In the Stillaguamish estuary, tidal wetlands have been receding for decades as a result of both natural and anthropogenic changes. Despite current restoration efforts, monitoring suggests that rising stress from climate change impacts on summer flows, legacy stresses from the levee system, and increased plant mortality from avian and insect herbivores may interact to accelerate the rate of marsh loss. Lessons learned from a 2012 restoration project should inform adaptive management and future restoration projects. Post-restoration monitoring has revealed a pattern of interacting stresses at both the site and system scales that affects marsh productivity and resilience to climate change. These stresses are spatially and temporally variable. Different marsh areas respond differently, revealing characteristics of marshes that are vulnerable, resilient, or able to resist disturbance. At current restoration rates, marsh loss may slow temporarily, but not reverse. To accelerate estuary recovery, restoration must focus on reducing system-scale stresses by restoring the processes of freshwater and sediment distribution. At the site-scale, projects should identify pre-restoration conditions that may contribute to elevated plant stress post-restoration, including topography, drainage, and soil profile characteristics
