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The shaded area shows where the Northern Prairie Science Center near Jamestown will survey restored and natural wetlands to see how well the restored wetlands are fulfilling their purpose.

The Northern Prairie Science Center near Jamestown plans to study restored wetlands in five states this summer to see how well they're fulfilling their intended purpose, the project coordinator said.

Wetlands researcher Chip Euliss said over 40,000 wetlands have been restored in the Prairie Pothole through private, state and federal efforts. But no one is sure how well they're performing their intended functions, which include supporting wildlife, storing flood water, cleaning chemicals from runoff, recharging ground water and trapping sediment. "Our mission in this is to evaluate the wetlands to see how successful the restorations have been," he said.

Much smaller studies have found restored wetlands don't work as well as the best of the natural wetlands. But those less detailed studies didn't look at restored and natural wetlands subject to similar nearby land use, which can make a difference. Euliss said he expects that silt that filled a wetland before it was restored will probably play a role in how well the wetland works. If the silt made the wetland more shallow, it's more likely to become choked with cattails and support little waterfowl. Not to mention attract blackbirds.

Silt may also impact how well the wetland holds nutrients, cleans any chemicals from runoff water and grows invertebrates that feed wildlife. So anyone planning to restore a wetland may want to look at the silt in the basin before moving ahead. They may want to remove the silt, or just put more water into the basin. "What you want to do is get the water depth back to where it was," he said. "One way is to take off the bottom, the other is to add on to the top." On the other had, cattails that grow in shallow wetlands help clean water, so they may be desirable for wetlands restored for that purpose.

There's even a slight chance that the silt will have little impact on a restored wetland. The uncertainty is one reason for the survey. "That's the kind of practical information I think will come out of what we've done in terms of trying to improve restorations," he said. Four crews will spend June, July and August studying groups of 10 wetlands in the same area at 24 points along different parts of the Prairie Pothole Region. Each point will have four restored wetlands, and two each of never- drained, drained and pristine wetlands. The wetlands are in the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota and Iowa.

He expects they'll have results from the survey by the fall. It should prove useful to groups that restore wetlands. Existing restoration methods have mainly be developed by trial and error. "They're not getting any feedback so they can improve that technology and we're trying to give them that feedback," Euliss said. Then the groups could better pick and choose what wetlands to restore to accomplish their goals. "Then they can tell a guy, with a better degree of precision than we have right now, what the outcome is going to be," he said.

Twenty-seven other researchers from other parts of the United States will also use information from the survey to do 20 more detailed research on aspects of the wetlands. "It's the first time we've all looked at the same set of sites simultaneously, but looking at different things," Euliss said. "It's a multi-disciplinary approach."