Community of practice

‘Building a community of restoration practice and science at Nachusa Grasslands’

Wednesday 27 September 2023
15:00 UK time / 10:00 Eastern time

Chair

Professor Holly Jones, Northern Illinois University

Speaker

Dr Elizabeth Bach, The Nature Conservancy – Illinois

About the workshop

The Nature Conservancy’s Nachusa Grasslands preserve began in the mid-1980s with a vision of restoring rare tallgrass prairie habitat. The work has required a strong community of restoration practitioners, including scientists, with a willingness to try new things and patience to observe results. Thirty-six years later, the community and prairie are flourishing.

In this workshop, Dr Elizabeth Bach, research scientist at Nachusa Grasslands, will share ecological data and lessons learned from this vibrant community of practice.

Learn more about this work: Twenty years of tallgrass prairie restoration in northern Illinois, USA

About the chair

Professor Holly Jones is a Professor at Northern Illinois University. As an applied ecologist, she works at the intersections of ecological theory, community ecology, invasive species biology and ecosystem ecology, with a unifying theme of applying basic ecological theory to answer fundamental applied questions. Holly is also a Lead Editor on Ecological Solutions and Evidence.

About the speaker

Dr Elizabeth Bach is the Ecosystem Restoration Scientist at The Nature Conservancy’s Nachusa Grasslands preserve (Illinois, USA) where she works with scientists, land managers and volunteer stewards to holistically investigate questions about tallgrass prairie restoration ecology. Her own research expertise focuses on soil ecology, exploring how belowground biology supports tallgrass prairie ecosystems through plant-soil interactions and nutrient and carbon cycling. Elizabeth served as the executive director of the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative from 2016-2018 and currently serves an Associate Editor on Ecological Solutions and Evidence.