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Restoration

“As human impact and climate change reshapes these natural places, restoration gives us a chance to reverse damage, protect biodiversity, and build resilient ecosystems that support both nature and people for generations to come.”
– Kilian Jornet

Colorado, September 2025 – “As I begin this journey through the U.S., I carry with me the lessons of restoration that have been in my path for many years. It all started in the Pyrenees, where I grew up running on trails that connected forests, rivers, and mountains. As a kid, I only saw the beauty of those landscapes, but as time passed, I began to notice the marks of human activity and climate change: eroded trails, dried rivers, burnt forests… The mountains gave me everything: a place to grow, to compete, to dream…

At the beginning I saw restoration as repairing the damaged ecosystems, but now I see it as rebuilding our relationship with the land. When we restore a trail, we are reconnecting with it.”

Evans & Tenmile Range @nickmdanielson
LA Freeway @nickmdanielson
The stories behind the miles

These days in the U.S. are not just about the miles Kilian covers or the hours he spends moving. What matters most is what those miles bring to all of us, the people we connect with, the stories we hear, and the lessons we learn along the way.

Along the journey we met Katie…

Katie Hawkins spreads the advocacy efforts for Outdoor Alliance, a coalition of outdoor recreation groups advocating for public lands, climate action, and conservation policies. Katie has worked to advance legislation to enhance trails throughout California – while advocating for the people that steward these landscapes at every level of government.

For her, ecosystem restoration is more than fixing broken landscapes – it’s the act of repairing relationships: between land and water, wildlife and habitat, people and place. Globally, restoration is recognized as a critical solution for climate change, biodiversity loss, and community resilience. The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) challenges everyone to support restoration efforts that breathe new life into our degraded ecosystems. 

@banta.visuals
@andrewfitts
Runners for Public Lands

Restoration takes many forms, from replanting forests and rewilding rivers to rehabilitating overused trails or revitalizing wetlands. At its core, it’s about giving nature the conditions it needs to recover its functions: storing carbon, filtering water, supporting wildlife, and providing spaces for people to connect with the natural world.

With Katie, we learnt that Nature-based solutions, such as forest restoration, wetland recovery, and regenerative agriculture, are among the most effective climate strategies we have between now and 2030. Scientists estimate nature-based solutions could cut global emissions by 10–19% and avoid the worst impacts of climate change – while also improving biodiversity and livelihoods.

@ryanthrower

Why does Restoration matter?

During our journey through the Sierra Nevada, we had the chance to talk to Jenny Hatch, who leads the Sierra Nevada Alliance (SNA), a coalition uniting people and organizations to protect the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains. For over three decades, the Alliance has been a convener, a bridge-builder, and a driving force for large-scale restoration.

The SNA works closely with Tribal nations, focusing on Traditional Ecological Knowledge to guide conservation. They run workforce development programs so local people can lead restoration projects, from forest thinning to trail repair. And they bring diverse conservation groups together, not to compete, but to amplify each other’s impact.

Jenny explained to us that ecosystem services – from clean air and water to pollination and coastal protection – are valued at around $125 trillion a year globally. Yet these services are in decline as ecosystems are degraded. Restoration can reverse this trend as it can capture carbon and slow climate change, prevent species extinction, protect communities from floods, drought, and wildfires and reconnect people to the land and to each other.

“Between now and 2030, restoring 350 million hectares of degraded ecosystems could generate $9 trillion in ecosystem services and remove up to 26 gigatons of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.”

– Jenny Hatch

The Scenery at Sierra Nevada: A Resource in Danger

In California, the Sierra Nevada forests are one of the state’s most valuable (and most vulnerable) natural resources.
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In California, the Sierra Nevada forests are one of the state’s most valuable (and most vulnerable) natural resources. They:
  • Provide 60% of California’s water supply.
  • Shelter over 500 species of plants and animals.
  • Support rural economies through recreation and natural resources.

But these forests face multiple crises:

  • Five times denser than historic levels, making them more susceptible to wildfires.
  • Massive tree mortality, from 3.3 million dead trees statewide in 2014 to 62 million by 2016, 95% in the Sierra Nevada.
  • Climate pressures: hotter, drier conditions intensify drought, pests and fire severity.
And how can we protect these ecosystems?

As we travel through the U.S., we’ve been meeting so many associations – like SNA and Outdoor Alliance – who are working to protect, restore, and steward these ecosystems and forests so they remain resilient for generations to come.

We’ve learned that protecting these ecosystems means moving faster and at a larger scale: thinning overgrown areas, replanting with climate-resilient species, and restoring habitat. It also means building a workforce: training and employing local crews who know the land and can carry out this work year after year.

Even the byproducts of restoration have a purpose: branches and biomass are transformed into renewable energy and sustainable materials. And just as important is planning wisely: making sure development avoids fire-prone or ecologically fragile areas.

Forests themselves can be part of the climate solution. Managed well, they store more carbon, buffer extreme weather, and stand as living allies in the fight against climate change.

And for you – what role can restoration play in your own connection to the land?