BRIDGEVILLE, DE, June 21, 2011 -- The Nanticoke River Watershed Conservancy, a citizen-based land conservation organization, recently unveiled a Delaware wetland restoration project that transformed 30-acres of disturbed wetland and forest into a healthy and productive ecosystem.

NRWC's restoration partners assessed the health of the wetland, implemented a plan to remove portions of the streamside berm, and partially restored the hydrology of the wetland to improve water retention and bring the wetland back to health.

Project partners included the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Ducks Unlimited; and The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

The forested wetland is located on land donated by Bridgeville's Newton family and owned by the Nanticoke River Watershed Conservancy.

"This restored wetland will help improve the water quality and the ecological health of the Nanticoke River and demonstrates the positive impact that one family's gift can have on our watershed and beyond," said NRWC President Marlene Mervine.

Students from the Woodbridge FFA have adopted the wetland through the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Division of Fish and Wildlife's Delaware Adopt-A-Wetland program. The FFA will now join 106 other Delaware adopter groups in caring for wetlands across the state by helping to maintain the restoration site, monitoring water quality and wetland functions, and learning about the many ways that wetland conservation increases public health and well-being.

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