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Wetlands Restoration and Mitigation

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Mid-Atlantic Freshwater Wetlands: Advances in Wetlands Science, Management, Policy, and Practice

Abstract

For decades, scientists, managers, policy makers, and practitioners have sought to improve the design and performance of mitigated and restored wetlands. Progress has been made, but further improvements are needed. In this chapter, we provide a historical context, review the mitigation process, summarize the literature on mitigation and restoration of wetlands, and make the case for using natural reference wetlands as templates for designing mitigation and restoring projects and assessing their performance. Two case studies conducted by Riparia at Penn State are used to demonstrate the value of a reference-based approach. A comparison of scores from Habitat Suitability Index models between reference and created wetlands shows that the latter are either not equivalent, with created sites scoring lower, or habitats are shifted toward species in the wildlife community that favor open water or emergent conditions. In the second study, scores of hydrogeomorphic (HGM) functional models are compared between reference wetlands and mitigation sites, showing that average performance is often significantly lower for several functions across multiple HGM types. Finally, we describe how a set of variables from Riparia’s database of reference wetlands can be used to improve the outcome of mitigation and restoration projects.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Riparia, Department of Geography, Pennsylvania State University, 302 Walker Building, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Robert P. Brooks

  2. 704 Rogers Street, Columbia, MO, 65201, USA

    Naomi A. Gebo

Authors
  1. Robert P. Brooks
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  2. Naomi A. Gebo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert P. Brooks .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Riparia, Department of Geography, Pennsylvania State University, Old Main 201, University Park, 16802, Pennsylvania, USA

    Robert P. Brooks

  2. , Riparia, Department of Geography, Pennsylvania State University, Old Main 201, University Park, 16802, Pennsylvania, USA

    Denice Heller Wardrop

Glossary

Compensatory mitigation

Creation, restoration, enhancement or preservation of a wetland designed to offset permitted losses of wetland functions in response to special conditions of a permit (National Research Council 2001)

Construction

Activities resulting in the building of a wetland for restoration or mitigation purposes

Constructed wetlands

Created for the primary purpose of contaminant or pollution removal from wastewater or runoff (Hammer 1997)

Creation

Conversion of a persistent upland or shallow water area into a wetland (National Research Council 2001)

Design

Plan for a mitigation project, usually based on measures of a wetland’s intended structure and function

(Wetland) enhancement

Refers to human activity that increase one or more functions of an existing wetland (National Research Council 2001)

Mitigation

Similar to compensatory mitigation, but can include substitution of creation, restoration, enhancement or preservation of other aquatic or upland habitat types

Morphometry

Topographic measures of a wetland’s size, shape, slope and depth

Performance

Measurable outcome of a mitigation project, usually based on assessment of a wetland’s structure and function

(Wetland) preservation

Refers to the protection of an existing and well-­functioning wetland from prospective future threats (National Research Council 2001)

(Wetland) restoration

To return a wetland from a disturbed or altered condition by human activity to a previously existing condition (National Research Council 1992)

Voluntary restoration

Same as restoration, but landowner makes a conscious choice unrelated to permitting requirements

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Brooks, R.P., Gebo, N.A. (2013). Wetlands Restoration and Mitigation. In: Brooks, R., Wardrop, D. (eds) Mid-Atlantic Freshwater Wetlands: Advances in Wetlands Science, Management, Policy, and Practice. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5596-7_12

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