The Ramsar Convention's resources on Wetland Restoration

The STRP Expert Working Group on Wetland Restoration

Restoration Approach: Excavation

Wetland type: Potentially all types of wetlands

Background: Upland areas can be excavated to create wetlands.  Excavation lowers elevation to intercept groundwater, to reach an intertidal level, to create a receiving basin, or to otherwise establish wetland hydrology.  In some cases, sediment that has been deposited in a wetland can be removed to restore the wetland.

Advantages: Allows creation of wetlands at a number of locations.

Disadvantages: Cost of excavation and removal of excavated material can be high.  In some circumstances, it is difficult to predict appropriate excavation depths. Excavation to subsoil leaves poor substrate for plant growth. Excavation to create a wetland displaces other habitat (i.e., upland habitat may be lost).

Further information: LaSalle, M.W. 1996. Assessing the Functional Level of a Constructed Intertidal Marsh in Mississippi. Wetlands Research Program Technical Report WRP-RE-15. Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi, USA.

Streever, W.J., K.M. Portier, and T.L. Crisman.1996. A comparison of dipterans from ten created and ten natural wetlands.Wetlands.16: 416-428.

Recently excavated site for creation of freshwater wetland in Alabama, USA, and 10-year-old salt marsh created by excavating upland pine forest in Alabama, USA.

Return to STRP Wetland Restoration index page

For further information about the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, please contact the Ramsar Convention Bureau, Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail ). Posted 8 January 2001, updated 15 February 2002, Bill Streever and Dwight Peck.