Research overview

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.
wild rice