Ecosystem restoration is an effective way to improve conditions for recreation, wildlife, and more. Yet permitting—while necessary for ensuring projects are well designed and beneficial—has long slowed restoration projects across California. Is that now shifting? We spoke with the State Water Board’s Paul Hann and Sustainable Conservation’s Erika Lovejoy about a new general order that’s changing the game.

Other environmental restoration news:

• KUNM (Albuquerque, N.M.): Environmental review bill would sharply restrict public challenges to federal projects
• NOAA Fisheries: Blog: Salmon habitat restoration priorities in the lower Russian River
• Maven’s Notebook: Blog: Risk-taking is key to saving California’s freshwater species: A conversation with water lawyer Jennifer Harder
• Mongabay: California’s kelp forests struggle to recover a decade after collapse​