If you have not already done so, please make a request to join the Kelp Forest Alliance as an individual member by completing our contact form and ticking the “would you like to become a KFA member” box.

You will receive a welcome email in less than 7 business days. This email contains a link to login as well as your username and a temporary password. During the login process you’ll be asked to change this password to one of your own choosing. Please create a secure and unique password, then follow the prompts to the privacy terms and conditions. The next time you login you will be redirected to your default Landing Page.

People - Create or update your personal profile

You have a personal profile. This shows basic information about you, the organization you work with, the Restoration Sites you are linked with, and whether you agree to share your contact with other member users.

As we grow, it will also link to Working Groups you are involved with. Please update this profile with the relevant information, by clicking on the Edit link next to your profile menu. Only the following information is necessary to start with:

Create personal profile - Overview

• Verify that your name is correct.
• Add a short biography related to your position and how you are connected to kelp forests.
• Platform objective: Describe why you want to join the community and how you may help other community members (e.g., what expertise do you need and what advice or support can you offer).
• Recommended: Provide a photo of yourself. Create personal profile - Contact Info
• Add any associated webpage, business phone number, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn profiles that you are associated with.

Create personal profile - Roles

• Click “Add organization position” and fill in the details of your current position (I.e., job title and organization).
• If your organization is not listed, create a new one by clicking “Add New Organization” (See section 4)
• If your job title is not listed, please contact us and we will create one for you. Please try to fit an existing position so we do not create multiple, very similar positions (e.g. scientist, researcher, university staff).
• We will create working groups for people to join. Please stay tuned for this element of the platform.
• We will also create chapters among our members, please stay tuned for this element of the platform.

Create personal profile - Places

• Enter which cities, state/province/prefecture, and country you work in.
  • You may enter multiple if you work in multiple geographies
• If your city or regional level administrative area is not listed, please create one (section 6).

Create personal profile - Expertise

• Add how long you have been working in kelp forests, what your motivations for restoration are, and what species you work with.

If you represent an organization and would like to apply to become an official member of the Kelp Forest Alliance, please complete an application form here. You may still create an organization profile on the website if you do not submit an application.

Each organization also has a profile. This profile presents the organization biography, the members involved in the organization, alongside contact information.

You can create a new organization or edit an existing one that we have pre-populated.

Add Organization - Overview

Name: Add your organization’s name.

Organization type: Select the type of your organization from the drop down list. If your organization type does not exist, please contact us to create a new category.

Logo: If you have permission, upload your organization’s logo.

Description: Describe what your organization does, what it would like to get out of the KFA platform, and how it can help other members.

Add Organization - Places

Cities: Select the city your organization works in, you may select multiple if you work across geographies. If your city does not exist, see section 6.

Regions: Select the region your organization works in, you may select multiple if you work across geographies. If your region does not exist, see section 6.

Please work to add a biography, select the organization type, and if you have permission, upload your logo. Please select the external member category.

Add Organization - Roles

People: Add any people who hold positions in your organization.

Working groups: We will create working groups for organizations to join. Please stay tuned for this element of the platform.

Chapters: We will create chapters for organizations to join. Please stay tuned for this element of the platform.

Partner Organizations: Select any organizations that you work or collaborate with.

Desired Partner Organizations: Select any organizations you would like to collaborate with. Add Organization - Web and Social

Provide related social media and web presence.

Add Organization - Expertise (Optional)

Key topics: Select key topics you are interested in. Industries: Select industries you work in. SDGs: Select the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals you are working towards.

Sites and Map:

This is the global database of restoration projects from around the world, going back to 1957. Here you can explore the methodologies and lessons learned by project, and update your own Restoration Project. You are able to view projects on the map tile in the upper-middle of the page. You are also able to sort through projects based on

• Their name
• The organization/s running the project
• The species involved in restoration
• The restored regions
• The causes of decline
• The method of restoration

Update/ Add a Restoration Site

If we have already created a profile for your restoration project, you will be able to edit it here.

Uploading data will allow others across the world to learn from your Advancements, Lessons Learned, and Outcomes.

If you would like to preview what this feature will look like, please look at a completed example here.

This reference shows the ideal level of completeness for each Restoration Site. You can see that each page is made up of sections, each with a purpose and sub-classifications, to help with comparability and analysis.

Creating a new restoration project

If you have completed a new restoration project or have one in progress you can add it to the data using the “Create restoration project” button in the top right corner.

Create Restoration Project - Overview

Site: This is the location of the restoration project. You may select from re-established sites or enter a new site. When entering a new site, try to be as specific as possible and identify given bays, beaches,

points, or waterways where the restoration is taking place. City or State names are too broad to be included here.

Creating a new site: If your site is not listed, click on “Add New Site”.

