Suitability Assessment for Wetland Restoration

Wetlands provide important benefits to a wide range of ecological, environmental, and socio-economic systems. As wetlands have been converted to different land uses over the years, their positive influence on these systems has become more understood and efforts to mitigate wetland loss and increase wetland resources are now planning priorities in many areas. The development and maintenance of wetlands depends on the presence of specific hydrologic, hydraulic, and geomorphological characteristics in the landscape. Understanding where and the extent to which these characteristics exist in the landscape is essential to informing decisions on how to best utilize resources for protecting and augmenting wetland systems. To assist in informing such planning efforts, a methodology for evaluating the suitability of landscapes for wetland reclamation is proposed. The proposed methodology utilizes an array of widely available data sources such as high-resolution elevation data, wetland inventories, and soil characteristics to classify landscape features into categories that reflect geomorphic and hydrologic conditions known to reflect suitability for supporting wetland persistence. The methodology is implemented using a geographic information system (GIS) and is applied to evaluate suitability for wetland reclamation in an 85 square km watershed to illustrate the process and highlight its applicability.