With increasing investment in ecological restoration activities, there is a need for improving understanding about the definition and goals of ecological restoration as well as related restorative activities. There have been several recent advances in the field, including the development and adoption of international standards for ecological restoration. These standards include guidance for using restoration interventions that are consistent with two aspects of ecosystems: they are inherently dynamic and complex. Thus the repair of degraded ecosystems must include goals that both account for and allow ecosystem change and have broad goals in terms of ecosystem structure, composition, and process. This presentation will discuss the relevance of international standards to current forest restoration activities in the western United States, as well as current initiatives to improve the quality of restoration practice.