Melchiorre 1

Michael Melchiorre
Mrs. Crist
Block 1
3/15/16
Essential question: How does environmental engineering help restore wetlands?
Working thesis: Environmental engineering helps restore wetlands.
Refined thesis: By using environmental engineering, engineers can restore wetlands due to the
negative impacts of human interaction.
Annotated Bibliography
EPA. "Why Are Wetlands Important?" EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, 18 Nov. 2015.
Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
The EPA discusses in their article the importance of wetlands, and the reasoning for the
decline of coastal wetlands due to human activity. These marshy swamps are one of the most
productive ecosystems in the world containing an immense variety of species that range from
amphibians to microbes. Wetlands act as biological supermarkets, providing great volumes of
food for these species, as stated by the EPA. This creates a complex relationship between the
environment and fauna that results in a highly nutrient watershed. Far from being useless, these
watersheds bring life to everything and provide some valuable functions that are crucial for
human survival. These consist of water quality improvement, carbon sequestration, flood
protection, and erosion control. Wetlands achieve this with their natural sponge like properties
which allow them to absorb excess water and carbon, absorb energy created from currents, and

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filter chemicals and sediment out of water. However, this natural process is hindered by certain
human activities which include urban and rural development, agriculture, and silviculture. This
article provides information about the importance of wetlands along with the reasoning for the
decline of wetlands due to human activity.

EPA. "Wetlands Restoration Definitions and Distinctions." EPA. Environmental Protection

Agency, 17 Nov. 2015. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.
The EPA discusses in their article the many ways wetlands are restored and created. The
restoration of wetlands is a complex process that is defined by multiple activities. These are
better known by the term Mitigation and it is defined as the creation, enhancement, and
reallocation of wetlands. The objective of these processes is to restore the physical, chemical, or
biological characteristics of a site with the goal of returning natural/historic functions to a former
or degraded wetland, as stated by the EPA. By executing these methods, EVEs hope to emulate
a natural self-regulating system that is integrated ecologically with the landscape in which it
occurs. Before they achieve this, environmental engineers must use certain devices to restore the
hydrology and vegetation lost. Structures from weirs to berms are used to regulate and enhance
the hydrology of damaged wetlands. These mechanisms mainly prevent flooding and runoff so
that erosion of the local vegetation and shores do not occur. Once the hydrology is restored,
vegetation restoration can commence. This involves constructing seed banks which modify the
basins hydrology to establish new seedlings capable of surviving. In order for the newly planted
species to flourish, one more step needs to be taken to guarantee wetland restoration. Sod mats
along with donor top soil are used to replace the diseased and eroded soil to prevent future

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decomposition of the flora. This article provides information on the apparatuses and processes
created to restore wetlands.