California Society for Ecological Restoration October 2025 |
|
|
|
In this newsletter, you will find: SERCAL 2026 — Call for Abstracts released this week! The largest wetland restoration project in Yosemite is complete! We're unveiling a new membership app this month! Kudos to our Sponsoring Members of 2025! Hooray! A new editorial group from the Leadership Team is focusing on Ecesis and you're going to love it! Our Partner Organizations are the Best: Don't miss CNGA's Speakers Series showcasing the amazing work of the Grassland Research Awards for Student (GRASS) Scholarship Winners Get your Cal-IPC Regular Registration rates through October 10 CNPS is "Growing the Movement" at Riverside Convention Center
Check out our Job, Volunteer, and Project Boards! How much time do you spend in natural spaces each day?
|
|
|
Voices of the Land: Listening, Learning, Restoring Join us for SERCAL 2026 — May 18-20 Fortuna
We are super excited to FINALLY be hosting our conference and highlighting some of the incredible work of our colleagues in northernmost California. This will be, of course, an inclusive gathering in all respects — welcoming old and new colleagues from across the spectrums of regions, foci, experiences, and professions.
The Call for Abstracts will be released THIS WEEK! Topics will include both regional and over-arching California themes. We've got a review team who will select abstracts, so for full consideration as a technical presenter, you'll need to upload your abstract to our Airtable base late October. Abstracts for poster presentations will be due mid November. All presenters will be notified before Thanksgiving of their acceptance.
General Timelines
EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION | Begins no later than December 7. We'll have capacity for just over 300 attendees, so First Come, First Served.
NEXT GENERATION | The Stipend application process begins this month through the end of Early Bird Registration (TBA but likely the end of January) and awardees will be notified two weeks later. Stipends will be awarded to presenters (posters or technical presentations). We'll have volunteer opportunities and VERY discounted registration rates for those we are not able to support with a stipend.
Lastly… We're going to need to hold fast to the deadlines we are setting in order to create a smoother experience for our attendees. Every year, we work to improve from hard-won lessons. With your help, we'll be able to create a seamless process that we can carry with us to University of Redlands (2027) and Sacramento (2028). We can't wait to see you!
|
|
The largest wetland restoration project in Yosemite is complete!
The Ackerson Meadow restoration is complete, making it the largest meadow project in the Sierra Nevada and the biggest wetland restoration in Yosemite’s history. After moving 150,000 cubic yards of soil and planting 434,000 wetland plants, water now flows naturally across the meadow. The project will store over 70 million gallons of groundwater annually, improve water quality, and provide habitat for nearly 60 bird species and threatened wildlife. It also serves as a model for collaboration among federal agencies, nonprofits, and scientists, offering both immediate ecological benefits and a foundation for future restoration efforts across California.
|
|
We're unveiling a new membership app this month!
What does this mean for you? 1) You can create and manage a Member Profile to share with the rest of the community!! 2) You can instantly set up your Member login and, if you like, hassle-free automatic renewals, and 3) Easy online conference registration through the Member Portal. More perks will be announced while we're setting it up. We hope you'll like it!
We're working out the last few technical glitches and should have everything running smoothly by week's end. :-) |
Kudos to our Sponsoring Members of 2025!
We greatly appreciate the support and camaraderie of the following organizations. We invite your organization to join them in actively facilitating the growth and sustainability of a collaborative, knowledge-based, forward-thinking industry that is leading the effort to create and sustain a robust California native landscape for wildlife, plants, and people.
We will be contacting current sponsors this month about 2026 benefits! If you would like to join the ranks of this illustrious group, contact julie@sercal.org. |
Valley Oak $2,500 Sponsors
|
Arroyo Willow Sponsors
For their continued and generous support: Victor Schaff and the Schaff Family Foundation |
Torchbearers for the Next Generation
Sustaining Business Members
Sustaining Individual Members F. Thomas Biglione + Scott Dreher + Regina Hirsh + Michael Kleats + Richard B Lewis + Jennifer Long + Cassie Pinnell + Jim Prine + Emily Zefferman
|
|
Hooray! A new editorial group from the Leadership Team is focusing on Ecesis and you're going to love it!
Led by Yamina Pressler (Associate Professor of Soil Science and Restoration Ecology, Cal Poly SLO) with the support of Onolunose Oko-Ose (MS, Yale School of Forestry), Sterling Meus (Fish & Wildlife Biologist, Marin Municipal Water District), and three undergrads (Ona, Milla, and Adam, go Musties!) from Cal Poly SLO, SERCAL's news journal is revving up to be published biannually and articles will also be featured on LinkedIn and Instagram. Thank you Team! And thank you Members, for your patience this year! The first issue will come out in January, and the next after the conference.
|
Our Partner Organizations are The Best California Native Grasslands Association (CNGA) often leads the popular Grasslands session at our conferences. Our organizations also offer a joint membership discount as well as discounted registrations to each other's events.
