ABSTRACT
Memory is deeply woven into considerations of place, and, akin to imagination, it holds creative power. Archaeologists and others who study the past through the portal of memory enter into the very same realm where dreamers and artists linger, those who think about the possible: what could be, would be, will be. The precise moment of encounter with any phenomena is decisive, for its perpetuation in memory forms the source of enchantment that propels all subsequent effort. Although memory can possess an acute accuracy, its spectral and shifting quality as it coalesces and dissipates finds an apt metaphor within the experience of wetlands and rivers. The work of environmental historians is essential for the work of restoration ecology, for the particular forms and speciation of most pre-settlement North American wetlands is outside of living memory.
