Book Description

A primary objective in many wetland restoration projects is to establish vegetation that is similar in structure and composition to natural wetlands. Plant species lists developed from local reference wetlands are used as guidelines for desired vegetation in the project wetland. If the existing vegetation on the project site does not have adequate numbers or abundance of desired species, additional vegetation must be obtained. The two basic sources of wetland vegetation are commercially grown plant material and native plant material collected from naturally occurring populations. There are benefits and drawbacks for each plant material source. The project manager must consider many factors such as availability and cost of obtaining the plant material when deciding which source is appropriate for the wetland restoration project. While information about commercially grown plants is readily available from the industry, relatively little guidance exists for use of native plant materials. The objectives of this report are to discuss conditions under which it is appropriate to use native sources of plant material and to present three case studies that demonstrate techniques for collecting and establishing wetland vegetation from natural sources in wetland restoration and establishment projects. Information about substrate preparation, hydrology, and other aspects of wetland restoration projects is beyond the scope of this report, but is available from sources such as Soil Conservation Service (SCS) (1992), Hammer (1992), and the forthcoming wetland engineer manual.