Several aspects of restoration practice significantly limit ecological restoration in the Midwestern US, as well as globally. These include: 1) effective, practical approaches for assessing ecological resilience, 2) approaches for assessing an organization’s capacity to undertake an ecosystem restoration, 3) overcoming severe limitations to native seed availability, 4) decision-making guidance for invasive species control.
We are addressing these gaps with research aimed at:
- developing scenario planning tools for managing climate-sensitive species in protected areas
- developing ecological resilience assessment tools for restoration planning
- determining how organizational capacity affects restoration outcomes
- developing native seed harvest guidelines
- formulating management response protocols for newly invading species.