We will be posting abstracts for papers at the Workshop on History and Values in Ecological Restoration to a password-protected site. More details coming soon.

This workshop, made possible in part by a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation, will be held June 7–10, 2012, on the campus of Colorado College, in downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Papers come from disciplines including history, philosophy, geography, political science, and restoration ecology, as well as field reports from managers at a number of national wildlife refuges from across the U.S.

This workshop has a unique format: We have invited land managers from a number of military-to-wildlife conversion refuges to participate, and the workshop will include a field trip to Denver’s Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, a former chemical weapons manufacturing facility. Presenters have tailored their papers for accessibility and relevance to both managers and academics. Thanks to support from the National Science Foundation, we will cover lodging and food for all workshop presenters.

The workshop focuses on restoration in landscapes with complex histories, shaped by the ongoing interaction between humans and nature. These “hybrid landscapes” challenge traditional frameworks for ecological restoration, which focus on restoration of ecosystems to conditions existing prior to a discrete anthropogenic disturbance. Hybrid landscapes, by contrast, are characterized by blended natural and cultural histories, which challenge the identification of pre-disturbance “reference conditions.” The aim of this workshop is to explore history and values in hybrid landscapes, and how they interact in the identification of restoration goals. The workshop will give particular attention to the restoration and re-naturalization of former military sites in the United States now managed as National Wildlife Refuges.

Key questions for the workshop include: To what extent, if any, are the concepts of “authenticity” and “historical fidelity” relevant to restoration in hybrid landscapes? Are there new ways of conceiving authenticity and historical fidelity that are more appropriate for landscapes with complex socio-ecological histories, or are these categories simply irrelevant? If authenticity and historical fidelity are no longer relevant, then what values should guide restoration? To what extent should restored landscapes and their interpretation take account of and make visible a site’s history?

Questions about the workshop can be directed to the organizers, Marion Hourdequin (Colorado College) and David Havlick (University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, email: dhavlick@uccs.edu).

We are happy to announce that we will be hosting a workshop on History and Values in Ecological Restoration conference.

The workshop will be held June 7–10, 2012, on the campus of Colorado College, in beautiful downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Go to Conference tab for more details and the workshop schedule. If you are interested in attending the workshop, go to the Register for Workshop tab.

We’ve recently made our bibliography available on Zotero.

You can search the entire bibliography, using the simple “search library” box. Additionally, you can sort the bibliography by title, author(s), and date of publication.

Zotero a free online resource- and citation-management tool. It’s a great resource for those of us who face the challenge of managing a multiplicity of resources. It’s perfect for collaborating on academic projects and, as we’re using it now, for sharing bibliographies with the public.

As a part of this research project, we will be hosting a conference — a confluence of academics and thoughts leaders, as well as refuge managers.

We will begin planning that conference in the coming months. We’ll post details on the event here as they become available.