Land Swap Could Benefit Prime Minnesota Bird Habitat

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - A land swap is in the works that would restore some 22,000 acres of swampland in one of Minnesota's most important bird conservation areas.

Reports say that a private wetland mitigation company would acquire and rehabilitate the land in the Sax-Zim Bog area in St. Louis County to its original, pre-settlement condition. In exchange, the county and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources would get thousands of acres of upland forest.

The Conservation Fund would buy the forest land from private parties, trade it to the county and DNR for the swampland, then sell the swampland to Ecosystem Investment Partners. The company would then restore the wetlands and recoup its costs by selling credits to developers that have to replace wetlands lost to construction projects.