Building a "bank" of restoration sites enables rapid action as opportunities arise
Migrating reindeer. Photo credit: Anders Esselin
For a nature restoration project to be successful, several conditions must be met. First and foremost, there must be a real need for restoration. This need must be clarified, someone must be committed to lead the project and landowners, local residents and other stakeholders must be on message. It is also particularly beneficial if the project contributes to increased ecological functionality on a landscape scale. However, for a restoration project to happen, some form of external funding is almost always required. While it often takes time to investigate, describe and document additional required conditions, it is not uncommon for funding opportunities to arise unexpectedly.
In the Swedish SUPERB demo-site Vindelälven-Juhttátahkka, we have undertaken that through mapping and building a “bank” of objects that are suitable for/in need of restoration. This included descriptions of the current situation, stressors, ownership situation and suggested restoration actions etc. for each specific object. Also objects were ranked according to potential priority, making it easier to take advantage of unexpected opportunities for financing.
Here we exemplify the good practice of “restoration banks” by describing the development and use of a restoration bank for the restoration of land-based routes for reindeer migration along the Vindeln river basin.
Context:
Within the Swedish SUPERB demo area (Vindelälven-Juhttátahkka Unesco Biosphere reserve) several reindeer herding communities (RHCs) are using the Vindel River and the surrounding areas to move their reindeer from winter grazing areas on the coast, inland to the mountains where the reindeer graze during the summer. Reindeer are migratory by nature and their grazing areas, especially in the mountains during summer, are important to maintain the typical open mountain habitats, above the treeline.
Part of the migration between winter and summer areas takes place on the ice of the Vindel River, but in some places the migration must take place on solid ground in the areas surrounding the river. Due to warming climate, the ice on the river is becoming more and more unstable and the river ice breaks open earlier in spring, this forcing the reindeer and reindeer herders to use migration routes on land and in the forest to a greater extent.
Problem Description:
In northern Sweden, reindeer herding and forestry constitute the largest forms of land use in terms of area and the two forms normally overlap. Thus, the land-borne migration routes mainly pass through forest land, which is often heavily managed for timber and biomass production. One effect of this management is rather dense forests. While high density is desirable for timber and biomass production, it is problematic for reindeer herding, both during migration when dense young forests obstruct the movement for both reindeer and herders, and also for the growth of lichens, which is the main fodder for the reindeer during winter.
Although the reindeer herders know very well where the problematic areas are, it is hard for them and the RHCs to plan and execute restoration of these areas. The reasons for this are, for example
- Lack of resources – Normally there is neither economic nor personal resources among reindeer herders or RHCs to plan, manage or finance restoration projects.
- RHCs do collaborate with other RHC’s, but up to now there has been no tradition to do so around these issues.
- It is not uncommon for the problematic areas to involve several different landowners, sometimes private individuals and sometimes forestry companies. To succeed with restoration, it is therefore often necessary to engage in dialogue with many different landowners, who might need more or less time and processing to be convinced and to agree on any action on their land.
Implementation Steps:
For the past few years, three of the Reindeer herding communities along the Vindeln River (Ran, Gran, and Svaipa), together with the Vindelälven-Juhttátahkka Biosphere Reserve, Rewilding Sweden, and the EU project SUPERB, have been collaborating to identify areas along the migration routes that are problematic in some way. The work includes describing the areas and what forest restoration measures would be needed in each location to improve conditions for reindeer herding. Together, the RHC’s are also trying to prioritise between the areas. So far, a few of the most problematic areas in the “restoration bank” have been restored with support from the SUPERB-project and Rewilding Sweden, but much of the restoration still needs to be done before the migration routes on land are well functioning again.
Some tips to consider if you want to create a successful bank of potential restoration areas:
Include a landscape analysis in the mapping of potential restoration objects. The analysis does not need to be very advanced but it will give you a broader picture and makes it possible to determine the restoration needs and potential for each individual feature, to assist with prioritisation. It will also help you and others to see how the features are connected, or could be, to strengthen the whole landscape.
It is not necessary to have all the information for each object in your restoration “bank”. However, the more “ready” an object is, the easier it is to quickly respond when an opportunity for financing (or engagement etc.) suddenly arises.
Communicate your list or "bank" of potential restoration objects to all potential stakeholders. In this way you both increase the awareness on the topic in general and your restoration bank in particular. It can hopefully also plant some seeds of interest amongst relevant stakeholders.
