Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2009OR112B

Vegetation and Soil Processes in Restored Wetlands

Institute: Oregon
Year Established: 2009 Start Date: 2009-03-01 End Date: 2014-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $9,955 Total Non-Federal Funds: $42,436

Principal Investigators: Mary Santelmann

Project Summary: The specific issues addressed by this project are the deterioration and loss of aquatic/riparian habitat, especially wetlands; and (2) protection of wetland resources by enhancing our understanding of practices that lead to effective restoration. Wetland restoration is being considered as a watershed-scale tool for assisting in meeting societal needs for ecosystem services (Willamette Partnership 2008). By quantifying the potential level of ecosystem services that result from wetland restoration, it may become possible to incorporate the value of wetland ecosystem services into credit trading programs. However, methods generally used to evaluate wetland functions rely on characteristics assumed to be associated with functions (e.g., denitrification) in the absence of measured data concerning wetland performance of such a function; quantitative data are needed. In collaboration with the USDA NRCS, Portland Metro, and Institute for Applied Ecology, we will investigate relationships among wetland restoration methods, establishment of native vegetation and soil characteristics in influencing (1) native plant diversity and abundance (2) soil potential for denitrification as measured by denitrifying enzyme activity (DEA) and (3) size and composition of the microbial denitrifier community at three restored wetland sites, three natural wetland sites, and three sites that are currently being cropped, but resemble restored wetlands prior to restoration. Project objectives are: --to assist regional agencies in evaluating wetland restoration success based on the response of vegetation and soils, and build collaborative relationships with them, -- to obtain initial data for use in developing proposals to leverage funding for research on quantification of the ecosystem services provided by restored wetlands, -- to explore the role of restored wetlands in enhancing water quality and conservation of biodiversity, and potential trade-offs in these functions, and -- to train graduate students and provide new material for lectures in our courses.