to support and promote ecological restoration around the world.”

And the membership is diverse, says Alexander, consisting of professionals who have been practicing for a long time and people who are new to restoration. In fact, the Community Restoration Network is the area of the GRN website that is designed to unite the two. In it, you’ll find:

• Funding Opportunities - a listing of funders that awards grants for community-based environmental projects, grant writing tips, fundraising strategies, and more;
• The Restoration Toolkit - “A comprehensive resource of science-based methods and techniques, accessible to volunteers and non-professional restoration practitioners.” The detail in this resource in pretty amazing;
• Volunteer Section - A listing of community-based volunteer opportunities.

The scope of what the Global Restoration Network does is impressive. While the Society itself doesn’t practice restoration, it does serve as a legitimate body that has valuable advice for those who are interested. For instance, they are active in informing the discussion on restoration among the international conventions such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. The Society’s position is that ecological restoration can provide significant socio-economic benefits while reducing biodiversity loss and helping countries to adapt to the negative impacts of climate change.

One of Alexander’s favorite restoration projects is the Alexander River project, an award winning demonstration of successful restoration headed by Amos Brandeis.

While the GRN is off to an impressive start, featuring “hundreds and hundreds” of restoration projects, Alexander said they are working on big improvements, including a website redesign that can handle more functionality, accommodate videos, and has social networking features. “You can’t do restoration in isolated patches. You have to link the restoration to the larger landscape matrix.” So the goal now is to automatically connect projects and organizations with each other. For instance, if someone submits case study/synopsis on restoring a riparian area, there would be some way that the submission would ping other people doing similar restoration nearby, opening up the possibility of collaboration.

We encourage anyone who is interested in environmental restoration to head on over to Global Restoration Network. Also, if you are wanting to get involved in restoration projects, the GRN has established an impressively complete Restoration Toolkit that you shouldn’t miss. “It was an ambitious vision,” says Alexander, “to attract both the general public as well as people that are in the field already.” At TENTHMIL, we hope to both learn from and contribute to this wonderful collection of restoration knowledge.