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1 1( RESTORATION OF AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS cussed the possibility of the National Research Council (NRC) con- tributing to the literature on restoration science and technology by conducting a xeview of both successful and failed attempts to restore aquatic ecosystems-specifically lakes, rivers, and wetlands. A planning session was organized in the summer of 1988 to see if an NRC study of aquatic restoration efforts was appropriate. The planning committee decided that the science developing to support the emerging techniques of aquatic ecosystem restoration could ben- efit from an NRC assessment and report that would bring together significant and useful information on aquatic restoration efforts. In 1989, the NRC appointed the Committee on Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems: Science, Technology, and Public Policy under the WSTB to conduct an evaluation of the status of the restoration of aquatic ecosystems. The committee was requested to identify restoration projects and attempt to ascertain if they had succeeded or failed. Scientific, technological, political, and regulatory aspects were to be considered, as well as other factors that aid or hinder restoration efforts. The committee's task has been to 1. develop a scientifically useful definition of restoration that could be considered as a standard for the science of restoration as it . develops; 2. formulate criteria by which to choose the restoration projects to be reviewed as case studies; 3. evaluate restoration attempts with respect to their scientific ba- sis, their performance over time, the technologies used, the monitor- ing effort, the costs, the objectives of the effort, the degree to which these objectives have been fulfilled, and why the efforts were suc- cesses or failures, while taking political and regulatory factors into consideration; 4. identify common factors of successful restoration projects and, based on this review, provide a recommended list of criteria for suc- cessful restoration that could serve as a model for future efforts to restore aquatic ecosystems; 5. identify federal policies and policy conflicts and those agencies that have programs resulting in negative impacts on aquatic ecosys- tems; and 6. make general recommendations regarding data needs, the sci- ence required to better understand each system, and the necessary regulations and policies. The committee was composed of 15 restoration experts from the fields of limnology, geomorphology, surface water hydrology, aquatic