plants common to the Plattsburgh area, with many species having been present
at
the cogeneration site. These plants included red maple, green ash, silky
dogwood,
red osier dogwood and arrow-wood in the shrub swamp areas, rich cutgrass,
soft
rush, smartweed and bulrushes in the emergent areas, and wild celery and
common
hornwort in the deep water area. The restoration wetland was planted with
red
maple, green ash, and black willow. The planting beds were composed of a
variety
of species to create diverse habitat and provide waterfowl food value, which
was
important to the NYSDEC.
Construction occurred from September to November of 1993. The site was allowed
to settle during the winter, and was planted in May of 1994. Monitoring of
the site
will continue over the next five years to determine plant survival and coverage
rates,
use of the site by various animal species, and functioning of the wetland
for floodflow
alteration, sediment and toxicant removal and nutrient removal and transformation.
DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
There are many benefits to a thorough and methodical site selection process
for
wetland mitigation:
1.   The process assures that all available sites within a defined geographical
region or watershed are reviewed, increasing the likelihood that a suitable
site
will be chosen, and that the wetland mitigation plan will succeed.
2.   The process quickly eliminates problem sites, allowing financial and
personnel resources to be focused on sites with the highest potential for
success.
3.   The process provides a method for documenting compliance with federal
(and, if present, state) wetland mitigation guidelines, potentially resulting
in a
faster review of the mitigation proposal by the regulatory agencies.
4.   The process increases the resources expended on a site concurrently
with an
increasing level of confidence, based on analyses, that the site will function
as proposed.
5.   The process decreases the risk of "surprises" during the construction
phase,
when delays are most costly, increasing the likelihood that the project will
come in on budget.


14