Choose from 10 specialized courses including mangrove restoration, field botany, peatland techniques, and project funding strategies. Learn from leading professionals, master new tools, and build valuable connections in your focus area.
Pre-conference training courses will be held on the 28 and 29 September, at the Embassy Suites hotel. Half-day sessions include a refreshment break (morning or afternoon), while full-day courses include both refreshment breaks and lunch.
Register for a training course through the conference registration portal. The training course desk will be located in the Crestone Foyer from 7:30 AM to 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM.
Early registration recommended as limited spots are available. Please note that some Training Sessions have overlapping start and end times. Ensure you select your sessions carefully to avoid scheduling issues. All prices are listed in USD
Sunday 28 September Training Courses (Full Day)
Mangrove Restoration Training: Integrating Policy, Best Practice Guidelines, Community-Based Ecological Mangrove Restoration, and Digital Tools
Duration of Course: Sunday 28 September from 8:30 – 17:30
Cost per person: $100
Description: This workshop provides an integrated and in-depth introduction to mangrove restoration, from national policy commitments and their implications, to the role of the Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA) and the scientific foundations behind successful restoration and the practical methodology of Community-Based Ecological Mangrove Restoration (CBEMR).
The training will include hands-on demonstrations of cutting-edge tools such as the Global Mangrove Watch (GMW) mapping tool that can inform policy making and guide activity, and the Mangrove Restoration Tracker Tool (MRTT) that captures and tracks mangrove restoration. With growing public and private interest in mangrove recovery, developing high-quality ‘blue carbon’ projects will be explained.
The workshop emphasizes why it is essential to develop a holistic, community-centered approach to restoration, highlighting the importance of integrating local knowledge and engaging stakeholders in every step of the restoration process. Drawing on global case studies and participants’ own projects, the course will address why many traditional mangrove restoration (i.e. planting only) projects fail, how to avoid these pitfalls and the prioritization of conservation over restoration. Participants will engage in interactive group exercises and analyze restoration case studies.
By the end of the course, participants will be equipped with a comprehensive overview of mangrove policy, the CBEMR process, best practice guidelines for mangrove restoration, the use of online tools to plan, monitor, and sustain restoration projects, and the implications for developing ‘blue carbon’ projects.
Process-Based Riverscape Restoration Training for Project Funders, Owners and Managers
Duration of Course: Sunday 28 September from 9:00 – 16:00
Cost per person: $100
Description: River ecosystems are disproportionately important to biodiversity and in provision of services but have been substantially degraded globally. Riverscapes are critical natural infrastructure areas deserving investments in restoration to meet global water security and climate adaptation challenges. Riverscape restoration isn’t rocket science, but there are practical considerations and principles that can make or break a project or lead to greater certainty in outcomes, and decades of misguided practices have done little to restore these important systems to date. An emerging convergence of science and practice in Process-Based Restoration offers opportunity to improve restoration outcomes at an effective scale. As with any industry and practice, the science, practice and management of riverscape restoration are specialized and nuanced – choices made or not made through the process from vision to implementation will impact project outcomes.
This one-day workshop will provide anyone responsible for directing, managing or funding a riverscape restoration project insight into the state of the science and practice to guide decision-making, contracting, and implementation and to ensure the best possible project outcomes. The workshop will thoroughly integrate Process-Based Restoration principles to guide project selection and design and a framework for project management that links vision and goals to project design and implementation. Whether you know a little of the science and practice or know a lot, the workshop will serve as a forum to learn and share.
Monday 29 September Training Courses (Full Day)
Advanced techniques for restoring northern and mountain peatlands
Duration of Course: Monday 29 September from 8:30 – 15:30
Cost per person: $100
Description: Ecosystem degradation undermines the well-being of 3.2 billion people and costs about 10% of global gross domestic product. Restoring ecosystems is fundamental to reversing these losses and achieving global sustainability goals. Peatlands contain a disproportionate amount of the Earth’s soil carbon, but this carbon is easily degraded. Degraded peatlands contribute >4% of all anthropogenic GHG emissions (1941.2 Mt CO2e yr-1 annually), plus an additional 500 to 1,000 Mt CO2e yr-1 due to peat fires. Peatlands are also critical habitats for water quality and quantity, biodiversity, and many other important functions and values. However, restoring peatlands can be challenging and failures can be common if not conducted correctly.
This training course covers techniques for restoring northern and mountain peatlands affected by common disturbances. Topics include restoration methods for sites impacted by harvesting, mining, ditching, roads, gullies, grazing, and burial, along with vegetation reintroduction. The course provides peatland fundamentals, monitoring protocols, and restoration planning guidance. Participants are encouraged to bring site examples for collaborative problem-solving discussions.
Field Botany Training
Duration of Course: Monday 29 September from 8:30 – 15:30
Cost per person: $100
Description: The National Native Seed Strategy, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is the first sweeping national land management strategy to employ native seeds for ecological restoration. The Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) and the Colorado Native Plant Society are guiding the USDA Region 2 United States Forest Service (USFS) Rocky Mountain Native Plant Materials Program (RM NPMP). We identify seed needs, find native populations, and collect seeds in the five-state region of USFS Region 2 (Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas). These native seeds are increased and stored for restoration applications. With our strong botanical leadership and our many hands, we influence the direction of the RM NPMP and increase the restoration potential of the Program.
