This selected plan calls for restoration of wetland hydrology at the site by disrupting and modifying the drain tile system. This simple and straightforward approach creates wetland hydrology without having to resort to extensive surface water control structures or expensive earth excavation. Now that you have decided and set up your plan, a drain tile survey should be conducted to locate and map tile lines. This involves excavating along the perimeter of the site with a backhoe, surveying in the location of tiles for mapping purposes, repairing the tiles, and backfilling. Following restoration of wetland hydrology, the next phase is planting and seeding the area to create an unusual native plant community.
Vegetation communities are the focus of wetland mitigation projects.
Key elements of the restoration strategy are control of unwanted plant species and development of wildlife habitat. Disabling existing drain tiles restores wetland hydrology and plugging the lateral ditches that feed into other ditches. The drain tiles that served only the planned mitigation site are broken in several places to eliminate their flow carrying capacity. The restoration plan should also include a few random shallow excavations intended to be potholes and serve as habitat for waterfowl and wadding birds. Soil from these cuts should be spread on upland portions of the site.