MORFO’s Post

Our oldest forests are in need of protection, and a new report by TWS and Forest Stewards Guild shows just how we can do it effectively. Over 90% of examined projects under the US Forest Service’s Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program are focused on conserving mature and old-growth forests. 🌳🌳 This program is leading the way for conserving our oldest forests for future generations in a way that’s bipartisan, community-led and science-backed. 🌎 🌿

Our oldest forests are in need of protection, and a new report by TWS and Forest Stewards Guild shows just how we can do it effectively. Over 90% of examined projects under the US Forest Service’s Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program are focused on conserving mature and old-growth forests. 🌳🌳 This program is leading the way for conserving our oldest forests for future generations in a way that’s bipartisan, community-led and science-backed. 🌎 🌿

On Friday, October 13, the Mattole River & Range Partnership held our annual summit. Consisting of Mattole Restoration Council, Mattole Salmon Group and Sanctuary Forest, this partnership was formed in 2002 in order to improve the overall health of the Mattole watershed and its ecosystems. In 2005, they published their first Mattole Integrated Coastal Watershed Management Plan, and several updates have been published since. This plan helps guide each group’s strategic plan, and describes prioritization and monitoring approaches to enhance management and restoration actions. The MRRP’s goals for the Mattole are abundant, native salmon runs along with healthy, productive upslope ecosystems and sustainably integrated human communities. This year, we held the summit in the Mattole headwaters, and toured Sanctuary Forest’s Baker Creek restoration site: Tasha McKee and Cam Thompson showed us the instream structures and log & boulder weirs in Baker Creek, as well as the String of Pearls groundwater recharge ponds. We also visited the North Fork of Lost River, to see SFI’s new direct augmentation ponds, and the South Fork of Lost River, to see the beaver dam analog structures. Tasha explained to the group the steps taken in order to implement these pilot projects, lessons learned, and how our restoration approaches have adapted in reaction to their efficacy. It’s always wonderful to get together with our partner groups, and this day of learning and discussion was no exception! . . . #mattole #humboldt #sohum #collaboration #sanctuaryforest #mattolerestorationcouncil #mattolesalmongroup #mendocino #headwaters #restoration #salmonid #groundwater #water #conservation

Call for Scotland to declare itself the world’s first rewilding nation. The Scottish Rewilding Alliance has launched a Rewilding Nation Charter, as despite its stunning and spectacular landscapes and seeming wildness, Scotland (along with the rest of the UK) is considered one of the most nature-depleted and ecological degraded parts of the world. Ranked 212 out of 240 countries for the state of its nature with 1 in 9 of its species at risk of extinction. Rewilding offers hope Rewilding offers a means to push back against this, helping stem this loss of life from the land by restoring resilient and life-rich ecosystems. However, at the present time, only around 2% of Scotland’s land area is committed to rewilding.    In light of this, the Scottish Rewilding Alliance have launched a campaign to seek government commitment to declare Scotland the world’s first Rewilding Nation, committing to rewilding 30% of its land and sea, helping reverse #biodiversityloss while supporting a more sustainable future for the country. Not only would this shift help seed nature recovery, it would also help safeguard ecosystem services in the midst of a changing climate, while creating economic opportunities.    #HopeintoAction Picture a more life rich and vibrant Scotland with a rich tapestry of woodlands, wetlands, peatlands and meadows, and coastlines enriched and buffered by oyster beds, seagrass beds and kelp forests. A more resilient landscape that supports local enterprises, empowers communities, and helps kindle a sense of kinship and connection with the natural world and all its wonders.    You can support the campaign by signing the national charter here: https://lnkd.in/eWKu9Rd8 #rewilding #naturesrecovery #resilientlandscapes Image credit: craighunter from Pixabay

Earlier this month, our Nature-based Solutions (NbS) team headed to North Pennines National Landscape to learn about “an ambitious, large-scale peatland restoration initiative”: The Great North Bog. Upland and lowland peatlands in the UK have been degraded by years of human activity, including removing peat as a source of fuel and for horticultural compost, draining large areas to enable livestock grazing and growing of non-native pine trees, and burning of heather to boost grouse numbers for recreational hunting and shooting. It's estimated that degraded peatland accounts for around 1.9 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions globally every year. That's about 5% of our collective greenhouse gas emissions, from areas that make up just 0.3% of our total landmass. The North Pennines peatland team have been working hard to restore the vast areas of dry, damaged and bare peat using nature-based restoration techniques. Kirsty Brown, National Landscapes Association NbS Project Officer, explains how these techniques are helping to re-wet the peat bog, restore nature and reduce downstream flooding in her latest blog. https://lnkd.in/eZKZaeVt

