About this Course
This course will give you a thorough understanding of the process for designing wetland restorations, including design parameters, construction considerations and long-term management. You’ll learn the fundamentals of designing process-based wetland restoration/mitigation projects. We’ll review restoration theory and cover the goals, objectives, and performance standards for restoration design, and the permitting and construction aspects of managing restored systems.
Evening classes will be a mix of classroom sessions and field visits, including five classes held at constructed fresh and saltwater restoration sites, and an additional day-long Saturday field trip. During these visits, we’ll examine restoration implementations that worked and those that did not. We’ll review field identifications of the most common freshwater and estuarine plants in the Puget Sound region, and we’ll study woody and herbaceous plants commonly found in wetland sites and their upland buffers.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
- The fundamentals of process-based wetland restoration/mitigation projects at a conceptual level and the use of ecological and watershed approaches for select wetland sites
- Basic construction methods and best management practices for restoration/mitigation sites
- How to craft ecologically effective and achievable goals, objectives, and performance standards for restoration projects
- How to recognize and articulate the differences between designing restoration sites and mitigation sites
- How to identify more than 100 woody and herbaceous plants commonly found in wetland sites and their upland buffers