Abstract This article summarizes the results of a comprehensiveevaluation of frequently implemented compensationmeasures used to counteract environmental impacts in thecourse of road construction. Examination of planningdocuments and compensation areas revealed that 26 of 57compensation areas had to be excluded from further eval-uations either because of insufficient goal setting with re-gard to habitat functions and/or poor descriptions of themeasures, unrecognizable implementation, or because themeasures were simply not carried out. In the remaining 31compensation areas, we examined 119 compensation sitesand analyzed their success in relation to 326 defined com-pensation goals. Only 33% of the goals set were fully ormostly achieved, whereas 67% were reached only partly,mostly not, or not at all. Deficiency inquiries and analysesrevealed that (1) in addition to unsuitable site conditions,improper implementation methods as well as deficientfollow-upmanagementprovedtobeofsignificantinfluencefor goal achievement and (2) a considerable portion of thepitfalls could be avoided by faster integration of state-of-the-art ecological restoration practices. Therefore, we rec-ommend a standardized control procedure, which includesplanning, implementation, as well as monitoring of goalachievement and follow-up management for maintenanceof target conditions to improve compensation success.This should help to avoid planning and implementationerrors, detect flawed development, and correct it in time.Key words: compensation goals, compensation success,ecological restoration, environmental planning, follow-upmanagement, monitoring.IntroductionAvoidance, mitigation, and compensation are the threeimportant planning concepts designed to counteract theadverse impacts of infrastructure projects on nature (e.g.,Cuperus et al. 1999; Rundcrantz & Ska¨rba¨ck 2003). If allpossibilities for avoidance and mitigation have beenexhausted, the latter concept aims at compensating theunavoidable deleterious impacts on habitats, species, orlandscape functions by appropriate restoration measures.It is assumed that these measures are ecologically efficientfor the whole period of time during which the negativeimpact caused by infrastructural interventions persists.Therefore, it is particularly important to achieve compen-sation goals and secure follow-up management.Compensation principles have been adopted in severalcountries. Examples are the U.S. no-net-loss policy forwetlands (implemented in 1976, e.g., Zedler & Callaway1999), the German compensation system (since 1976, e.g.,Rundcrantz & Ska¨rba¨ck 2003; Wende et al. 2005), the pol-icy for management of fish habitats in Canada (since 1986,e.g., Quigley & Harper 2006), the Dutch compensationprinciple for protected areas (since 1993, e.g., van Bohemen1998; Cuperus et al. 1999), the Swedish environmentalcompensation system (since 1999, Rundcrantz & Ska¨rba¨ck2003), and environmental compensation in case of high-impact development such as mining, highways, or runwaysin the United Kingdom (Thompson et al 1997; Treweek T Cowell 2000). In most of these countries,little is known about the ecological effectiveness of com-pensation measures (e.g., Treweek & Thompson 1997;Cuperus et al. 2002; Rundcrantz 2007). Most evaluationsof compensation success revealed predominantly unsatis-factory results (e.g., for measures in North American wet-lands and river ecosystems: Sudol & Ambrose 2002;Quigley & Harper 2006; Matthews & Endress 2008),although better results were reported in some cases forsalt marsh creation (Atkinson et al. 2001). On the basis ofthese findings and demands, we explored the followingobjectives: (1) identification of general deficiencies inplanning, implementation, and management; (2) quantifi-cation of goal achievement for a wide range of habitattypes with regard to ecological functions; and (3) deter-mining the effects of planning, implementation, and man-agement deficiencies on goal achievement.The German compensation system provides goodopportunities to pursue these objectives. Since 1976, com-pensation measures have been implemented in a wide