We report on 5 years of vegetation and hydrologic monitoring of two locations where a total of 600-m of shallow (0.15–0.30-m in diameter and depth) runnels were installed in 2015 and 2016 to enhance drainage, in the Pettaquamscutt River Estuary, in southern Rhode Island, United States. Results from this Before-After Control-Impact (BACI) designed study found that runnel installation successfully promoted plant recolonization, although runnels did not consistently promote increases in high marsh species presence or diversity. This dataset is not publicly accessible because: EPA is not the owner of this data. It can be accessed through the following means: All data is available as Supplementary Material in journal article. Inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author. Format: All data is available as Supplementary Material in journal article. Inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

This dataset is associated with the following publication: Watson, E., W. Ferguson, L. Champlin, J. White, N. Ernst, H. Sylla, B. Wilburn, and C. Wigand. Runnels mitigate marsh drowning in microtidal salt marshes. Frontiers in Environmental Science. Frontiers, Lausanne, SWITZERLAND, 10: 987246, (2022).