California Invasive Plant Council (Cal-IPC) is another essential partner in restoring our native California landscapes. We offer discounts to each other's annual gatherings. See announcement for Cal-IPC symposium below!
California Ecological Restoration Business Association (CalERBA) is a 501c6 organization that represents a growing sector of state businesses that specialize in delivery of high impact environmental outcomes.
California Association of Resource Conservation Districts (CARCD) is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to serving as a strong advocate, technical resource, and partner to the state's 96 RCDs so that they can be Relevant, Excellent, and Visible “go-to” hubs for conservation in their communities.
Ecological Workforce Initiative is working to meet the workforce needs of the growing ecological restoration industry by training workers for living-wage careers that support both the economic vitality of our communities and the health of our environment.
|
October's CNGA GRASS Speaker Series: Tuesdays at 6pm
TONIGHT — Ernesto Chavez-Velasco (Cal Poly Humboldt) — Community assembly along environmental niche gradients: contrasting patterns of functional convergence and divergence in California coastal grasslands. 14 October — Jessica Solis, Research Data Specialist — Carbon Flux Dynamics from a Coastal Grassland Disturbed by Wildfire 21 October — Sophie Noda, UC Davis Master's Student — From Burn Piles to Prairie: Post-Burn Recruitment of Coyote Brush and Native Grasses in Coastal Prairie 28 October — Lauren Glevanik, UCLA — Trait plasticity alters seed dispersal potential in an annual California grassland community
Talks are on Tuesdays from 6–7 PM PST featuring a one 40-minute talk, or one or two 20-minute talks, with time for Q&A. Members: Free - Non-Members: $10 - Non-Member Students: Free with Student ID
|
|
Get your Regular Registration rates through October 10!
Use the code 2025PARTNER for $25 off your in-person or virtual registration!
|
First Call for 2026 SRF Presentation Abstracts due Nov 18
The 43rd Annual Salmonid Restoration Conference will be held in Redding, California April 28 – May 1, 2025.
|
February 4–7 at the Riverside Convention Center
|
Check out our Job, Volunteer, and Project Boards!
Find what fits you or who fits your team. It's easy and it's free!
Here are some of the most recent jobs posted to our website: National Park Service (NPS) Scientists in Parks (SIP) / Winter 2026 - Nationwide. Conservation Legacy. Apply by: 10/12/2025
2026 Internship - Truckee, CA. Truckee River Watershed Council. Apply by: 10/24/2025.
Resource Management Specialist I/II - Los Altos, CA. Midpensinsula Regional Open Space District. Apply by: 10/26/2025
Reserve Management/Monitoring Manager - Riverside County. Riverside County Transportation Commission. Apply by: 10/31/2025 4:00PM
These jobs were posted within the last month and are open until filled: Restoration Ecologist - Orange County. Endemic Environmental, Inc.
Wildlife Biologist, Compliance Specialist - San Francisco Bay Area. WRA Inc. Program Coordinator, Forest Health and Fire Resilience - Colusa, CA. Colusa County Resource Conservation District.
Restoration Crewmember - Orange County, CA. Chambers Group.
Conservation Program Manager - Moss Landing. SJSU Research Foundation (Moss Landing Marine Labs).
Landscape Designer - San Francisco Bay Area. H. T. Harvey & Associates.
MS Ecology Student for a prescribed fire ecology research position - San Jose, CA. San José State University.
|
|
How much time do you spend in natural spaces each day?
A new study has found that people’s connection to nature has declined by more than 60% since 1800. Computer modeling predicts that levels of nature connectedness will continue to decline unless there are far-reaching policy and societal changes — with introducing children to nature at a young age and radically greening urban environments the most effective interventions.
The study by Miles Richardson, a professor of nature connectedness, tracks the loss of nature from people’s lives over 220 years by using data on urbanization, the loss of wildlife in neighborhoods and, crucially, parents no longer passing on engagement with nature to their children.
In the research published in the journal Earth, Richardson also identified the disappearance of natural words from books between 1800 and 2020, which peaked at a 60.6% decline in 1990.
“Nature connectedness is now accepted as a key root cause of the environmental crisis,” said Richardson.
“It’s vitally important for our own mental health as well. It unites people and nature’s wellbeing. There’s a need for transformational change if we’re going to change society’s relationship with nature.”
|
Copyright © 2025, California Society for Ecological Restoration. All rights reserved.
Our email address is: info@sercal.org 515 N Desert Stra
Tucson, 85711
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
|
|
|
|
|
