Wetlands play a critical role in carbon cycling, but the dynamics of carbon storage and release in restored wetlands that experience both wet and dry phases remain poorly understood. I examined carbon cycling in stream-wetland complexes created through floodplain reconnection in three restored and three unrestored sites in western Pennsylvania to learn more about how wet-dry cycles influence carbon storage and release. At each of the six sites, I collected soil cores along two cross-sectional transects representing the hydrological gradient at the site and quantified leaf litter inputs from traps set out at the beginning of fall 2024. Leaf litter was sorted, identified and weighed to determine the dominant contributors to leaf litter entering the system. After drying the soils to determine percent soil moisture, soils were inundated in the laboratory to quantify leached carbon and nitrogen. This work provides valuable information on how the hydrology of a system affects its carbon cycling, which could assist in maximizing the carbon sequestration of future wetland restoration efforts.