The United States is home to more than 450,000 brownfields, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. These properties may contain hazardous substances and contaminants. Cleaning up these properties increases the local tax base, creates open land, and protects the environment.
Giving students the tools to improve these sites, the Virginia Tech School of Plant and Environmental Sciences has created a major in Ecological Restoration.
The curriculum consists of courses in Biology, Soils, Environmental Science, Statistics, and Geology. “Restoration is a big tent problem that we can draw on lots of different disciplines to try and answer in any context,” Associate Professor Leighton Reid said. “There is flexibility for students to focus on plants, or if they are interested in animals, or coral reefs, I feel our program is big enough to support that too.”
Twenty-nine students are currently enrolled in the program.
To enhance studies, the Society for Ecological Restoration Student Association at Virginia Tech (SER-VT) was formed. According to Reid, SER-VT provides hands-on restoration opportunities through volunteer projects, guest speakers and field trips.
According to a 2014 study, restoration in the U.S. employs more than 126,000 people, and generates more than $9.5 billion annually.
The program was designed in consultation with the Society for Ecological Restoration, a leading international organization in the field. Graduates will complete their degrees with a professional certification as Practitioners In-Training.
After five years of professional experience, full certification can be achieved after planning and implementing three restoration projects, and completing an online course, offered by the Society.
The introduction of the new major is timely as the United Nations has declared 2021-2030 as the ‘Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.’ The campaign is meant to ‘prevent, halt, and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean.’ The U.N. believes these measures could help end poverty, combat climate change, and prevent mass extinction.