Wetland Restoration Best Practices

Review approaches to restoring degraded or impacted wetlands and outline practices to be considered in a restoration project.

Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems in the world. Species of microbes, plants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish, and mammals are part of wetland ecosystems. Physical and chemical features such as climate, topology, geology, and the movement and abundance of water help determine the plant and animal varieties that inhabit each wetland. However, by the 1980's as much as 50% of the original wetlands resources in the United States had been lost and were disappearing at a rate of approximately 300,000 to 400,000 acres per year.

Wetlands are regulated nationwide through the Clean Water Act Section 404 program, administered through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and a number of state and sometimes local regulations. A critical component of the regulatory and permitting process for wetlands is the mitigation of wetland to offset losses due to development or degradation. They are designed to return wetlands from a disturbed or altered condition to the previously existing condition or compensate for the loss. Recent reports have highlighted the high failure rate of mitigation wetlands, with only 30 to 50% of all projects considered successful.

Learning Objectives

• You will be able to discuss guiding principles in wetlands restoration.
• You will be able to review approaches to restoring degraded or impacted wetlands.
• You will be able to define practices to be considered in a restoration project.
• You will be able to identify techniques to incorporate wildlife enhancement.