This training course will share a community science species identification training platform and teach attendees how to key out known native plants used in restoration contexts. The instructors will teach training participants how to annotate keys and link this skill to the photography skills needed to make reliable species observations for a variety of restoration and ecological monitoring activities. Dissecting scopes and plant specimens will be provided to help participants see the botanical vocabulary employed in botanical texts. Attendees will make field presses to preserve botanical specimens for scientific purposes. This training course will help address the need for natural heritage participation and also survey the opportunities for herbaria contributions.
Monday 29 September Training Courses (Half Day)
Trigger change! A global University course on innovation in urban land restoration
Duration of Course: Monday 29 September from 8:30 – 12:30
Cost per person: $50
Description: Under the guidance of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the G20 Global Land Initiative, in 2024, a dedicated group of University professors and urban planning experts developed a transdisciplinary elective course: Trigger Change! Innovation in Urban Land Restoration. The course was developed around five modules, adaptable to University programs worldwide:
- Linking cities to landscapes and society Introduces the core concepts urban land issues
- Approaches to Sustainable Urban Land Management and Restoration Introduces urban planning issues at various scales
- Planning instruments, tools and technologies for land sensitive urban planning Describes the various tools and technologies for urban land restoration
- Enabling urban land restoration Articulates economic and social rationales for urban land restoration
- Innovation and opportunities for ULR Describes inclusive and scalable innovations for urban land restoration.
Course materials include 48 hours of open access PPTs, a course manual and 10 case studies from around the world. Expected outcomes of this half-day training course include: gaining knowledge of the “Trigger change” course contents, critical thinking on innovation and eco-preneurship in urban land restoration. We use an interactive teaching style that encourages dialogue and rich exchanges between participants.
Implementing the Five-Star System and Recovery Wheels for Ecological Restoration Assessment
Duration of Course: Monday 29 September from 8:30 – 12:30
Cost per person: $50
Description: This four-hour workshop will equip restoration practitioners with practical skills to implement the Society for Ecological Restoration’s (SER) five-star system and the ecological and social benefits recovery wheels. These tools are integral to assessing the progress of ecosystem recovery and monitoring both ecological and social impacts.
Workshop attendees will receive hands-on training on how to apply these frameworks, using real-world case studies rather than organizational projects, to effectively track baseline conditions, identify reference ecosystems, and visualize recovery trends over time. The training is structured around SER’s international principles and standards for ecological restoration and emphasizes the importance of a standardized approach to restoration planning, implementation, and monitoring. Participants will gain a deep understanding of ecosystem attributes such as species composition, structural diversity, and ecosystem function, and how to assess and visualize these in line with project goals.
This workshop is designed to be highly interactive, with practical exercises in using the recovery wheels and ample opportunity for discussion. By the end of the workshop, participants will be practiced in applying these tools to their restoration work and capable of using them to support project planning and report on project outcomes to stakeholders and the broader restoration community.
Building Portfolios for Ecological Restoration: Enhancing Visibility and Funding Opportunities through the Restor Platform
Duration of Course: Monday 29 September from 13:30 – 17:30
Cost per person: $50
Description: This course is designed to empower restoration practitioners to increase their visibility and access to funding by optimizing their project profiles on the Restor platform. Restor is an open-access platform that connects restoration and conservation projects with a global audience, including potential funders and collaborators. In this course, participants will learn how to effectively add their restoration sites to Restor, ensuring they showcase critical project details, outcomes, and ecological impacts. We will guide them through enhancing their project profiles to make them more appealing for inclusion in professionally curated portfolios. These portfolios, built by our team, are tailored to match funders’ criteria and designed to attract investment into projects that align with specific conservation goals. By the end of the training, participants will understand how to improve the visibility of their sites, highlight their project’s ecological and social contributions, and become eligible for portfolio inclusion, thus increasing their chances of securing funding.
This training supports practitioners in scaling their efforts and fostering collaboration with diverse stakeholders across the ecological restoration field. This course is highly relevant for project managers, practitioners, and organizations looking to connect their restoration work to broader funding networks and will equip them with the knowledge to maximize the impact of their conservation projects.
Showcase of the Marine Restoration Toolbox and Training Session on Tool Use
Duration of Course: Monday 29 September from 13:30 – 17:30
Cost per person: $50
Description: The workshop will be used to showcase the Marine Restoration Toolbox to the global marine restoration community and provide a training session on how to use the Marine Restoration Toolbox. In this session, workshop leaders will first walk workshop participants through the resources available through the marine restoration toolbox website, which will be available in SER’s Restoration Resource Center (RRC) in October 2025. Then, demonstrations of tools (openly available through the European Open Science Cloud) in the marine restoration virtual lab on Blue-Cloud 2026 will be showcased followed by a training session on tool use. The training session for use of the marine restoration virtual lab will demonstrate how users can substitute their own (or openly available) data into demonstrators, run code, and use virtual machines for analyses. The aim of this session is to advertise the existence of the marine restoration toolbox to the global marine restoration community and provide potential users resources and tools for following best practices and knowledge on how to use the tools available in the marine restoration virtual lab.