The University of Washington, Bothell offers a rare glimpse inside its restored campus wetlands with a series of “muddy boots” tours this fall. The 58-acre wetland, located within the campus shared by UW-Bothell and Cascadia Community College, remains a sensitive environment, so access is limited.

The active restoration has served as a real-world educational resource for researchers and students on campus. According to professor Warren Gold, “It has taken us 20 years to bring the wetlands to a point where they are a functioning ecosystem. It will take another several decades of work and monitoring to ensure that the wetlands mature fully.”

Reservations are required for the tours, which occur at 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Oct. 8 and 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Nov. 4. The free, 60-minute tours are each limited to 25 people. Visitors are strongly encouraged to wear waterproof boots.

Used for logging and cattle ranching throughout the previous century, the wetland now ranks among the largest floodplain restorations in the Pacific Northwest. Work on the project began in 1998 with construction of a new stream channel system that returned North Creek to a more natural configuration.

The re-introduction of native species of plants and trees, combined with active monitoring of the site, has recreated a wetland forest similar to the one that existed generations ago. A rich diversity of wildlife has returned to the area.

To learn more about the wetlands or to make a reservation, visit http://www.uwb.edu/visitors/wetland.