Technical Note: Plant Survival Assessment on Wetland and Stream Mitigation Sites Using GPS/GIS Geotagging

Approximately 100,000 ha of compensatory mitigated wetlands within the United States each year require annual environmental assessments. Regulatory agencies evaluate the assessments, which progress for several years following the restoration of wetlands. Core to each annual assessment is the survivorship documentation of the reestablished hydrophytic tree and shrub species. Failure to achieve a preset survival percentage is costly, as it will necessitate a mandatory replanting and an extension of the assessment period. Multiple failures within a region will promote increasing the ratio of mitigated wetland to permitted fill area, as the mandated goal is to maintain a region's wetland base.