Wetland restoration for water and wallets

Accelerated nitrogen and phosphorus losses from agricultural landscapes have driven widespread degradation of water quality, yet decades of nutrient reduction efforts have delivered limited progress. Wetland restoration offers one of the few strategies capable of addressing both legacy and ongoing nutrient pollution, while providing co-benefits for climate mitigation, biodiversity, and flood regulation. However, most restoration efforts remain ad hoc, prioritizing area-based targets over strategic placement and economic viability.

Here, we argue that the central challenge is not whether to restore wetlands, but how to restore them effectively. We introduce the concept of the wetlandscape: a landscape-scale network of wetlands whose size distribution, spatial arrangement, connectivity, and history collectively govern nutrient retention. Drawing on global empirical evidence and modeling studies, we outline six guiding principles for targeted wetland restoration that integrate hydrologic function, nutrient removal efficiency, and economic considerations. These principles highlight why small wetlands often outperform larger ones, why restoration in high-nutrient agricultural landscapes yields disproportionate benefits, and how historical drainage patterns should guide restoration priorities. We further show that when restoration targets chronically unprofitable farmed depressions, wetlands can improve water quality without sacrificing farm income

Together, these principles provide a roadmap for designing wetlandscapes that deliver measurable water quality improvements while supporting agricultural resilience. By aligning ecological design with economic realities and advancing open data and modeling innovations, wetland restoration can become a key element of sustainable food, water, and climate policy.