Wetlands are important ecosystems that contribute to the sustainability of global ecosystems and provide ecosystem functions and services to human civilization. However, many anthropogenic land use practices have led to the degradation of wetlands, making them globally imperiled ecosystems. Within the United States, wetland mitigation is a federally regulated restoration strategy that offsets and compensates for impacts on aquatic resources through restoration. Performance standards assess post-restoration ecosystem development and help regulate management actions. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the organization and interactions of states and federal agencies in determining wetland mitigation performance standards. Using a mixed method approach, including semi-structured interviews and online database reviews, we identify decision-making drivers from the state agency perspective. We develop a ranking classification of state legislation that references performance standards and describes guidance documents by type of authorship. Our findings detail the results of our inquiry into each state’s procedures, including performance standards, revealing diverse management approaches across the nation as states play various implementation and regulatory roles and are driven by collaboration and negotiation among regulators, state and federal legislation, and guidance documents. In addition, we found performance standards most often assess biotic characteristics, with vegetative criteria being the most common. This study synthesizes performance-standard determination and criteria derived from interviews across a spectrum of federal and state participants and a series of guidance documents. We have built a database of these criteria by state and theme to improve our understanding of the dynamic interplay between wetland mitigation science, practice, and policy. Our findings are discussed in the context of the 2023 Sackett vs. United States Environmental Protection Agency ruling.

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湿地是重要的生态系统，有助于全球生态系统的可持续性，为人类文明提供生态系统功能和服务。然而，许多人为土地利用做法导致湿地退化，使全球生态系统陷入危险。在美国，湿地缓解是一项联邦监管的恢复战略，通过恢复来抵消和补偿对水生资源的影响。绩效标准评估恢复后生态系统的发展并帮助规范管理行为。本研究的主要目的是调查州和联邦机构在确定湿地缓解绩效标准时的组织和互动。我们使用混合方法，包括半结构化访谈和在线数据库审查，从国家机构的角度识别决策驱动因素。我们制定了州立法的排名分类，参考绩效标准并按作者类型描述指导文件。我们的调查结果详细介绍了我们对每个州的程序进行调查的结果，包括绩效标准，揭示了全国各地不同的管理方法，因为各州发挥着不同的实施和监管作用，并受到监管机构、州和联邦立法以及指导文件之间的合作和谈判的推动。此外，我们发现性能标准最常评估生物特征，其中植物标准最为常见。这项研究综合了绩效标准的确定和标准，这些标准来自对一系列联邦和州参与者的访谈以及一系列指导文件。我们按照州和主题建立了这些标准的数据库，以提高我们对湿地缓解科学、实践和政策之间动态相互作用的理解。我们的研究结果是在 2023 年萨克特诉美国环境保护局裁决的背景下讨论的。

美国后政府在确定湿地缓解绩效标准方面的作用和参与首次出现在《生态与社会》杂志上。