Evidence of meeting #19 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 41st Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was wetlands.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
Yes, okay.
You did have some interesting comments, I found, on the 65% to 80% of wetlands losses in the study you were talking about. What I didn't hear you say was what the major reason is, if you know, for wetlands loss in the Great Lakes area.
Director, Regional Operations, Eastern Region, Ducks Unlimited Canada
The primary loss is urban expansion and development and industrial expansion of our urban centres.
Vice Chair, Restore Our Water International, Sierra Club of Canada
No, pollution is a factor.
Conservative
Director, Regional Operations, Eastern Region, Ducks Unlimited Canada
In terms of direct loss, it's that, plus ongoing agricultural activities on the landscape.
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
Do you know what percentage of that 65% to 80% would be urban expansion?
Director, Regional Operations, Eastern Region, Ducks Unlimited Canada
If you looked at that number, the bulk of that number is made up from conversions that happened as agriculture cleared the land. So much of that wetlands loss was a result of clearing the land and settling the land. It's probably safe to say that 80% of that is agriculturally based.
Conservative
Director, Regional Operations, Eastern Region, Ducks Unlimited Canada
Now it's changed.
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
Ms. Muter, you mentioned pollution. Could you add to that?
Vice Chair, Restore Our Water International, Sierra Club of Canada
Pollution in places like Hamilton Harbour—that's very contaminated waters, obviously. Wetland plants cannot grow in that kind of habitat, and it ends up being a monoculture of one or two species that can thrive in polluted waters.
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
Excellent, thank you. I just wanted to clarify that.
My other question was in regard to your talking about habitat rehabilitation. This is something we've talked about in the past, especially with the study that we did on habitat. Could you tell me about some of your successful habitat rehabilitation projects and if there's one direction in particular that seems to be more successful. Then, because I'm sure I'm running out of time, the costs that are attributed to that as well?
Director, Regional Operations, Eastern Region, Ducks Unlimited Canada
The rehabilitation restoration typically involves restoring the hydrology to the system. If the wetland was drained by a ditch or by some diversion of the water, restoring the hydrology to it.... If you create the capacity for the basin to hold water again, the systems come back. They come back to life, and they come back to life very quickly. That's typically the approach that we take.
What are the economics around that? It's expensive to do the restoration. It costs in the order of $10,000 to $20,000 per hectare to put the wetlands back on the landscape.
Conservative
Director, Government Affairs, Ducks Unlimited Canada
If you wanted an example—
Director, Government Affairs, Ducks Unlimited Canada
There are many. Second Marsh in Oshawa is certainly one. Tiny Marsh in Simcoe County is another. There are quite a number of examples to draw from.
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
I do? Excellent, thank you.
In regard to the $10,000 per hectare, basically, that we're talking about, would that be in line with other regions and areas—for instance, we were talking about Lake Winnipeg—or are there exponential costs when it comes to the Great Lakes?
Director, Regional Operations, Eastern Region, Ducks Unlimited Canada
The big factor in the Great Lakes is really the value of the land and the cost of the underlying access to the land. If you're able to do it on a piece of property where you're working with a landowner who wants to see the restoration happen and you don't accrue any land costs, the costs are relatively similar.
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
We talked about the urban sprawl aspect of this. Have some of the developers seen that this has become kind of a niche thing that benefits their developments? Are we seeing more of that?
Director, Regional Operations, Eastern Region, Ducks Unlimited Canada
We certainly have seen lots of examples of that in places like Winnipeg, where we've seen some really big commitments to doing wetlands as part of stormwater treatment approaches. It's actually increasing the value of the housing market because people want to be able to live and see water, so having natural-looking wetlands within development complexes has been hugely beneficial within many places. It is starting to come in Ontario. The uptake has been a slower process than we expected to see.
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
Certainly when you talk about partnerships it becomes important.
