Gary Wein, Rebecca Sharitz, J V. McArthur, Kenneth McLeod,
Eric Nelson, and Randall Kolka

Wetland restoration and creation involves establishment of wetland conditions and processes on a site in such a way as to provide the basis for a self-sustaining ecosystem. Experience on the Savannah River Site (SRS) in restoration and creation of wetlands has resulted in the development of expertise, technologies, and metrics for monitoring success. The SRS is a 310 square mile Department of Energy (DOE) reservation on the Southeastern  Coastal Plain which contains 90% of the wetlands on all DOE lands.  Wetlands on the SRS have been  impacted by both industrial activities as well as prior agriculture and land management that resulted in destruction, contamination and mitigation actions. Research has focused on acceleration of successional trajectories, development of planting technologies, species selection, and comparison of important ecological parameters and processes on restored sites to norms established in mature wetlands.  These restoration studies were a logical extension of previous and ongoing basic research in freshwater wetland systems such as bottomland hardwood and floodplain forests, Carolina bays, and lake shorelines. These research experiences in wetland restoration provide transferable technologies to other sites and federal agencies.