Institute for Applied Ecology

Conservation research: our efforts to research, monitor and reintroduce endangered species into restored habitats in western Oregon has many successes. We have established new populations of golden paintbrush, kincaid's lupine, nelson's checkermallow, bradshaw's lomatium, and willamette daisy. All of these species were on the brink of extinction, but due to our efforts and partnerships with other organizations, are now becoming more common on the landscape. They also now grow in places where local people in local communities can see and interact with them regularly, a sea change for conservation! (continued on schedule o)program accomplishment numbers: for the seventh year, coordinated range-wide monitoring for fender's blue butterfly, with surveys at nearly 100 sites, tracking important trends in this endangered species population.thirty-nine research projects at 277 sites with 8 endangered speciesmonitored 2,195 square meters of native plantsvisited estuaries from Texas to Maine and everywhere in between -- both virtually and in person -- via our participation in a project that maps estuary habitats on all u.s. coastlines. We finished up a decade of on-the-ground monitoring at the ni-les'tun tidal wetland restoration project in the coquille river estuary, and our report showed solid recovery of tidal wetland hydrology, salinity, vegetation, soils, and carbon sequestration.

Ecological education: the decline in human connection with nature is found especially in underserved communities within our region, including incarcerated people who number over 15,000 in Oregon and 2.3 million nationwide. This nature deficit leads to lower human health, higher incidents of violence, and reduced sense of well-being. Furthermore, there is often a disconnect between environmental professionals and the diverse communities that live in the region where restorations take place. This isolation excludes valuable insights from projects and reduces ownership of habitat restorations by diverse communities. Incarcerated people and communities of diversity are particularly deprived of opportunities to interact with ecosystems as well as in environmental fields. (continued on schedule o)one project of our ecological education program, sagebrush in prisons, deeply engages prison inmates in habitat conservation by giving them vocational training in native plant nursery management and a lecture series in conservation science. These incarcerated adults are healing their environment, their communities, and themselves.program accomplishment numbers:nearly 500,000 sagebrush plants grown by adults in custody in 10 prisons in five states to restore greater sage-grouse habitat impacted by fire.provided place-based summer education and forest immersion programs for middle and high school students in north-central new mexico.over 100 adults in custody engaged in ecological education.130 youth in juvenile detention attended 17 lessons provided in 2 facilities.75 youth attended educational lessons at 3 schools.

Habitat restoration: for over 20 years, iae's mission has included restoring resilient ecosystems. We've learned that to increase habitat restoration in the willamette valley and new mexico an increase in the availability of native seeds and plants is needed. We've accomplished much by supporting three regional seed partnerships and developing a native plant farm. The willamette valley native plant partnership (wvnpp), staffed by iae and funded in part by the Oregon watershed enhancement board, has over 30 public, private, and nonprofit organizations as members, including watershed councils, soil and water conservations districts, local municipalities, private land trusts, commercial growers, and state and federal agencies. (continued on schedule o)program accomplishment numbers: 64 sites in restoration in Oregon, 1121 acres in seed production or active restoration 2.5 acres in seed production at iae farm, with 37 species in production 282 pounds of seed produced at iae farm wild seed collected from 88 species in Oregon, 36 species in Arizona and new mexico 1,300 pounds of native seed sown 17,000 native plant plugs and bulbs out-planted 8 types of Oregon habitats restored 2251 volunteer activity hours logged hosted native plant materials virtual conference attended by nearly 500 native plant enthusiasts

The Institute for Applied Ecology (iae) is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization whose vision is a world where all people and wildlands are healthy and interact positively, biologically diversity flourishes, and environmental challenges are met with a social commitment to solving problems with science. Our mission is conserving native species and habitats through restoration, research and education. We partner with and serve a diversity of groups across Oregon and the western us, including government agencies, local municipalities, conservation organizations and nonprofits, prisons, juvenile detention facilities, k-12 schools, alternative high school programs, tribes and private individuals. Our projects work across the western united states, with our main office in Oregon and an office in new mexico. Our strategic plan lays out three programming goals: restoring resilient ecosystems, conserving species, and connecting people with nature. We present an accomplishment from each in the sections above.