Creating and Restoring Wetlands A whole-ecosystem experiment in self-design

W etland creation and restoration are carried out frequently in the United States to mitigate the loss of wetlands due to almost any human development (e.g., shopping centers, highways, suburban developments, and coastline manipulation). These practices have been controversial because of uncertainty about what is necessary to create and restore these important ecosystems and what constitutes "success" of the new wetlands (Roberts 1993, Mitsch and Wilson 1996, Young 1996, Zedler 1996, Malakoff 1998). Yet if done properly, the creation and restoration of ecosystems in general, and of wetlands in particular, provide opportunities for enhancing the ecosystem services to humans, which have been estimated to provide the equivalent of $33 tril-

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