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March 2017

NRCS reviews and periodically updates conservation practice standards. To 

obtain the current version of this standard, contact your Natural Resources 

Conservation Service State office or visit the Field Office Technical Guide.

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Natural Resources Conservation Service

Conservation Practice Standard

RESTORATION OF RARE OR DECLINING NATURAL COMMUNITIES

CODE 643

(Ac.)

DEFINITION

Reestablishment of abiotic (physical and chemical) and biotic (biological) conditions necessary to support 

rare or declining natural assemblages of native plants and animals.

PURPOSE

To restore the physical conditions and/or unique plant community on sites that partially support, or once 

supported, a rare or declining natural community. Application of this practice addresses resource 

concerns of a degraded plant condition and/or inadequate wildlife habitat.

CONDITIONS WHERE PRACTICE APPLIES

Applied on all lands, including degraded aquatic, terrestrial, or wetland sites, that historically supported a 

functional rare or declining (dwindling or imperiled) native plant or animal community, where restoration is 

needed to achieve identified abiotic and biotic target conditions. This practice can also be applied to 

efforts to restore natural communities of local cultural importance. 

This practice does not apply where it is possible to meet target conditions solely through implementation 

of annual management actions such as prescribed burning, prescribed grazing, forest stand 

improvement, or pest management. 

CRITERIA

Conduct a site assessment to determine baseline abiotic (nonliving, physical, and/or chemical 

components of the site) and biotic conditions (living characteristic, including native plants, wildlife, 

insects, and other organisms important to reaching the target conditions), and to identify restoration 

objectives for the abiotic and biotic target conditions. 

Use reference sites, ecological site descriptions, or other appropriate references to determine appropriate 

target conditions and degree of restoration required. 

Identify (i) the natural disturbance regime(s) that created the target conditions, and (ii) the ecological 

processes necessary to maintain such conditions.

Identify invasive and exotic species that many have contributed to the degraded conditions, and that may 

challenge restoration efforts.

When restoring abiotic conditions, the following criteria apply:

• Restore macro and/or microtopography where required to support natural communities. 

Microtopography features are elevational changes at the individual plant scale, often removed by 
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normal agricultural practices (i.e., plowing, subsoiling, and mowing), overgrazing by livestock and 

feral ungulates, and the resulting sheet and rill erosion. Macrotopography features are elevational 

changes large enough to affect the plant community in a portion of the area that creates clumped 

vegetative mosaics, and are too large to remove with typical cultivation activities. 

• Restore inherent and often diverse soil textures and/or chemistry (i.e. fertility, pH, and salinity) that 

supported the target natural community in terms of natural vegetative pattern, structure, richness 

and diversity, prior to alteration through mixing, cultivation, irrigation, and/or land clearing. 

• Restore the substrate (i.e., oyster shell beds, course woody debris, and rock outcrops) where 

required to support natural communities.

• Restore hydrology where necessary to support plant or animal communities.

• Restore other degraded abiotic conditions where required to support natural communities.

• Borrow material used in the restoration effort, will be free of noxious and/or invasive species.

• When restoration involves use of heavy equipment (tractors, dozers, etc.) for excavation, building of 

dikes or berms, installation of rock or wood structural elements, geomorphic modification, or 

redirection of flow regimes, use the appropriate engineering practice or practices. Associated NRCS 

engineering practices may include: Dike (356), Diversion (362), Pond (378), Grade Stabilization 

Structure (410), Streambank and Shoreline Protection (580), Open Channel (582), Channel Bed 

Stabilization (584), Structure for Water Control (587).

When restoring a vegetative community, the following criteria apply:

• Reconstruct biotic target conditions within the practice life span.

• Remove or control undesirable plant species that may jeopardize meeting success criteria.

• Use source-identified local ecotypes, when available.

• Establish vegetation in a manner that reflects the natural pattern (random or clumped mosaic, or 

uniform distribution) based on topography, slope, aspect, soils, and moisture gradients.

• Apply appropriate protocols for vegetative establishment (planting dates, planting methods, cold 

storage, plant material care, germination rates, post-planting management, etc.) to ensure an 

acceptable rate of survival of planted materials. 

CONSIDERATIONS

Consider that land use and habitat in the surrounding landscape may influence the ability to achieve 

restoration and management objectives.

Engage interdisciplinary expertise (e.g., engineers, hydrologists) early in the planning process to consider

relevant watershed factors, geomorphic setting, and risks to infrastructure or property when determining

appropriateness of planned restoration activities.

Engage cultural experts and leaders acquainted with the cultural importance local fauna, flora, and 

customs in the planning process.

Implement Integrated Pest Management practices to mitigate for potential on-site and off-site impacts.

Identify and conserve adjacent habitat to sustain disturbance-intolerant wildlife during the restoration 

activities. In the absence of such refugia, stage restoration over time to provide such habitat.

Soil mycorrhiza can have a significant impact on the establishment and pattern success of restoration 

efforts of native plant communities. Consider existing mycorrhiza populations and the use of inoculation 

to mitigation for deficiencies.

Residual pesticides and excessive soil fertility can reduce restoration success. Consider the use of a 

nurse crop to reduce pesticide and fertility levels.
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Maintain the integrity of the local genotype by using local plant materials (e.g., use of local seedbank, 

harvest of plant materials from local native areas) and/or using strict quality control standards when using 

commercial plant materials.

Reintroduce, establish or manage native biota (e.g., beaver, prairie dogs, oysters, and tussock sedges) 

to assist in the restoration and/or maintenance of the target conditions.

Avoid implementing restoration and/or maintenance activities during critical life stages of sensitive fish 

and wildlife, except when necessary to achieve the desired habitat condition, including desired 

disturbance regimes.

PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS

Specifications for this practice shall include:

• Documentation of baseline conditions (abiotic and biotic).

• Description of the target abiotic (e.g., soils/substrate, hydrology, macro and micro topography, 

aspect) and biotic (e.g., species composition, age, structure) conditions.

• List of each restoration activity, including activities that are supporting conservation practices (e.g.,

burn, restore historic microtopography, fertilize, seed bed preparation, and planting) with a date 

range for implementation/application of each activity.

• Facilitating practices (prescribed burning, forest stand improvement, etc.) necessary for restoration, 

including the anticipated timing, extent, intensity, and frequency of each disturbance/management 

activity identified as needed to create the target conditions.

• Activities needed to control noxious, invasive, undesirable, and/or competing plant or animal 

species to restore the site to the target conditions. 

• Description of the criteria being used to determine when restoration has been successful.

OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE

The Operation and Maintenance (O&M) plan shall:

• List activities required to maintain the restored conditions in the O&M plan. 

• Include a post-restoration schedule that provides for the identification of adaptive management 

efforts as necessary. Include an assessment of the potential for reinvasion by noxious, invasive, 

and problem species from nearby lands and waters in the assessment.