UW-Stevens Point news release News Services, Stevens Point WI  54481-3897 Phone: 715-346-3046 Fax: 715-346-2042 E-mail: news@uwsp.edu  www.uwsp.edu/news Back to News releases | News release archive | UWSP Home Released: March 21, 2003 Contact: Alan Haney, 715-346-3298

A new student organization has sprung out of the College of Natural Resources (CNR) at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP). The Society for Ecological Restoration's (SER) purpose is to increase ecological awareness and assist in the recovery and management of ecosystems. Students are dedicated to learning the ecological processes of natural ecosystems through educational presentations and hands-on experience.

Alan Haney, former dean of the CNR and professor of forestry, is the advisor for SER. "This new CNR student chapter evolved soon after the college began offering a new major in ecosystem restoration and management last year," said Haney. "This is a rapidly growing field of study with expanding employment opportunities. This new major and SER has attracted outstanding students."

According to Haney, there are about 30 students actively involved in SER and they are currently in the process of finding office space on campus. Officers for SER are all upperclassmen and majoring in biology or natural resources and include Michael Emmenegger, president, Middleton; Melissa Brickl, vice president, Sauk City; Brendt Mueller, treasurer, Saint Cloud; Kyle Steele, projects coordinator, Appleton; and Erin Ernst, program coordinator, Plainfield, Ill.

According to SER President Emmenegger, they already have some restoration projects in the works including removal of buckthorn at Schmeeckle Reserve. SER has also been approached by Wisconsin DNR to assist with restoration of prairie and forest communities along the Little Plover River, and prairie chicken habitat in Buena Vista area southwest of Plover.

In addition to outside speakers invited to campus to talk about ecological restoration, members are presenting programs in which they have highlighted summer work and internship experiences, and independent studies of invasive species.

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