More than planting trees: career opportunities in ecological restoration

It was the end of two months of fieldwork under intense heat and constant attacks from mosquitoes. Our crew was responsible for setting up a monitoring protocol to measure the recovery of wildlife in restored habitat associated with 200 km of linear disturbances in a remote boreal forest. We gathered at the campsite and waited for the helicopter that would take us back to civilization. To celebrate the end of the field season, we decided to take a group photo. Just as the whole team had taken the pose, a huge wolf came out of nowhere and grabbed my lunch bag. The wolf disappeared into the forest as quickly as it appeared and the lunch bag was never seen again. – NM Although encountering a thieving wolf is a rare occurrence, a career in ecological restoration can be very exciting, and can provide you with a sense of accomplishment and a feeling that you are making a difference in the world. The United Nations and the World Resources Institute estimate there are 2 billion hectares of land suitable for rehabilitation through landscape restoration (World Resources Institute 2014). Such an abundance of degraded land offers many opportunities to develop your career path. A recent study conducted in the US concluded the domestic ecological restoration sector generates $9.5 billion in economic output annually and directly employs 126,000 workers, most of whom are not researchers – which means the restoration sector employs more people than either the coal mining, logging, or steel production industries (BenDor et al. 2015). Ecological restoration is becoming an increasingly important tool to help repair the ecological integrity of degraded forests, wetlands, rangelands, mine‐impacted sites, and other critical habitats. Restoration initiatives are often driven by the cumulative effects of anthropogenic disturbances such as mining, logging, urban development, and other intensive land uses, but also by natural disturbances such as fires, insect outbreaks, winds, floods, invasive species, and droughts. Considering the multiple factors at play in degraded ecosystems, the restorationist is the Swiss Army knife of ecologists. Rather than applying your expertise in one specific area, what often matters the most is the capacity to connect transdisciplinary science to solutions adapted to regional priorities and various ecosystems. Capacity building is the next big skill you must have, as you will design restoration practices by bringing together multiple stakeholders, including industries, municipalities, Indigenous communities, government agencies, and non‐governmental