- Determining the contours of the terrain: levelling or other existing knowledge, such as a plan for a subsurface drain.
- Clear targets achieved with a self-levelling laser or traditional optical levelling instrument; clearing in advance helps.
- Tacheometer for large sites and for accurate contouring.
- Laser scanning provides an extremely accurate model of the terrain. Taking a few adjustment measurements in the terrain will help to calibrate the relative elevations correctly.
- Drawing a draft of the plan on a map template: an overview of the wetland – what are we planning to do?
- Sizing the wetland’s weir structures and equipment. This should be done as accurately as possible, calculating for large floods that occur at least once in twenty years. A paved submerged weir or peak flow threshold is often the most secure and durable solution.
- Detail drawings: cross-section of the weir, water cross-section, etc.
- The drawings should always be made case-specifically. It’s better to avoid copying ready models directly.
- For many sites, a tidy drawing made to scale with a pencil is enough.
- A tidy drawing can also include the measurements, in which case the drawing doesn’t necessarily have to be to scale.
- Making the map of the plan more accurate: the location of weirs, the shape of the waterfront, islands, areas with deep basins, etc.
- Writing the text part of the plan on the basis of technical information, detail drawings and maps.
- Compiling a budget.
- It’s a good idea to find information about the actual costs of finished projects and about the equipment used.
- Recording the restrictions affecting the building of the wetland: things that must be taken into account in building it.
- The written consent of each landowner and rental agreements for the areas.
- Fine-tuning the plan and collecting the text part, the map and other appendices together.
Plan of Action for Building Waterfowl Wetlands (in Finnish; checklist used in the Life+ Return of Rural Wetlands project)