Introduction

Environmental protection and restoration is a specialized field that concentrates on understanding and implementing strategies to rehabilitate ecosystems that have been adversely affected or disturbed by human activities, natural disasters, or other environmental pressures. The primary goal of environmental restoration is to return these ecosystems to a more natural, functional, and sustainable state.

In contrast to conservation, which primarily emphasizes the protection and preservation of existing ecosystems and biodiversity, restoration involves human intervention to actively reverse the damage that has already occurred. This may include addressing issues such as habitat destruction, pollution, deforestation, or other disturbances. Restoration is a dynamic field that requires a multidisciplinary approach. Successful restoration projects involve collaboration with local communities, governments, and other stakeholders.

Faculty active in this research area:

• Professor Patrick Christie
• Professor Terrie Klinger
• Associate Professor Sunny Jardine
• Assistant Professor Erendira Aceves Bueno

Please see individual faculty web pages for more about their work in this area.

Related SMEA courses:

• SMEA 550: Theory and Practice of Linking Knowledge with Action to Address Modern Environmental Challenges
• SMEA 550: Ecosystem Services Assessment and Applications
• SMEA 103: Society and the Oceans

Examples of what MMA faculty and students do in this research area:

• Learn theory and practice of coastal and environmental restoration
• Connect with restoration practice in Puget Sound and the Pacific Northwest
• Understand how science and society interconnect through restoration policy and planning
• Learn how scientific communities communicate about restoration

Examples of related MMA student theses:

• Good, Molly. 2024. Charting New Waters: Leveraging Recreational Boating Communities for Citizen Science.
• Morgan, Allison. 2024. Managing the Impacts of Passenger-Only Ferries on Southern Resident Killer Whales.
• Powell, Sycora. 2024. Healing Bodies Micro-sites of Sovereignty as Places for Refuge, Regeneration, and World-Building.
• Muna, Mallory. 2023. Occupied Oceans, Submerged Sovereignty: Marine Conservation and Chamorro Dispossession in the Northern Mariana Island.
• Vishwanathan, Harshitha. 2022. The Role of Cultural Tourism and Maritime Heritage in the Conservation and Sustainability of Marine Protected Areas in the United Arab Emirates

Examples of related MMA student capstones:

• Ortega, Marissa and Stanton, Lily. 2024. OECMs: Supporting Evaluation of Criterion C with FAO’s Fisheries Biodiversity Outcomes Framework & Examining Case-Studies relevant to small-community small-scale fisheries, Indigeous Peoples, & local communities.
• Husiak, Kathryn; Sheban, Caitie, Tennet, Hannah. 2023. Capstone: Restoration in the Lower Duwamish River: Understanding Community Stakeholders and their River Use Preferences.
• Cutsinger, Kellie; Wells, Amelia. 2023. Capstone: NNA Planning: Community-Based Mitigation and  Adaptive Strategies for River Flooding and Erosion in Alaska Native Communities.
• Low, Robinson; Swayne, Darby. 2022. Capstone: Equitable Solutions for Clean and Resilient Salish Sea.