SREL Reprint #2008

Wetland restoration for habitat reconstruction and contaminant stabilization

Kenneth W. McLeod, Gary R. Wein, and Rebecca R. Sharitz

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia

Abstract: Environmental remediation includes cleanup of chemical pollutants or contaminants and may also include restoration of a disturbed site to its predisturbance ecological condition. Establishment of vegetation during site restoration may provide a mechanism for stabilizing the contaminants. We present two examples of wetland restoration for habitat reconstruction and sediment stabilization on the Savannah River Site (SRS). L-Lake is a once-through cooling reservoir on which wetland/littoral vegetation was established for habitat restoration, shoreline stabilization and as a "good faith effort" toward developing a balanced biological community as required by a National Pollution and Discharge Elimination System permit. The floodplain of Fourmile Branch is a thermally impacted bottomland hardwood forest with radionuclide contaminated sediments. The Mitigation Action Plan for the Environmental Impact Statement for continued reactor operations on the SRS originally called for restoration of previously impacted bottomland and swamp forests. Methods for establishing lake shoreline and bottomland hardwood species are discussed.

SREL Reprint #2008

McLeod, K.W., G.R. Wein, and R.R. Sharitz. 1993. Wetland restoration for habitat reconstruction and contaminant stabilization. pp. 1043-1047 In: ER'93 - Environmental Remediation Conference, U.S. Department of Energy. Augusta, GA.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).