PARENT SESSION
Poster Session #10: Restoration Education.
Monday, August 5. Presentation from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM. Exhibit Hall B & C, TCC

Incorporation of ecological concepts into restoration practices is promoted by graduate student internship.

MOYNAHAN, OCTOBER^*,1, ¹ The University of Montana, Missoula, MT

ABSTRACT- Successful restoration planning is necessarily interdisciplinary and depends heavily on effective information exchange between basic scientists and restoration practitioners. As part of my Ph.D. program (funded by Training WEB, an NSF Graduate Research Training program), I completed an internship designed to facilitate communication between restoration practitioners and basic scientific researchers, with an overarching goal of promoting the incorporation of ecology and soil biology principles into restoration strategies. I designed and conducted workshops at reclamation conferences and agency meetings to teach basic concepts of soil ecology (emphasizing the role of mycorrhizae and other soil biota) and discuss relevance of those concepts to restoration designs. Further, participation as a technical advisor on several agency restoration projects, at various stages of planning and implementation, allowed more direct input to restoration projects and provided me with insight to how scientific information is applied to management. This project successfully facilitated information exchange between basic science and restoration managers, while providing me with an opportunity to observe first-hand the role of science in natural resource management, build relationships with local restoration practitioners, and develop ideas for improving communication between scientists and managers. This internship was highly successful from academic and management perspectives, and may serve as an important model for improving the scientific basis of restoration practices, as well as the academic training of future restoration managers.

KEY WORDS: restoration, education, internship, mycorrhizae