Please add

• The site name
• Banner: Upload an image to be associated with site (optional)
• Region: Which region is this site located in, use the state, province, district, prefecture, etc, as applicable
• Latitude and Longitude: Enter the geographic coordinates in decimal degrees (e.g., 49.235,-124.463)
• Add a postal address (optional)
• City: Specify the city the site is in. If your city is not listed, see section 6 for creating a new one.

Restoration objective: Describe what you are or were hoping to achieve with your restoration project.

Site selection description: Describe how you chose to restore the area that you are working on. Examples may include, favorable environmental conditions, past presence of kelp, easy site access, cultural importance.

Videos: Link any videos related to the restoration site.

Citations: If there is no existing citation for your work, you may create a new citation so people can reference your work. Citations may be scientific papers, reports, books, webpages, datasets, or other.

Reason for decline: Select a general reason for the decline of kelp at your restoration site.

Cause of decline: Describe the reasons that kelp forest declined at your restoration site. See here for an example.

Create Restoration Project - Roles

Organizations: Select the organizations involved in running the restoration project. If your organization is not listed, see section 4 for creating an organization profile.

Contacts: Select the people who should be contacted to discuss this project. If the person is not listed, see the section on creating a personal profile.

Create Restoration Project - Taxonomies

Motivations: Select the motivation for the restoration project.

Distance to nearest kelp forest: When the restoration project started, what was the distance (in meters) to the nearest extant kelp forest of the same species.

Create Restoration Project - *Observations - overview

• The observation tab allows you to enter the outcomes of your restoration project. Select “Add Observation” to get started.

Species: Select the kelp species that were restored in this project. If your species is not listed, please create a new one by entering the second half of the latin name (E.g., pyrifera) in the “Species” box and selecting the genus from the drop down menu. If your genus is not listed, please add a new one.

Start date: Select the day the first restoration action commenced, this specifies a restoration action such as putting plants in the water or removing sea urchins, not the planning or permitting process.

End date: Select the day the observation was made, for instance when the kelp density survey was completed. If you have multiple observations at the same location, please select the last one.

Recorded by : Select the person who made the observation (optional).

Area of restoration (m2): Enter the area that the restoration project occupied at the time of observation. This number should refer to a specific area, not a combination of areas, i.e. a semi continuous kelp forest that has been restored. Do not enter values for areas that were restored but subsequently lost kelp.

Action Summary: Describe what was done and the methodologies used during this Observation of the Restoration Project. See an example here.

Methodologies: Select the restoration methodologies used from the drop down list. If the method you used is not listed please contact us to create a new category.

Transplant Life Stage: If using transplants, specify if they were juvenile or adult plants. Otherwise, select N/A.

Transplant Source: If using transplants, select if they were collected from the wild or cultured. Otherwise, select N/A.

Lessons learned: Describe any lessons you learned during the restoration process that may help future projects.

Project Outcomes: Describe any broader economic, ecological or social outcomes. For instance, if biodiversity was restored, fisheries were restored, recreation was restored, or cultural connections were restored.

Outcome Types: Classify the outcomes that you achieved.

• Ecological, kelp and associated biodiversity was restored.
• Social: Cultural connections and recreation activities were restored.
• Socioeconomic: Jobs and or livelihoods were restored.
• No outcomes achieved: The restoration project did not succeed in restoring kelp or its associated benefits.

Nature of disturbance: If a disturbance event (e.g. storm, pollution, heat wave) impacted the restoration site, describe the nature of that event and its impact below.

Disturbance Types: Select a disturbance category from the drop down list. If the disturbance that impacted your site is not listed, please contact us to create a new category.

Latitude: Only enter this information if the location of this observation is significantly different from the site location. For example, if there is a sub location within a large bay. If in doubt, leave this field blank. Please use decimal degrees (e.g. 45.245, -123.294).

Longitude: Only enter this information if the location of this observation is significantly different from the site location. For example, if there is a sub location within a large bay. If in doubt, leave this field blank. Please use decimal degrees (e.g. 45.245, -123.294).

Is ongoing: Tick this box if the project is continuing. Leave it with no-tick if the project has been completed.

Is protected area: Tick this box if the project occurred in a marine protected area. Leave it with no-tick if it did not or you are unsure.

Cause of decline and reasons for decline: Only enter this information if this location was impacted by a stressor that is different from the one associated with the site location. For example, warming waters may have caused the decline of a kelp population in a bay, but this area within the bay was also impacted by sewage runoff, enter that level of additional detail here.

Restoration objective: Only enter this information if the objective for restoration at this location was different from the one associated with the larger restoration project. For example, your project may aim to restore fisheries but there was an additional goal of restoring SCUBA diving opportunities at this site, enter that level of detail here.

Site selection description: Describe how you chose to restore the area that you are working on. Examples may include, favorable environmental conditions, past presence of kelp, easy site access, cultural importance.

