Introduction
"Strengthening Restoration Through Collaboration"
The National Conference on Ecosystem Restoration (NCER) convened in Albuquerque, New Mexico, April 14-19, 2024. NCER featured four days of presentations dedicated to both small- and large-scale ecosystem restoration. The conference opened Monday with a full day of talks focused on the region in which the meeting was held—the desert Southwest—where communities and ecosystems were on the front lines of climate change and drought. During the summer of 2022, the Rio Grande dried in Albuquerque for the first time in 40 years, while New Mexico’s largest wildfire in recorded history raged in the Santa Fe National Forest. In the neighboring Colorado River Basin, drought, and climate change sparked emergency water management negotiations while the largest reservoir in the United States was at its lowest level since 1937. In the face of these challenges, innovative partnerships emerged to address dire threats, conserve, and restore ecosystems, and more effectively allocate water for fish, wildlife, and people. There was no better place for the ecosystem restoration community to gather, learn from one another, and advance and strengthen restoration through collaboration than in the face of unprecedented change.
Concurrent sessions from Tuesday through Thursday featured technical talks on large-scale and small-scale restoration in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems from across the country. Sessions were designed to provoke new ideas by engaging audience participants and facilitating interdisciplinary dialogue among experts, furthering understanding of restoration challenges, lessons learned, and future opportunities. Attendees had the opportunity to make new connections, establish collaborations, discover potential new approaches, and gain valuable experience—just a few of the many benefits of participating in NCER.
The Albuquerque area also offered a variety of opportunities for field trip visits, and the downtown location boasted numerous places to gather and enjoy the nightlife along Route 66—so participants were encouraged to have some fun while they were there.
The organizers also recognized and acknowledged that NCER 2024 took place on the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands of the Pueblo, Diné (Navajo), Apache, and other displaced Indigenous Peoples, and they invited participants to read the Full Land Acknowledgment.
A premier gathering of ecosystem restoration professionals from across the country, NCER is a collaborative effort, and we invite you to join us at future conferences.
Should Acts of God or natural or public health emergencies prevent this event from being held in-person, conference sessions will be held virtually via Zoom.
