Preference wetlands can be used to estimate the natural variability of wetland characteristics in a region. Naturally-occurring wetlands are selected for comparison with created and restored wetlands in the same ecoregion. The selection procedure has four steps. They are: (1) define the study area; (2) characterize the parent population; (3) take a random sample from a list frame; and (4) verify the appropriateness of the reference sites. The creation or restoration of wetlands is often required as compensation for wetland losses permitted under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Pilot studies were conducted in the summer of 1987 to test an evaluation method for created and restored wetlands within an ecological spatial framework, i.e., ecoregions. Reference sites, representative of the wetland type and landscape of created and restored wetlands, were randomly selected within an ecoregion for comparison.

"Poster presented at the Eighth Annual Meeting of the Society of Wetlands Scientists"--Page 1. Sponsoring agency: US Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Research Laboratory. "November 1988." "PB89-129043." "EPA/600/D-88/254." Includes bibliographical references. Photocopy.