Back in 2007, Westervelt Ecological Services (WES) first partnered with Placer Land Trust to implement habitat restoration on an abandoned flood-irrigated agricultural field on the Doty Ravine Preserve (Preserve), located in western Placer County, California.  This collaboration resulted in the restoration of a floodplain along Doty Ravine.  The project included installation of over 5,000 native trees, shrubs and sedges, creation of an oxbow catchment in the floodplain, and seeding of native grasses on the 20 acre site.  WES provided design, layout, construction oversight, budget management, and agency coordination, monitoring and maintenance.  The project also included preparation of a site-specific management plan to dovetail into the existing operation & management plan for the Preserve.

Today, the two companies will partner again on a neighboring site, Swainson's Grassland Preserve.  The 469 acre property supports a population of burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia) as well as several acres of vernal pools, seasonal wetlands, seasonal wetland swales, and emergent marsh. This 17 acre project will include the creation of wetlands, riparian zones and two acres of oak savanna.  "The project will be important to improve diversity, especially wetland and riparian dependent species. Additionally, the natural filtration system created by the wetland zone will benefit water quality by processing agricultural runoff leaving the property," said Mark Young of WES

On October 13, 2011, The Alabama Clean Water Partnership held the Coosa River Basin Watershed Conference the Pell City Civic Center in Pell City, Alabama. Yellowleaf Mitigation Bank is located in the Lower Coosa watershed, and we are currently permitting Canoe Creek Mitigation Bank in the Middle Coosa watershed.

The Coosa Basin, draining over 10,000 square miles, is the largest and most biologically diverse subwatershed of the Mobile River Basin in terms of overall number of fishes, mussels and aquatic snails. The basin contains 147 fish species, including a number that are only found in the Coosa River basin. The Coosa River and its tributaries are also home to one of the most diverse and unique aquatic snail communities in the world. In all, 91 species are known from the system and 82 of those occur nowhere else. A diverse community of freshwater mussels can also be found in the Coosa River drainage, where a total of 53 species has been reported. Outdoor Alabama reports there are 11 species of mussels found nowhere else but the Coosa River and its tributaries.

A pine lily found in October on Pensacola Bay Mitigation Bank.

The Society for Ecological Restoration's Southeast Chapter Annual Symposium was held October 17 - 21 in Quincy, Florida. The symposium, titled "New Trajectories and References for Ecological Recovery" explored current practice and research regarding the degradation and restoration of the southeastern region, with special emphasis on existing realities and future trajectories of ecosystems. The meeting was held at the University of Florida/IFAS North Florida Research and Education Center in Quincy. Renowned author, professor, and restoration practitioner Dr. Andre Clewell provided the keynote address to an audience of approximately seventy restoration professionals.

On November 2 the Sacramento-Shasta Chapter of The Wildlife Society held its annual Natural Resources Symposium at California State University, Sacramento. The event offered an opportunity for biologists conducting research, management, regulation, restoration, and conservation activities in the Sacramento-Shasta Chapter Area to exchange information, ideas, results, and progress of their work on natural communities, wildlife, and plant species, as well as new field survey techniques, GIS tools, and reporting methodologies. It was a fantastic day packed with excellent informational lectures that included Mark Young from Westervelt Ecological Services presenting our newly completed Cosumnes Floodplain Mitigation Bank.

Learning is one of The Westervelt Company's organizational values, and WES is proud to sponsor educational opportunities that extend restoration and conservation messages.