That expense is all the landowner's. Federal wetland restoration money cannot be used to mitigate wetlands. Another type of mitigation is called mitigation banking. He sells those credits to anyone who wants to drain wet areas. The practice is common in home and business construction.
Developers can pass the cost on to buyers.
Minton's project is designed to make mitigation banking affordable for the mitigation of farmed wetlands. But with this kind of creativity, it can work. The ACIC, affiliated with the American Farmland Trust, helped Minton with his plan. With the purchase of a credit in Minton's wetland bank, the owner of a farmed wetland satisfies his mitigation obligation and walks away. Upkeep is Minton's responsibility.