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<br /> <br />taff Photo by John Croft <br />his wetland mitigation site was created by the Transportation Department under a ramp at the Interstate Hwy. 394-Hwy. 10~ interchange: <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Elsewhere. Twin Cities mitigation' , <br />sites can look strikingly different. '" <br /> <br />In the shadow of a newly constructed <br />entry ramp from Hwy. 100 onto 1-" <br />394. for instance. is an improved ," <br />wetland with open water. mallards, . <br />islands sprouting cattails. silt fences" <br />to prevent erosion and a carpet of '" <br />rocks carefully placed along the slope <br />rising beneath the concrete ramp. ' <br />The site. engineered by the State De. <br />panment of Transponation. is pan <br />of the mitiltation for the 12112 acres of <br />wetlands filled during the 1.394 <br />project. <br /> <br />In Oakdale. a 12-acre storm water <br />holding pond that serves as Olson <br />Lake Estates. centerpiece is more ~,'. <br />man-made lake than wetland. having <br />inundated the 3-acre wetland once ' <br />located at the south end of the pond.' <br /> <br />The site designer. Carl W. Peterson " <br />and Associates Inc.. agreed to design. <br />changes to make the pond more wet- <br />lands-like. The firm also used the";' <br />pond as mitigation for some fill at ' , <br />the south end of the wetlands. and' af <br />another site. <br /> <br />Company president Carl Peterson <br />said what happened at Olson Lake'.' <br />Estates is beyond his control. He said <br />he was requ{red by Oakdale and the' , <br />Yallev Branch watershed district to ' <br />store storm water runoff from Olson ' <br />Lake Estates somewhere on the de- ' <br />velopment site. Also. because of ob- ' <br />jections from nearby pro pert): o",:'n- , <br />ers. Oakdale and watershed dlstnct , <br />officials haven't been able to find a , <br />route to siphon off excess water from <br />the lake. As a result. the lake's outlet <br />culven has been plugged up for sev~. <br />eral years. with no relief in sight. _" <br /> <br />"The wav it's done now is the way i( <br />was approved:' Peterson said. "~e <br />understand the water level now IS <br />higher than it would normally be. . " ',: <br />[but] it's no fault of ours," , , <br /> <br />Such a mix of results aside. a ques- " <br />tion remains: Can a man-made wet: . <br />land ever make up for the natural '..~:. <br />one it's replacing? '-,II <br /> <br />, Said Rockwell: ..)t's like saying thai .. <br />because there are prosthetic deviCCSj <br />for amputated limbs, we Cln lose 3S <br />many arms a~ we want" to <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />But Molly Shodeen. the DNR's hy~'~ <br />drologist for Washington and Anoka: <br />counties. calls the site nothing more" <br />than "a flooded hole." . I.: <br />