Ni-les’tun Tidal Wetlands Restoration Project: Planning, Implementation, and Lessons Learned

Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1983 through Congressional legislation and is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or Service). The 582-acre Ni-les’tun Unit of the Refuge was acquired by the Service between 2000 and 2004 and is located upstream (northeast) of the older 307-acre Bandon Marsh Unit of the Refuge. Much of the floodplain portion of the Ni-les’tun Unit, totaling over 400 acres (hereafter restoration site, or site), was historically a tidal wetland, but was diked, ditched, fenced, and tide gated during conversion for agricultural purposes in the late 19th and early 20th century. The Ni-les’tun Unit was acquired with the intent of tidal wetland restoration for the purposes of increasing depleted estuarine fish and wildlife habitat and creating opportunities for compatible wildlife-dependent recreation. The purpose of this report is to document (1) the process of accomplishing this large and complex restoration project, and (2) the results of efficacy monitoring and consequences of design decisions four years after the tides returned.