Conservation & Ecological RestorationAlicia Calle
2016 The Garden Club of America Fellowship in Ecological Restoration
Alicia Calle is a PhD candidate in the Environmental Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her project is titled, “Understanding the role of pilvopastoral, SPS, systems in the restoration of degraded tropical landscapes.” She will research how agroecological farming methods can be used to advance forest landscape restoration in tropical regions of high biodiversity value. She will examine how the implementation of agroforestry-based ranching practices in Quindío, Colombia more than a decade ago have affected tree cover and species composition, as well as farmers’ perceptions about trees, forests, and restoration.
The Garden Club of America Fellowship in Ecological Restoration
The Garden Club of America (the GCA) offers an annual Fellowship in Ecological Restoration. Established in 2000 with funds from the John B. Young Charitable Trust as well as GCA members and clubs, the fellowship’s goal is to support research that will advance knowledge and increase the number of scientists in the important field of ecological restoration, the active healing of the land. The $8,000 grant is awarded annually to exceptional graduate students to support specialized study in ecological restoration at an accredited U.S. university. Preference will be given to projects that include field research conducted in the United States. A panel of experts associated with the University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum reviews the applications and makes recommendations to the GCA Scholarship Committee.
For the purposes of this scholarship, The Garden Club of America agrees to the definition of ecological restoration as stated by the Society of Ecological Restoration (SER).