Citation: Select any associated citations/references that contain information about this observation. Notes: Add any additional notes that you think are important about your restoration process.

Kelp prior study: Tick this box if there was kelp present in the area when you began the restoration process.

Create Restoration Project - Observations - metadata

Motivations: Select the motivation(s) or reason(s) for restoring the kelp forest.

Recruitment: Tick this box if you observed successful recruitment at the restoration site, i.e. a new generation of kelp.

SER Ecological Restoration Principles: Select which of the 8 Society for Ecological Restoration principles your project followed.

Create Restoration Project -Observations - Indicator Values - Restoration Site

This section is where you will enter quantitative information about the project outcomes. These values include any observations related to the ecosystem. For instance, kelp density, fish biomass, person visit, jobs created, nutrients removed.

Click “Add Indicator Value” to get started. Indicator: Specify what you are reporting on and the units it is in (e.g. Number of kelp, N/m2).

Final Mean Value: Enter the final mean value of the observation. This is the value of the last recorded observation. If the observation does not have a mean, E.g., success 1/0, enter that value instead.

Final Error Bound: Enter the error associated with the mean for the final observation. This is the value of the last recorded observation. If your observation does not have an error value associated with it, leave this field blank.

Ending Measure of Error: Select the measure of error you used

• Standard deviation
• Standard error
• 95% confidence interval

Final Sample Count: Enter the sample size of your observation. For instance, if you swam 8, 25m2 transects at your site, enter 8 here.

The initial values are entered as described above but reflect the starting conditions of restoration. What was the kelp density, fish density, etc, before restoration occurred.

Create Restoration Project - Observations - Indicator Values - Dates

Start Date: Enter the date you made the first observation, before restoration.

End Date: Enter the date you made the last observation, post restoration. If you have multiple dates, use the last one.

Create Restoration Project - Observations - Indicator Values - Control Site

If you used a control site to reference your restoration project, enter the associated information here. The steps are the same as described in Observations - Indicator Values - Restoration Site

Create Restoration Project - Observations - Costs

If this information is available, enter the associated costs for your project here. Cost year: What year are the costs reported in? This is the year you paid that cost.

Cost description: Describe what is included in the reported costs (e.g., transplanting, monitoring, planning, etc).

Cost currency: Enter the country currency code for the costs (e.g., USD, AUD, CAD, GBP, EUR) Total Cost: Enter the total cost of the project.

Capital Cost: What was the cost of all tools used, materials used, facilities used, permanent purchases, etc?

Planning Cost: What was the cost of hours and salary spent on planning the project?

Construction Cost: What was the cost of hours and salary spent on doing the restoration?

In Kind Cost: What is the value of volunteer hours and donated or loaned equipment/resources?

Monitoring Cost: What was the cost of hours and salary for follow-up monitoring of the restoration site?

Maintenance Cost: What is the cost of capital, hours and salary spent doing maintenance post restoration?

Private Funding: Tick the box if the project received funding from a private organization. University Funding: Tick the box if the project received funding from a university.

Government Funding: Tick the box if the project received funding from a government organization. NGO Funding: Tick the box if the project received funding from an NGO.

Volunteer Funding: Tick the box if the project received funding from a volunteer organization.

Name: Add the name of the city. This name should be the title you would write on a postal address, for example, Tokyo, Paris, London, Sydney, are too broad, please use specific suburbs or locations.

Banner: Add a photo that is associated with this city (optional). See banner section. Country: Add the Country the city is located in.

Region: Add the administrative area, e.g., State, Province, County, Prefecture or other administrative area the city is located in. If your state level administrative area is not listed, please create a new one (below).

“Add a New Region”

Name: Add the name of the regional administrative area.

Country: Add the country the administrative area is located in.

Description: Provide any additional information you would like to add about the city (optional).

Latitude: What is the Latitude of this City, in decimal degrees notation?

Longitude: What is the Longitude of this City, in decimal degrees notation?

Link: Provide any relevant links for the city (e.g., city council home page)

Create banner - Overview

Give the banner a;

• Name: General title for the banner
• Thumbnail: A low resolution version of the image (optional)
• Image: The image you would like to upload
• Image (2x): A high resolution version of the image (optional)
• Description: Please write, “Photo: Photo Credit”, replacing Photo Credit with the photographer’s name.

News

The news page allows you to view scientific and news articles about kelp forest conservation and restoration. You can filter articles based on key topics. You may also add new articles with the “Add Article” button.

Add Article - Overview

Paste the URL in and the fields will be auto generated. Please change any specifics that are incorrect.

Add Article - Places

Add any associated cities, regions, or countries.

Add Article - Stakeholders

Add any associated people or organizations.

Add Article - Taxonomies

Add any associated key topics.