On January 23-25, 2018 the Ecological Restoration Business Association’s 2018 Policy Conference will take place at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
Ecological restoration is the art and science of helping degraded natural areas recover to healthy condition and function. It’s also, as it turns out, a good business opportunity.
The sector emerged in the early 1970s, after centuries of extraction and consumption of natural resources in the United States had degraded the country’s forests, rivers, and streams to a dangerous extent, sparking the creation of laws requiring polluters to clean up their messes.
This new push for ecological restoration also created jobs for engineers, surveyors, hydrologists, and foresters as well as opportunities for investors, construction companies, and others who specialize in rehabilitating nature.
Altogether, the restoration industry generates an estimated $25 billion dollars in economic output each year, and employs more people in the United States than coal mining, logging or steel production. Restoration professionals have their own industry association, the Ecological Restoration Business Association (ERBA), which advocates for environmental policy and regulatory frameworks that open the door for companies to make a business out of conservation.