**2. Wetlands and prior converted wetlands**

Our purpose in creating this manuscript is to chronical re-establishment of important wetland plant-soil interactive processes in converted wetlands to support soil health, water quality, environmental stewardship and biological diversity, while maintaining agricultural productivity. Although programs exist to re-create wetlands from agriculture land, there are pragmatic social, political and economic realities that limit their large-scale application. The application of emerging technologies and governmental policies, designed to support important soil attributes reflective of the original wetland status, provide opportunities for both environmental advancement, and agricultural profitability.

To be designated as "Prior Converted Cropland" in the USA, all the following land criteria must be validated: (i) cropped prior to December 23, 1985 with an agricultural commodity, (ii) cleared, drained or otherwise manipulated to make it possible to plant a crop, (iii) continued to be used for agricultural purposes, and (iv) does not flood or pond for more than 14 days during the growing season [1]. Vital wetland soil processes that need to be re-emphasized in converted wetlands include: (i) synthesis and subsequent maintenance of soil organic carbon, (ii) maintenance of soil biological diversity, including microbial populations, (iii) erosion abatement, (iv) unimpeded activity of nutrient cycles, especially the nitrogen cycle, (v) development of the original soil structure fabric, (vi) appropriate water transport within and among pedons, and (vii) encouragement of microbial-driven ecosystem processes that reduce excessive plant nutrients and degrade applied agrichemicals within suitable time frames.

Missouri – Arkansas border (**Figure 1**). Approximately 5 million acres (2 million hectares) of landscape was drained from its status as wetlands to produce an intensive agricultural setting. The entire drainage system is maintained by taxes leveed on agricultural producers [2]. A series of north to south drainage ditches (1541 km) and levees (490 km) were constructed to transport water from southeast Missouri into Arkansas and then into the Mississippi River. The Headwater Diversion Channel was constructed to intercept drainage of the Castor and Whitewater Rivers, transporting this water eastward into the Mississippi River. Dams created the Clearwater and Wappapello Reservoirs by intercepting drainages of the St. Francois and

A Large-Scale Wetland Conversion Project in Southeastern Missouri: Sustainability of Water and Soil

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The climate is continental humid. The average daily January temperatures are 2 and 4°C (35 and 39°F) at Cape Girardeau and Kennett, Missouri, whereas the average summer

Black Rivers, respectively [2].

**4. Climate of Southeastern Missouri**

**Figure 1.** Landscape features of Southeastern Missouri.
