Restoration Radio tells the story of the people, groups and institutions that are actively restoring the environment, community and economy. Listeners to Restoration Radio will hear high quality news stories and features produced by experienced radio journalists and hosts. Viewers of the Restoration Radio web pages will have access to these stories and additional information in both text and audio formats.

Restoration is a growing aspect of environmentalism that acknowledges that people have a role in the protection and restoration of nature. Thousands of organizations and volunteers are making conscious choices to intervene on behalf of their local environment. Through their actions they are also bringing together their communities and inventing new emerging economies.

Restoration Radio tells the stories of the citizens, farmers, foresters, water managers, cities, counties, marine industries, developers and politicians involved in ecological restoration. Our mission is to: 1) objectively tell the story of the restoration movement; 2) illuminate how people are consciously acting on behalf of their local environment while being mindful of the needs of nature, local culture and communities; 3) point out successes and failures, controversies and challenges; 4) explore the emergence of a new conservation economy; 5) engage our audience with compelling and informative reporting; 6) provide information and inspiration for listeners who have the capacity to act in their homes, in their neighborhoods, and in their region.

RECENT REPORTS

Interview with Keith Bowers, Chair of the Society for Ecological Restoration International
Keith recognized the need for ecological restoration more than 20 years ago, before it was even recognized as a field. Since then, this internationally recognized landscape architect has planned, designed, and managed the construction of over 200 ecological restoration projects throughout the United States. He also teaches ecological restoration seminars and workshops and participates on numerous industry panels.  

SUBMISSIONS

We are always collecting materials if you have a lead for a story related to restoration let us know about it. Restoration Radio welcomes input and story proposals from experienced writers, reporters and artists. While our primary objective is to file audio reports, we will consider compelling, entertaining, mind-bending, or investigative written articles on the issues of restoration.

Restoration Radio is currently working with 3-5 minute segments, all of which can stand alone for independent distribution. Restoration is not traditional environmentalism. Story proposals should consider the following theme of restoration:

1) Breakdown in the ecosystem either a conscious act or an inadvertent byproduct of other actions.
2) Conscious intervention by a person or organization.
3) Measure or project the outcome and implications of people consciously intervening on behalf of restoring the natural environment which can include cultures, communities, self, economy, and nature.

We are always on the lookout for people with a background in well-written and creative reporting and story telling. Self-contained audio pieces must be recorded and produced with high-quality audio elements. We prefer news pieces to have a variety of sources, viewpoints and voices. Production should include natural sound from the locations of each interview. Please deliver the highest quality uncompressed sources. When possible please include digital images of the subjects being interviewed (people, places, plants, etc.).

ARCHIVES

Growing Profits with Restoration
These are tough times in farm country. Commodity prices are down, fuel prices are up and northwest farmers are facing the worst drought in over 70 years. But now, a new focus on returning farmland to its natural ecological functions has the potential to help keep farmers on the land — and working. Liam Moriarty finds promise - and problems - in the emerging conservation economy.

Invasion of the Eco-Snatchers
If you¹ve ever walked through a forest, a park or even a city neighborhood in the northwest you¹ve been probably seen the trails of English ivy clinging to buildings, carpeting the ground or even snaking around trees. Ivy loves the moist northwest climate despite it¹s ubiquity, ivy is not native it arrived in the Northwest about a century ago-probably brought here by immigrants from other parts of the U.S. Now, however it’s spread has reached endemic proportions and efforts are underway to root it out. Gordon Black has this report.

Rain and the Urban Water Paradox
When it rains it pours, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist–or in this case a hydrologist, to figure out that even a light rain falling on endless miles of asphalt and rooftops can pour down the storm drains and blast right into local streams. But just in case, I asked one to make sure. Derek Booth is with the Center for Urban Stream Studies in Seattle and says before we starting sealing the surface of our neighborhoods, much of the water never even made it to the streams.

Politics of Restoration
There was a time when the job of the Army Corps of Engineers was pretty straightforward. Clean all the messy wood out of rivers, build dikes on the banks to keep them from flooding and maybe straighten a channel if it was too curvy for easy navigation. But today, after more than a century of control and destruction, they’re starting to bring back mother nature in places where it looked like she was gone forever. And they’ve got millions to do it. Josh Kerns has more.