Revisions of paper submitted!

A little over a month ago, we got our "Top 10" paper back with comments from the editor.  The comments were very helpful; in the process of addressing them we really crystallized how we selected papers, and were inspired to do a better job of integrating the designer and social scientist viewpoints into our list.  I just submitted the revisions to Restoration Ecology last night.

Ultimately, we have a list of 10 papers that we no longer think of as a "Top 10," per se... but now think of as "10 pivotal papers" which are informing where restoration ecology is headed.  The selection process was much more free-form than a "Top 10" might imply - with so many contributors, it is hard to agree on a kind of hierarchical ranking for all the papers we read.  We did, however, agree on the importance of the papers - hence, "pivotal."  I've updated the link on the right with the new paper list.

On the one hand, one might view the process of collaborating across so many disciplines (ecology, geography, planning, and design) as frustrating and time-consuming.  But on the other, I think people are realizing that to address our current challenges in ecological restoration we need to communicate between these different groups. 

My personal experience in leading the group writing this paper was deeply rewarding.  You do have to have more patience, you have to be willing to wait for a larger number of people to get back to you on various decisions, and it is more work to keep everyone informed of what's going on and to reach out to groups which might otherwise go unrepresented.  But in the end, I found that people were interested and invested in collaborating, as long as they felt their voices were heard, and as long as we all worked for mutual respect and understanding, we made good progress.  I am delighted with the work  our group did, and look forward to future dialogues with them.  I know my thinking has been expanded through the process, and I highly recommend it to others.  I believe our "10 pivotal papers" are much better for the collaborative attention they received.

What kinds of collaborative projects have you been involved with?  What worked?  What didn't work?

Updated Blog!

Welcome to the newly redone Restoration Ecology Blog!   While we made it public back in November, we've recently redone it for ease of navigation for readers who were not in our graduate seminar.  Note that there is now a place for comments on our final top ten list and additional readings, and our original ~100 paper reviews are tagged by the general topic they were related to, rather than which week of the seminar they were.

We've also sumbitted the top ten list as an opinion piece to Restoration Ecology - stay tuned for some comments from the main authors on the process of choosing the final papers and writing the article.

13th Annual Bay Area Conservation Biology Symposium

http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/consbio/symposium2010/BACBS.htm
Theme = "Conservation in the Matrix: The Social and Ecological Implications of Conserving Beyond Protected Areas"
Let me know if you have ideas for panelists in Geography or Landscape Arc departments. . .
If you'd like to present, register- or come and connect with students from around that bay.
Thanks!
~ Hillary

SER 4th World Conference on Ecological Restoration

Re-establishing the link between Nature and Culture
Merida, MX Aug 22-25
http://www.ser2011.org/en/

restoration in the news!

Redwood Creek Restoration project article in SF chronicle:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/12/MN1O1GAMHQ.DTL&tsp=1

Also be sure to check out the sweet time laps video:

sfgate.com/ZKOT