This paper provides an initial summary of large-scale experiments to study the interaction of waves and emergent vegetation. This study was conducted using live plants (Schoenoplectus pungens or threesquare bulrush) under prototype wave conditions found in large lakes and estuaries using two treatments of natural densities, one treatment of reduced stem density simulating the first year after a marsh restoration, and one treatment with no vegetation as a control. Initial observations from this project are that (1) the wave attenuation by the vegetation was significant for the range of conditions tested, and this attenuation can be approximated as an exponential decay, (2) the vegetation significantly enhanced TKE throughout the water column under the non-breaking wave conditions studied here, and (3) the vegetation significantly reduced the advection rates and increased the both dispersion and residence time of water in the experimental channels. The lateral mixing was enhanced by the vegetation, consistent with the observations of increased TKE throughout the water column.