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 eighth 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-six research projects at over 150 sites with 15 federally and state listed endangered/threatened/species of concern species. Three species we work with were federally delisted or downlisted in 2023. Fifty-three wild seed collections sent to botanical gardens for propagation and ex situ conservation.continued estuary mapping work and provided technical inputs on blue carbon projects, with ten estuary research projects underway.

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:over 350,000 sagebrush plants grown by adults in custody in 10 prisons in five states to restore greater sage-grouse habitat impacted by fire. Adults in custody contributed over 27,000 hours towards conservation of sagebrush.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.

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: 77 sites in restoration in Oregon, 939 acres in restored or in active restoration 2.5 acres in seed production at iae farm, with 37 species in production420 pounds of seed produced at iae farm wild seed collected from 41 species in Oregon, 40 species in Arizona and new mexico 1,200 pounds of native seed sown25,000 native plant plugs and bulbs out-planted 5 types of Oregon habitats restored 1825 volunteer activity hours logged hosted national native seed conference in alexandria, va attended by over 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.