Comparison of the long-term water levels of created and
natural reference wetlands in northern New York, USA
Long-term evaluation of hydrology on created wetlands in the United States is rare, asmost
such assessments are short-term and driven by regulatory and permit requirements. Longterm
studies are critical to the understanding of the development of function in created
wetlands.We measured water levels at 12-h intervals at five created wetlands at Fort Drum,
northern New York, from 1994 to 2003 and compared that data with information from three
reference wetlands, collected at the beginning and the end of that 10-year period. During
that time span, the created wetlands were wetter than the reference wetlands as measured
by median depth to water and the percentage of time water was within 30cm of the surface.
The two groups also differed in the duration of dry, saturated, and inundated periods. The
mitigationwetlandswerewetter than the referencewetlands likely as a result of the practice
of excavating down to water table depths to generate site hydrology.