Conservation & Ecological RestorationRyan Schroeder
2022 The Garden Club of America Fellowship in Ecological Restoration
Rangeland Soil SeedBank Suitability: Testing an Interpretive Model Assessing How Soil Properties Influence Viable Seeds and Ecosystem-Restoration Pathways
Schroeder will develop and test a soil-interpretation model to characterize a soil’s suitability to retain viable seeds for the US Intermountain West. With a focus on understanding how the chemical, physical, and climatological properties impact soil seed-bank suitability, Schroeder will characterize how rangeland seed banks may influence how a site responds to disturbance or management practices. Understanding and mapping soil seed-bank suitability for rangelands can help land managers, ecological-restoration practitioners, and others plan restoration seeding efforts that may be more resilient in the face of increasingly variable environmental conditions.
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).