The book was co-authored by Alice Thompson, a wetland ecologist who serves as Chair of the WWA Board of Directors, and Charlie Luthin, WWA Executive Director. The book contains general guidance for landowners interested in improving the health of their wetlands. The book discusses conservation, management, and restoration techniques that will improve drained, ditched or otherwise degraded wetlands.
The handbook provides suggestions for planning and implementing a wetland restoration project. Actual case studies of wetland restoration projects around the state are featured, and many useful tools, techniques and resources for wetland restoration are offered.
Over half of Wisconsin’s wetland acreage - about 5 million acres - has been lost over the past 150 years due to conversion for agriculture, and filling and draining for development. Many of the remaining wetlands are seriously impaired due to historic human disturbances. Over 75% of the state’s wetlands are in private ownership. The private landowner, therefore, plays a vital role in helping protect our remaining wetlands and in restoring degraded sites.
The objective of the book is to encourage responsible and effective restoration of wetland habitats. Each wetland has its own unique characteristics, and restoration efforts should attempt to recreate, to the degree possible, the original structure, hydrology, and plant communities that existed prior to the degradation.
Restoration ecology is a science in its infancy. Wetlands are very complex systems that have interdependent water, soils, and vegetation. No simple recipe or prescription exists for restoring what took nature 12,000 years (since the retreat of the last glacier) to produce.
The book was produced by the Wisconsin Wetlands Association (WWA) and published by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, with funding from the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program, Wisconsin DNR, Wisconsin Great Lakes Protection Fund, Ducks Unlimited, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, C.S. Mott Foundation, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Collaborators and contributors included wetland scientists and restorationists from Wisconsin Waterfowl Association, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Milwaukee, Northland College, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, and Wisconsin Wetlands Association.
Contact the Wisconsin Wetlands Association for a copy. A modest $5 fee covers postage and includes a contribution toward reprinting the popular handbook. Larger orders can be accommodated. To order your copy, write: WWA, 222 S. Hamilton St., Suite #1, Madison WI 53703, phone: (608) 250-9971. You can visit the organization's web site by clicking here.