The word “hack” used to carry negative connotations, referring to uncreative writers, worn-out workhorses, and illegal computer activity. Recently it has also come to be used to describe creatively improvised improvements or solutions to common challenges. This session uses the term in the latter sense – focusing on the role that ecological knowledge and theory can play in the design and enhancement of ecosystem restoration strategies under challenging conditions. Ecological restoration is the process of assisting recovery of a community, population, or ecosystem that has been degraded or damaged. Yet while the word "ecological" appears in the name, restoration practice is not always based on ecological theory (Lake et al. 2007; Torök & Helm 2017). Often restoration projects take on more of an agronomic character, guided by knowledge about which plants can most easily be grown under existing conditions and assuming that if a new plant community is established, the rest of the ecosystem will come along eventually. This session focuses on situations when that approach is not sufficient. Speakers will present examples of how ecological knowledge truly matters, describing situations where they have been able to use an ecological principle or relationship to improve restoration success in a situation where success had been hard to achieve. They will describe ecological influences on restoration success in a variety of geographic, ecosystem, and management contexts, from the California coast to southern Michigan and from streamside riparian areas to forest understories to arid soils.