The 8th annual "Mangrove Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration" training workshop will be held at the Anne Kolb Nature Center, in Hollywood, Florida, USA, March 3-5, 2010. The training site is within a 500 ha mangrove restoration project at West Lake Park operated by Broward County. The award-winning project was designed by Roy R. "Robin" Lewis III, who will be teaching the course. Mr. Lewis has taught this very successful course in Mexico, Jamaica, Cuba, Nigeria, Thailand, Vietnam, India and Sri Lanka.

The workshop includes an introduction to mangrove forest ecology, management options and problems, and restoration design issues.  There is a total of 24 contact hours for the course. The class programs are all presented in a PowerPoint format, and each student is provided with a print out of the presentation and additional handouts including monitoring reports for typical restoration projects. Case studies of 5 successful mangrove restoration projects, and several unsuccessful projects, are discussed. Field trips are taken within the 500 ha West Lake Park mangrove restoration project (now 20 years old) and the adjacent John U. Lloyd Park shoreline erosion control project using mangroves and a revetment, for a comparison. Participants are invited to bring pending project designs to the course for professional review and critique.

The emphasis is on cost-effective successful mangrove management and restoration, and cost figures for typical projects are discussed and explained. The Ecological Mangrove Restoration (EMR) method of mangrove restoration is emphasized as the best approach to successful restoration at minimal cost (see Erftemeijer and Lewis 2000; Lewis 1999, 2000a, 2000b, 2005; Lewis and Marshall 1998; Lewis and Streever 2000; Lewis et al. 2005, Lewis and Gilmore 2007, Stevenson et al. 1999 and Turner and Lewis 1997). Planting of mangroves is discussed in light of the many failures of this alone to successfully restore mangroves.

Cost for the course not including travel to Ft. Lauderdale, lodging or food is $850, due by January 1, 2010 to Coastal Resources Group, Inc., P.O. Box 5430, Salt Springs, Florida, USA 32134-5430.  Two qualified students will be allowed to attend for free, and can apply at any time for the two fee-waived positions. This course is organized by the Coastal Resources Group, Inc., a US based 501(c)3 tax exempt corporation, and will be taught in conjunction with the Mangrove Action Project (www.mangroveactionproject.org). Lodging close to the training site is available at the SleepInn in Dania Beach, Florida. Reservations need to be made early. Each participant is responsible for making their own reservations. No formal application forms are needed. Receipt of the necessary registration fee in advance of the registration deadline is all that is needed along with the contact information for the registrant.

There is a $100 cancellation fee if received more than 30 days prior to the course. No refund is available for cancellations received less than 30 days in advance of the course.  Issuance of formal letters of invitation will require receipt of full payment of registration fees before letters are sent.

More information can be provided by Robin Lewis at LESRRL3@aol.com and www.mangroverestoration.com.  Individual courses for private firms, government agencies or NGOs in the USA or foreign countries can be arranged for a flat fee plus expenses.

Literature Cited
Erftemeijer, P. L. A., and R. R. Lewis.  2000.  Planting mangroves on intertidal mudflats: habitat restoration or habitat conversion? Pages 156-165 in Proceedings of the ECOTONE VIII Seminar "Enhancing Coastal   Ecosystems Restoration for the 21st Century, Ranong, Thailand, 23-28 May 1999. Royal Forest Department of Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand.

Lewis, R. R.  1999.  Key concepts in successful ecological restoration of mangrove forests.  Pages 12-32 in Proceedings of the TCE-Workshop No. II, Coastal Environmental Improvement in Mangrove/Wetland Ecosystems, 18-23 August 1998, Ranong, Thailand.  Danish-SE Asian Collaboration in Tropical Coastal Ecosystems (TCE) Research and Training.  NACA, P.O. Box 1040, Bangkok, Thailand 10903

Lewis, R. R.  2000a. Don't forget wetland habitat protection and restoration for Florida's fisheries. National Wetlands Newsletter 22(6): 9-10 + 20.

Lewis, R. R.  2000b.   Ecologically based goal setting in mangrove forest and tidal marsh restoration in Florida. Ecological Engineering 15(3-4): 191-198.          

Lewis, R.R.  2005. Ecological engineering for successful management and restoration of mangrove forests. Ecological Engineering 24 (4 SI):403-418. http://www.royrlewis.com/Ecol_Eng_Mangrove_Rest_Lewis_2005.pdf

Lewis, R. R., and M. J. Marshall.  1998.  Principles of successful restoration of shrimp aquaculture ponds back to mangrove forests.  Page 327 in World Aquaculture Society Book of Abstracts, Aquaculture '98, Las Vegas, Nevada. (Abstract)

Lewis, R. R., and W. Streever.  2000. Restoration of mangrove habitat. Tech Note ERDC TN-WRP-VN-RS-3.2 U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi. 7 pp.
http://www.wes.army.mil/el/wrtc/wrp/tnotes/vnrs3-2.pdf

Lewis, R. R., A. B. Hodgson, and G. S. Mauseth. 2005. Project facilitates the natural reseeding of mangrove forests (Florida). Ecological Restoration 23(4):276-77.
http://www.mangroverestoration.com/LEWISH_1.PDF

Lewis, R.R., and R. G. Gilmore.  2007. Important considerations to achieve successful mangrove forest restoration with optimum fish habitat. Bull. Mar. Sci. 80(3):823-837.