PARENT SESSION
Symposium #4: Restoration Education.
Organized by: LM Jablonski and KM Rodriguez
Monday, August 5. 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM. Maricopa Meeting Room, TCC.
Outreach and continuing education courses to involve new restoration ecology stakeholders.
Clemants, Steven1, Handel, Steven*,2, 1 Center for Urban Restoration Ecology, Brooklyn, NY2 Center for Urban Restoration Ecology, New Brunswick, NJ
ABSTRACT- Designing a series of one- and two-day courses on basic restoration principles and approaches has been an important component of getting this discipline into the public dialogue and professional practice. Using the format of one day of lectures and one day of field experience to restored and natural sites, we have educated public environmental officials at all levels of government, environmental consultants, landscape architects, and administrators of volunteer groups. Courses on Meadow Restoration, Woodland Restoration, Control of Invasive Plants, and Land Stabilization attract students from all these constituencies. As restoration ecology has not been part of university curricula until very recently, few environmental or engineering professionals have been introduced to the discipline and its usefulness. These courses are important to get potential partners who are currently making land-use decisions involved in the science.
KEY WORDS: restoration, continuing education, outreach, urban ecology