Environment Committee on May 28th, 2013

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

Dr. Guyn, would you say relative to other types of habitats—let's say hardwood forests in Ontario—that wetlands are relatively easy to restore?

[Dr. Karla Guyn]

It depends on the type of wetland, but some wetlands certainly are fairly easy to restore. If I'm talking about prairie potholes, as I showed you in some of the slides, simply putting in an earthen ditch plug is a means of restoring those wetlands. You don't have to go in and re-seed the vegetation; the seedbank is already there. You simply need to facilitate that water staying in that base and the wetland vegetation returns.

Depending upon what the wetland type is, it is more difficult to restore some of the bogs and fens. We're learning more about doing that, but some wetlands are fairly easy to restore if you can get people who want to restore them.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

I think it should be noted that Ducks Unlimited's Canadian head office is on a restored wetland, which is one of the most remarkable natural features in Manitoba.

How much time do I have Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Harold Albrecht]

You've got about 30 seconds.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

Back to Mr. Brennan regarding the concept of your mitigation sequence—conservation offsets sometimes referred to as habitat banking. Would you advocate a greater flexibility in terms of public policy so that we can actually use mitigation dollars, let's say away from a particular site, to perhaps create and restore wetlands in other areas that are potentially more valuable?

Do we want more flexibility in our mitigation policies?

[Jim Brennan]

Certainly there's room for flexibility. Typically we fall back on the scientific question, which is, what is the specific habitat function that is being lost? If it's one that allows us to move outside of the general area, I think there's room for flexibility. Typically public policy has been directed towards replicating or replacing habitats within the same watershed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Harold Albrecht]

Thank you, Mr. Sopuck.

We move now to Mr. Pilon.

[François Pilon, NDP, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to our witnesses for their presentations. They were very interesting. I will start with Mr. Abiola.

Mr. Abiola, I was one of the people who went to see you last year. Could you tell me what the tangible results are with respect to the wetlands you have recreated? Are the results satisfactory or have they fallen short of your expectations? What are the results?

[Dr. Abimbola Abiola]

Thank you very much, Honourable Pilon.

Yes, our expectations have been on track. When you were here last year, it was under construction; it has been finished since then. We have acquired all the infrastructure that we require for our research activities and for monitoring. We currently have about three industry projects on site: one with the municipality, one with the agricultural industry, and one with...[Technical difficulty—Editor]

Definitely things are on track.

[François Pilon, NDP, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Second, do you feel that your facilities should be supported by the federal government so that they can be available to industries and, in turn, to municipalities?

[Dr. Abimbola Abiola]

Yes, sir, in the last little while, since your last visit, we have been working with different municipalities. Currently we are working with eight municipalities in...[Technical difficulty—Editor]...to use the same type of technology as was presented by colleagues from Ducks Unlimited. It's not just maintaining current wetlands; we have to develop new wetlands. So it's not just meeting that number.

At Olds College we are developing science-based constructed wetlands out of pastures. It becomes a functional wetland, but we can also use it to meet the needs of scientific data collection. Definitely, it is applicable to municipalities for use in waste water treatment, in stormwater retention, and in other functions.

So definitely, yes, sir.

[François Pilon, NDP, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

I have one last question for you.

Given that the municipal, provincial and federal governments are involved, do you believe that the federal government should play a leadership role and ensure that the three levels of government work together?

[Dr. Abimbola Abiola]

I believe the federal government should play a leadership role, not just in wetlands, but in areas of environment, when it comes to environmental conservation and development. In this particular case, definitely, yes, I would suggest that similar research facilities be developed in different ecoclimate zones of this country, in different parts of this country, so that we create a network of this type of research facility across the country. Yes, the federal government should take the lead in that.

[François Pilon, NDP, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Thank you.

My next question is for Ms. Guyn.

In your slides, I think we saw a method for building roads using tree trunks. Could you explain that method to us? This is the first time I have seen something like that.

[Dr. Karla Guyn]

I'll try to. I don't know a whole lot about it. It's actually something that we are just investigating now. It's part of a research project that we're doing with one of the forest companies, where they're using cordwood to build the roads. It allows the water to flow through those logs that are underneath the road, so it doesn't end up blocking that water flow, which is particularly detrimental in fens and in some other boreal wetland systems.

We're actually just investigating it right now, but I can't really tell you a whole lot more, other than that we're working with the forest industry to better understand how we can develop roads to lessen the impacts on boreal wetlands.

[François Pilon, NDP, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Do you at least know whether this would be a long-term method? We know that tree trunks end up deteriorating. Can the lifespan still be long or do you not have this information yet?

[Dr. Karla Guyn]

I don't know specifically, but given that most of this is associated with forestry, where they're going in for a relatively short period of time to remove the trees, that may be one of the reasons why they're using the logs. I don't know how long they actually last.

[François Pilon, NDP, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

My next question is for the representatives from Ducks Unlimited Canada.

We have heard a lot about wetlands. Many witnesses told us that wetlands should not be considered independent areas. However, we need to protect biodiversity between wetlands to ensure some connectivity. Do you agree with that?

[Greg Siekaniec]

Yes, we believe very much that your wetlands represent a system. Whether you classify it as a smaller-based system or a complete watershed, they are very much interconnected, as well as the biological diversity with that. It provides the connectivity for numerous species of wildlife, as well as the water movement itself, and nutrient trapping. It presents a much healthier system, and we view it as very much a system.

[François Pilon, NDP, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

You also talked about how the federal government should have incentives.

Do you have any suggestions for the federal government on how to encourage people, municipalities and companies to protect wetlands?

[Jim Brennan]

In the 1991 policy, one of the recommendations was a call for all jurisdictions in Canada to develop mutually supporting wetland conservation policies by 1991. We believe that as a part of the national conservation plan the government is developing there could be measures underwritten by public funds and supported by partnership dollars. This would build incentives for landowners on the working landscape.

There are model programs. The one I am familiar with is the stewardship program in Ontario where Ducks Unlimited brought money to the table matched by provincial and in some instances federal dollars to do wetland restoration work, as well as small-scale wetland restoration work on the agricultural landscape. That's what we call our landowner extension program. We were able to do quite a bit of work in that area.

[The Chair, Conservative, Harold Albrecht]

Merci beaucoup, M. Pilon.

We'll move now to Mr. Toet.

[Lawrence Toet, Conservative, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and my thanks to our witnesses today. It's very interesting once again.

Dr. Guyn, you responded in one of your questions that the restoration of wetlands in some cases can be relatively easy. You said that in some cases earth plugs are all it takes. When you say it's relatively easy to do, what kinds of timeframes would be required for a functional wetland? It may not be completely restored, but it would be starting to contribute to the work that a wetland can do.

[Dr. Karla Guyn]

It doesn't take that much time, actually. If we put a ditch plug in during the fall, typically by the next summer, if the water returns, we'll start to see some of the aquatic vegetation coming back. Two to three years down the road, you'd be hard-pressed to know by looking at it that it was a restored wetland. Some of the functions may take a bit longer to fully develop, but from a visual perspective it looks very similar to a wetland that has not been impacted. It's amazing how fast they can return.

[Lawrence Toet, Conservative, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

In fact, your picture of the bog was very interesting. When I first looked at it, I thought somebody snuck into my backyard and took a picture, and I wondered when that happened. Even on my own property, when I did some of this restoration, it took very little time for it to actually come back and become a functioning wetland. I had to do it because I had no drainage on my property, and I had to create my own wetland in order to have the facility I needed on my property.

You said you needed somebody willing to do this.