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Meeting State Transportation needs while providing a financial incentive for restoration

At a Glance

  • 26.2

    Acres of Wetland Restoration

  • 25.3

    Acres of Upland Restoration

  • 100

    Year Storm Resilience

Location
Cokato, Minnesota
Offices
Client
  • Forsman Properties, LLC

Forsman Wetland Bank

The Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) manages wetland mitigation for road authority projects. However, in 2008, they were running a mitigation deficit of around 300 acres. To reduce that deficit, the state requested bids on a per-acre cost from private property owners. The goal? To develop and provide state wetland banks to support road projects.

Our team completed countywide searches for potential wetland banks using the National Wetland Inventory, aerial photographs, and other datasets to create an overlaid map exhibit. This identified the top 60 potential sites, and after a mass mailing, we had 20 property owners showing interest.

The Forsman Wetland Bank was one of four sites chosen by BWSR for funding. The project involved wet meadow, shallow marsh, and deep marsh restoration—repairing water bypass impacts that were initially created to allow farming. The project diverted flows back to the historic wetland areas, including a unique approach to restore a sloping wetland system with a slow-release sheet flow system, dissipating the energy and allowing flows across a broad area. On top of the wetland restoration, we also converted farmed upland area to prairie land for an upland buffer credit.  

Our job was wetland delineation, hydrologic analysis, design development, construction plans and specifications, wetland bank application, and a vegetation improvement plan. Now? We’re completing ongoing seeding, vegetative maintenance, and monitoring. With this—and other banks—Minnesota’s road authorities can move forward with their transportation infrastructure projects. 

At a Glance

  • 26.2

    Acres of Wetland Restoration

  • 25.3

    Acres of Upland Restoration

  • 100

    Year Storm Resilience

Location
Cokato, Minnesota
Offices
Client
  • Forsman Properties, LLC

Markets


  • Water Resources Infrastructure
Meet Our Team

Darren Amundsen, Principal, Community Development

I work with communities to design and build infrastructure that stands the test of time.

John Smyth, Associate

My job is to help communities protect and restore their water resources, so they can be enjoyed for generations to come.

Darren Amundsen

Principal, Community Development

John Smyth

Associate

We’re better together

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  • Design your career

    Work with passionate people who are experts in their field. Our teams love what they do and are driven by how their work makes an impact on the communities they serve.

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