Be clear that the measures proposed in the restoration bank are just suggestions and are not mandatory. Many landowners get nervous and suspicious about these types of lists. This is especially relevant in cases where the proposed measures could affect the landowners' private and valued interests. To counter this, it's good to communicate clearly and get them involved as early as possible.
Have patience – Building the “bank” might not take very long time, but restoring all the objects in the bank will likely take many years. However, we are convinced that having this kind of bank will speed up the restoration at landscape level.
Keep your "bank" alive by continuously adding new or working on the existing objects, or plan for periodically revisiting and updating the list.
Add your “restoration bank” to the Restoration Projects Marketplace to reach potential funders for your restoration.
Replicability:
YES, the practice has been tested and replicated in multiple contexts and scales and therefore, can be easily transferred and/or adapted to other initiatives with similar goals.Other examples of where “banks” or lists of potential restoration areas has shown to be successful:
Planeringsunderlag för restaurering och anläggande av våtmarker i odlingslandskapet i Västerbottens län - This document on restoration and creation of wetland in agricultural landscapes in Västerbotten county, Sweden, was produced 2009 and contains, amongst other information, a prioritized list of potential restoration areas. The document has been communicated broadly, for examples to nature conservation officers in the municipalities. Today, 26 years later, all areas with high priority and most of those with lower priority have been restored.
The Deciduous forest project in Ume Älvdal - The aim of this project is to create deciduous dominated forests with high light influx and high amount of dead, deciduous wood within the Ume Älvdal landscape. In the beginning of the project, the whole landscape was inventoried and the many small forest stands in the area were described and evaluated for the potential to contribute to the aims of the project. For the areas with high potential, the forest owners were invited to join the project; some of them did, and state based financing was jointly applied for. Later, other sources of financing emerged, for example funding from the Horizon 2020 project SUPERB and via Rewilding Sweden, and more forest owners wanted to join the project. Some of this funding was limited in time duration, but all stands were inventoried, described and evaluated. Further stands could easily be included and restoration undertaken in the landscape.
Projektlistan för restaureringar - This list of potental restoration projects in limnic and marine habitats in Västerbotten county is a good example on a successful "restoration bank". It consists of a list of, more or less, well explained restoration plans for well deliniated restoration projects. It is open for the public and actively communicated and used amongst relevant stakeholders. It is managed by the County Administrative Board who are also coordinating and supporting the execution of the restoration plans. It is a "living" list where new project plans are continiously added.
Key Success Factors:
In order to create a successful restoration bank, it is valuable to have a person or organisation with the expertise and resources to carry out the ‘desk work’ needed to build up the restoration bank and to support and coordinate the implementation of restoration in the various designated areas.
In this specific example of a restoration bank to strengthen the functionality of the forest landscape for reindeer and reindeer husbandry, another success factor was that financial resources were available from the outset to carry out restoration in some areas. These areas now serve as easily accessible examples, which in the long term will promote restoration in more areas.
Common Constraints:
In this specific example of a restoration bank of problematic forest areas for reindeer and reindeer husbandry, one constraint has been the aviability of the reindeer herders. The knowledge of the reindeer herders is essential to be able to mark the location and to describe problems and desired actions and priorization for each specific restoration object. However, most of the time the reindeer herders work in the field and often in great distance from each other and with little possibility to attend to, for example, in a digital meeting. This made the work of developing restoration plans somewhat slow.
Positive Impacts:
- Improved access to markets or financial services, or diversified income sources
- Improved societal support
- Increased climate change mitigation
- Increased non-wood forest products
It is easier to capture funding opportunities when these suddenly arise and potentially also prioritise the objects, through mapping and building a “bank” of objects that are suitable/in need of restoration. These should include descriptions of current situation, stressors, ownership situation and suggested restoration actions etc. for each specific object,
By communicating your restoration bank, or list of potential restoration projects, including other information on the restoration topic, you can improve societal support for the restoration.
In the specific case presented in this good practice example (i.e. the restoration bank for enhanced landscape functionallity for reindeer and reindeer husbandry) the restoration will contribute to increased climate change mitigation by enabling and enhancing migration on land instead of ice (which is much reduced by increased temperatures). By strengthening the landscape functionallity for reindeer husbandry, production of reindeer meat as a non-wood forest product also increases.
Negative Impacts:
- Reduced timber quality or quantity
In the specific case presented in this good practice (the restoration bank for enhanced landscape functionallity for reindeer and reindeer husbandry), one of the main restoration actions suggested is to thin the forest more than the optimal amount for timber and biomass production.
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