🌲🤝🌊 “Trees need water, and freshwater needs ample tree cover, so it’s this mutualistic relationship. I think for tree lovers, it’s kind of impressive the number of ways that trees determine water quality and quantity.” Austin Rempel, director of Forest Restoration at American Forests. Learn more about the relationship between forests and freshwater sources in the newest issue of American Forests Magazine: https://bit.ly/3OJ2gLa

A win for nature!!!    Recent attention in the media has put the spotlight on the dire state of our rivers; in England only 15% meet the criteria for ‘good’ ecological status and shockingly, none achieve ‘good’ status overall1.  But there is hope, every year we are inspired by some of the best examples of river and catchment restoration showcased at the prestigious UK River Restoration Prize, awarded by UK River Restoration Centre (RRC).   It’s five years since we launched the Trust’s flagship river restoration programme, Riverlands, in response to the growing nature and climate crises and we couldn’t be more excited to announce that this year two of our projects were selected as finalists at the 2024 awards.  Our Cumbria Riverlands team scooped first prize in the catchment award alongside partner Ullswater Catchment Management CIC for their work restoring habitats around Ullswater2. To date, the collaboration has delivered 843 hectares of habitat restoration; initiatives covered over 13km of river restoration, 46 hectares of pond creation, over 16km of hedgerow creation, and significant restorations of wood pasture, peat, and wetlands. The works also included the ‘re-wiggling’ of Goldrill Beck which is often used as an exemplar.   Riverlands Porlock Vale Streams project was a runner up, recognised for it’s pioneering and innovative approaches to both river restoration and land management aimed at restoring natural processes at a catchment scale. Work has created an extensive, connected ‘waterscape’ that is nature rich and resilient to extremes in climate, whilst also remaining productive. This included the UK’s first large scale main river restoration using the stage zero technique and species reintroductions with beaver and water vole.   It’s fantastic to be recognised for the work we’ve been doing and huge thanks to our partners, funders, farmers and local communities; the work we’ve achieved demonstrates that together we can support natural rivers, thriving wildlife and resilient communities.   A big congratulations to the other finalists and everyone involved.    Environment Agency Natural England Danny Teasdale @DefraGovUK @UllswaterCIC #envAgencyNW #GreenRecoveryChallengeFund #TogetherForOurPlanet #UllswaterCatchmentManagementCIC     1) State of our Rivers 2024, Rivers Trust.  2) With support from the Cumbria River Restoration Strategy, which is led by the Environment Agency and Natural England. Image Credit: Jonathan Holdsworth

The Northwest Forest Plan is being updated, and that is a big deal for the future of our forests and communities. Read this article to learn more about the plan and how its being updated!

FUNDING AND AWARD ANNOUNCEMENTS   FUNDING OPPORTUNITY: ‘Seed to Carbon Forest Acceleration’ - with Terraformation. This pioneering biodiversity-focused, carbon-funded forest accelerator, will help local forestry teams with the tools to launch restoration projects and succeed at scale. These include early-stage financing, training in resilient native ecosystem restoration and tools to increase project transparency in critical early stages. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and will be considered for an upcoming cohort. See https://lnkd.in/ekKRPNxT | https://lnkd.in/eRfZGP3S Open calls for proposals - Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund https://lnkd.in/eN7fRmZs   OPPORTUNTY: Ecosystem restoration standard - Scaling restoration on the carbon markets. Apply on Restor https://lnkd.in/egpwvgnj   International Climate Initiative. Funding https://lnkd.in/e-9vHSRd The IKI finances climate and biodiversity projects in developing countries as well as in countries in transition (ODA-eligible countries). The IKI selects projects for funding on the basis of ideas competitions only. These ideas competitions are announced on the IKI website regularly. Project outlines can be submitted via the IKI online platform only. The IKI-funding process is structured along two different kinds of funding programmes: a) Funding for large-scale projects with funding volumes between 5 to 20 million euros (thematic and country specific calls) and b) Funding for small-scale projects with funding volumes between 60.000 and 800.000 euros (IKI Small Grants and IKI Medium Grants) To find out whether your project idea meets our funding programmes and our funding requirements, please find more information at: https://lnkd.in/emczEytQ   FUNDING OPPORTUNITY: Google Offers All Expenses Paid Trips to Tech, Business, and STEM Conferences for Underrepresented Individuals Worldwide. Posted 20 Mar 2024 https://lnkd.in/eHM-9bbv expenses-paid-trips-to-tech-business-and-stem-conferences-for-underrepresented-individuals-worldwide/   FUNDING OPPORTUNITY: Micro-grants Program to Support Climate Justice Initiatives in the Global South: Apply Now for grants of up to $10,000 USD. Posted 20 Mar 2024 Deadline? https://lnkd.in/erVuvqUm  

Proposed forest plan in Pennsylvania addresses variety of challenges and needs: https://lnkd.in/enZXCY3r