Landscape restoration encompasses a broad range of activities and concerns. Although there is not an established or formal distinction within the professions, as a matter of practice, restoration could refer to rehabilitation, reclamation, or remediation efforts. Rehabilitation refers to actions taken to restore the environmental functioning and the vitality of a landscape. In some rehabilitation projects the salient underlying features of the landscape are still present, but because of urbanization or other landscape disturbances, the quality and functioning of the landscape have been negatively impacted or degraded. Stream and wetland restoration and landscape revegetation projects are examples of rehabilitation. Reclamation projects are usually undertaken on landscapes where features have been obliterated by development or agricultural or mining operations. Reclamation projects usually require the construction of new landscape features in order to replace what was lost in the process of exploiting the land area previously. Reclamation projects might include constructing wetlands or infiltration features such as rain gardens or eliminating invasive exotic vegetation and encouraging the return of native species. Remediation activities are concerned with mitigating a pollution condition that has resulted from activities conducted on the site previously. Dealing with acid mine drainage or contaminated runoff from a brownfield site could be examples of remediation. A given landscape restoration project may involve all three.

Landscape restoration as an area of professional practice is not new, but it has grown dramatically in recent years. As site development practices expand to include concerns with environmental impact and...