The feasibility of using artificial fertilization to enhance the productivity of oligotrophic acidic freshwater wetlands was evaluated at eight sites located in the vicinity of the Tobeatic Wildlife Management Area in southwestern Nova Scotia. The study was carried out over a three-year period between 1990 and 1992. During the first year of study baseline information on the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of each site was collected. In the second year the sites were divided into control and experimental sites and the latter were fertilized with a triple-super phosphorus urea mix. The changes in physical, chemical and biological characteristics resulting from fertilization were monitored during the second and third years of the study. Although the response was variable among the experimental sites, phytoplankton biomass, periphyton growth and zooplankton numbers generally increased dramatically during the fertilization year. However, with the exception of zooplankton numbers, this increase did not persist into the following year. A large proportion of the added fertilizer was apparently lost, either by sedimentation or by flushing via surface water outflows. Estimates of the amount of added nutrients lost via the outputs suggests the latter to be most probable. The behavior of the added fertilizer as well as the biological response produced, appears to depend largely on the physical characteristics of the site, particularly flushing rate, morphology, the presence of surface water inputs and outputs, and stratification characteristics.