Hands in the Dirt: Dusting It Off for Restoration |
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Our vision is a world where all people and wildlands are healthy and interact positively, biological diversity flourishes, and environmental challenges are met with a social commitment to solving problems with scientific principles. |
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"We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it." - William Faulkner |
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AIM-ing High in the Chihuahuan Desert |
Every July—in the heat of the desert summer—field crews gather in Las Cruces, New Mexico to begin a season of ecological landscape monitoring. These field crews congregate to implement the Bureau of Land Management’s Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (BLM, AIM) strategy out of the BLM Las Cruces District Office (LCDO). Read More
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Hands in the Dirt: Dusting It Off for Restoration |
Another year of restoration has come to a close. The end of the year is always a crunch-time for the IAE restoration team, as we try to fit in all of our plantings and treatments after the intense heat of the summer, but before the first true frost of winter. As our restoration projects progress and expand their scope, that window seems to get smaller and smaller by the year!—which is why it is so crucial for us to sponsor an AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) team each fall. Read More
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Willamette Valley Seed Crew Has 2023 in the Bag! |
As we wind down 2023, and thus our annual seed collection season, we reflect on the successes and challenges of this last year. Our season was full of squinting as we searched for tiny forbs—like small-flowered lotus (Acmispon parviflorus) and slender phlox (Microsteris gracilis)—to straining our necks looking up for collectible populations of Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana) and bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum). Read More
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Announcements
& Brief Updates
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Rio Grande Monarch Habitat Restoration
Project Takes Flight
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IAE Southwest Branch's River for Monarchs Project is enhancing monarch butterfly habitat by outplanting milkweed (the monarch’s larval host plant) and nectar resources for adult butterflies at 16 sites along a 200 mile stretch of the Rio Grande river corridor in New Mexico.
In 2023, our seed crews made 41 wild seed collections for pollinator resource plants! We also initiated vegetation and butterfly monitoring with the help of volunteers, and started nursery production of over 7,000 plants in conjunction with our Conservation in Prisons and high school education programs. Thank you to all of our project partners and volunteers who are making this impactful work possible!
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Support Our 2024 AmeriCorps Housing Fund! |
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Between April 25th and July 25th, IAE will be hosting a new AmeriCorps team to support restoration projects across the Willamette Valley. If you are interested in supporting their work and opportunities for young people in the field of environmental conservation, please consider donating to our AmeriCorps housing fund. This fund will help us cover their rental costs during their visit this Spring. We hope to raise $10,000 by April, with your help! Thank you for your support. |
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Staff Highlight: Hollis Moore |
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Hollis Moore is a Plant Materials Technician with the Southwest Office of the Institute for Applied Ecology, who has worked in her current position with IAE since June 2023. To highlight her contributions, we have asked her a few questions.
IAE: Was there an experience or memory that helped steer your career into conservation?
Hollis: My experiences as an artist interested in political ecology initially connected me to conservation. In 2016, I spent a semester of my graduate studies with the field-based Land Arts of the American West program, where we explored the entangled issues of water, ecology, and environmental justice in the Southwest. It was after listening to stories of community members most impacted by environmental degradation and reconciling my family heritage of extraction that I became committed to the collective action of assisting the recovery of damaged landscapes- sometimes wearing the hat of an artist, sometimes an ecological landscape designer, and currently as a plant materials technician.
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IAE: What do you love about working at IAE?
Hollis: Hands-on time spent with seeds and plants, whether in the seed studio, the field, or at a farm or greenhouse brings me a lot of joy. I love observing the brilliance of seeds and learning from their creativity. Even more, being a part of a team that links wild landscapes with agricultural landscapes through the Southwest Seed Partnership embeds cultural landscapes in bioregional restoration efforts and is the type of network that I have always wanted to contribute to. Working towards expanding the native seed industry and growing a restoration economy in the Southwest fills me with meaning and purpose.
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Volunteer Opportunities
in Oregon & New Mexico
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Check our calendar at appliedeco.org/calendar for a full list of volunteer opportunities, and help us restore native ecosystems on-the-ground.
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Seasonal Hiring In New Mexico |
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Do you love plants and wildlife? Are you inspired by hands-on work in conserving and restoring threatened and endangered species and critical habitats? The Institute for Applied Ecology is hiring multiple seasonal positions in New Mexico for our 2024 field season!
Visit our website to learn more about the positions which are available. Applications are due by 11:59 pm on Sunday, January 31, 2024.
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Volunteer, Become an IAE Member! |
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If you'd like to show your business's support
for our work, please get in touch:
(541) 753-3099 x 701
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Ken Bierly, Brandy Humphreys, Cary Stephens, Jack Halsey, Jason Bradford, Anne Bradley, Shinji Kawai, Judy Li, John Savage, Sunia Yang, Graham Frank |
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