Wetland Restoration

Can we put back what we've taken away? Some people say yes, we can restore wetlands. Other people say no.

Sometimes, simply stopping or changing the damaging disturbance will allow the stream or wetland to restore itself. For example, when livestock grazing is removed wetland vegetation often returns, as with this project that fenced out sheep from Big Mud Creek. When the disturbance has been long-term or certain functions such as flood control or clean water are desired, we speed up the rehabilitation process by doing restoration projects.

It's certainly possible to restore an area so that it looks like a wetland: plants will grow again, ducks will drop by, fish and frogs may return. But what looks like a wetland may not act like a wetland, at least not for many decades. These ecosystems are so complex and provide such a variety of essential functions to the rest of the environment that common sense tells us that they can't possibly be recreated completely. Even so, restored wetlands provide valuable habitat functions for many plant and animal species. As long as we don't fool ourselves into thinking we've rebuilt the entire function of a wetland overnight, restoration has a role to play in wetlands preservation.

Restored Wetland at the University of Idaho Photo: © Penelope Morgan

"Restoration" is a general term used for projects that have many different goals. Some goals of restoration projects may include:

• Stabilizing streambanks to stop erosion
• Creating habitat for fish, birds, amphibians, or other wildlife
• Reconnecting incised streams with their floodplains
• Bringing back native vegetation
• Controlling floods
• Improving water quality by trapping sediment and filtering runoff with riparian buffer strips
• Increasing infiltration or surface water to ground water through wetlands and riparian areas
• Preserving rare species
• Mimicking formal natural conditions
• Cleaning water with wetlands
• Educating and bring communities together
• Beautifying streams and wetlands
• Providing sites for ecological research

In order to achieve these important goals, many creative techniques have been used. Here are a couple of examples from the Pacific Northwest:

School groups are working with Oregon Parks and Recreation Department to restore the Crooked River at Smith Rock, Oregon. Can you see the blue tubes protecting the native shrubs and trees they've planted?	Photo: © Robin Jenkinson
The Nez Perce tribe, in Lapwai, Idaho, has stabilized this streambank with boulders and plantings of coyote willow. The willow's roots will hold the dirt in the banks and provide habitat and cover for wildlife.	Photo: © Robin Jenkinson
In the Mount Hood National Forest, people are putting wood back into the Hood River. This provides habitat for aquatic insects, cover for fish, and captures sediment upstream. It may look messy, but instream wood is often an indication of a healthy stream or river.	Photo: © Robin Jenkinson
The photo on the right shows a park that provides wildlife habitat, education, and flood control in Moscow, Idaho. Formerly a channelized ditch, this reach of Paradise Creek was re-meandered, and oxbow wetlands were created. Oxbows wetlands are formed by migrating rivers which leave old channels behind. The upright pole you see in the wetland is actually an amphibian habitat structure built by volunteers. For more information visit www.pcei.org.

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