In the last few centuries, many streams in the eastern United States have been severely disturbed by land use change and are now disconnected from their original floodplain due to the aggradation of legacy sediment. Currently, stream-floodplain reconnection is advocated as a stream restoration practice to take advantage of ecosystem services. The objective of this study is to compare two current stream restoration approaches for their nutrient flushing ability: 1) a conventional approach leaves legacy sediment on the floodplain; and 2) an ecological approach that involves removing the accumulated legacy sediment in order to restore the original floodplain surface wetland, revealing a buried A soil horizon. Soil cores were taken from the surficial legacy sediment layer and the buried A soil horizon in the floodplain of a 550-meter reach of Stroubles Creek in the Valley and Ridge province near Blacksburg, VA, to evaluate potential for flushable DOC, TDN, NO3-, NH4+, and SRP content. In addition, an inundation model was developed to evaluate the extent of flooding under the two restoration scenarios. The inundation model results and nutrient flushability levels were then used to simulate the release of nutrients as a function of stream restoration approach. Results indicate that the buried A horizon contained less flushable nutrients, but the ecological restoration would have a higher frequency of inundation that allows for more flushable nutrient release at the annual scale. Understanding the nutrient release potential from the floodplain will provide the ability to estimate net nutrient retention in different stream-floodplain reconnection strategies. / Master of Science / Stream restoration is a popular practice in the United States used to fix a degraded stream to have the functions, habitat, and characteristics of a natural stream. Done correctly, the practice can be beneficial to stream health by slowing flows and allowing for a decrease in nutrient loads to downstream waters. The idea of a natural stream is widely debated because there are few streams left in the United States that have not been impacted by agriculture and urbanization. Man has significantly changed most streams and the land around them, while leaving little record of what the original stream looked like. This research was conducted on Stroubles Creek near Blacksburg, VA, and it compares two common methods of restoring a stream. One method designs the stream channel to have a specific pattern and shape and disregards the soils around the stream. The second method looks in the soils for clues to bring the stream and its floodplain back to its original level. By examining the soils around Stroubles Creek, we found evidence of the original channel and floodplain. We tested those soils to find out which restoration method would provide the maximum decrease in nutrient loads and then built a model to simulate the differences in flooding between the two methods. After comparing the two restoration methods, our findings indicated that restoring a stream to its original level would deliver a greater benefit of slowing floodwaters, but it would provide a disadvantage in an increase of nutrient loads.