3/27 Restoration Ecology 101

Please join us for this incredible opportunity to learn from one of the pioneers of restoration ecology.  In this class you will learn some of the basic principles and practices of restoration.  Specific topics include: the philosophy of restoration, ecosystem degradation, analysis of restoration projects and methods, design processes and an ecosystem by ecosystem review of how systems are restored.   Kern will also discuss the latest techniques in managing forests to promote old growth characteristics and update us on the UW Restoration Ecology Network.   After the presentation, Kern will lead us on a tour of the adjacent Meadowbrook restoration sites.

Register here for Restoration 101

Kern Ewing was born and grew up in south Texas near the Rio Grande River.  His family farmed and did heavy equipment contracting.  He received a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Texas Tech and became a licensed P.E. working in soils and municipal engineering.  Developing an interest in planning, he eventually became the Director of Environmental Planning for the Texas General Land Office (equivalent to our DNR).  Kern received his PhD in Botany from UW in 1982, looking at plant community variation along environmental gradients in the Skagit Marsh. He subsequently did post-doctorate research at McMaster University working on James Bay salt marshes, and Utah State analyzing Great Basin shrub die-back.  After a stint as research professor at the Wetland Biogeochemistry Institute at LSU investigating sub-lethal stress in Spartina patens, he came to the Center for Urban Horticulture in 1990.  He has worked on stresses in wetland plants used for restoration and has investigated restoration techniques in wetlands, prairies and thornscrub.  In 1998 he took a sabbatical to assess restoration success in thornscrub communities along the lower Rio Grande River. Since then he has worked as a Research Associate at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, analyzing the responses of oak savanna to fire. He teaches wetland and restoration ecology and manages the restoration of the Union Bay Natural Area, a retired landfill adjacent to the University of Washington. His students work in restoration of prairie, oak woodlands, freshwater wetlands, salt marshes, eelgrass beds, kelp beds, and subalpine vegetation in recreation areas.  In 2004, Kern and Warren Gold received the John Rieger Award from the Society of Ecological Restoration for work done in establishing the U.W. Restoration Ecology Network, which includes a hands-on, client-based capstone course as part of a restoration curriculum.  This program was featured in a 2006 Educational Forum article in Science. In 2009, he was given the Sterling Munro Public Service Teaching Award by the University.  Kern and his colleagues are currently writing a textbook for their restoration ecology courses.

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