Some recent swapping will soon bring about the restoration of 1,700 acres of agricultural land belonging to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Collier County.

The sanctuary traded a strip of land along its southern border to the South Florida Water Management District, which will build hiking trails on it, in exchange for two pieces of agricultural land.

Both of Corkscrew's new pieces of property, which are adjacent to the Panther Island Mitigation Bank, were wetlands that were cleared for agriculture in the 1970s.

"It's high cow pasture, full of cow patties," Corkscrew director Ed Carlson said. "It's nasty. People might say, 'Why do you want that land?' Because it has so much potential when it's restored."

Restoration won't cost taxpayers or the sanctuary anything because Southwest Florida Wetlands Joint Venture, owner of Panther Island Mitigation Bank, will restore the land to its original state as shallow wetlands and create a trust fund for future maintenance.

The idea behind wetlands mitigation is that state and federal governments don't want to lose more wetlands.

Under Florida law, if a developer or government wants to destroy wetlands, there are four choices, one of which is to buy credits at a mitigation bank - degraded wetlands that are restored by someone else.

Restoring the two pieces of property will be a great benefit for endangered wood storks -Corkscrew is the largest wood stork nesting colony in North America - because the land will once again be shallow wetlands, which are essential foraging areas for wood stork nesting success.

"We focus a lot on wood storks because they're an endangered species, and we sometimes forget about the little guys like oak toads and squirrel treefrogs," Corkscrew resource manager Jason Lauritsen said. "Wood storks are indicators of the habitat, and if we restore the habitat of the indicator, that recovers many other species."

Restoration will not only help animals that live or feed in those areas, but it will also help the sanctuary's wetlands as a whole.

"Is land that used to belong to the water management district really a less-good neighbor for Corkscrew?" asked Bill Barton, chairman of Panther Island's management committee. "The water district ran cattle there for years, and cattle and wetlands are not compatible."

by kevin lollar • klollar@news-press.com • June 20, 2008