A provincially significant wetland on Wolfe Island near Kingston is now brimming with fish and wildlife following some major dredging and reconstruction work.
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| Belted Kingfisher - Photo: Doug Hamilton. |
Like many Great Lakes coastal wetlands, Bayfield Bay Marsh had degenerated into a dense, lifeless stand of cattails. To restore life to this potentially rich habitat, a group of conservation partners brought in backhoes and other heavy equipment to open up some “arteries.” Crews cut a network of three-metre-wide channels and created large, pond-like openings in the thick cattail mat that choked the bay. These new channels will create space for a greater variety of marsh plants to grow, as well as breeding and nesting areas for fish, dabbling ducks and other wetland birds, such as the black tern.
Material from the digging was placed in mounds alongside the channels to create nesting areas for birds such as ducks, bank swallows and belted kingfishers. Any mudflats that were created will attract migrating shorebirds to feed on snails and aquatic insects there. Newly exposed boulders, stumps and floating logs will provide basking areas for the Blanding’s turtle and Northern water snake, and feeding platforms for mink, muskrat and beaver.
The marsh’s barren perimeter was also improved. First, a bulldozer reshaped a 487-metre (1,000-foot) stretch of steep, heavily eroded shoreline. Then, to prevent continuing bank erosion (which fouls fish spawning areas and shorebird habitat), the slope was replanted with more than 1,000 trees and various shrubs and native grasses, such as switch grass, Indian grass and big bluestem.
Bayfield Bay marsh is just one of many projects underway along Lake Ontario’s shores, revitalizing coastal wetlands damaged by urban and agricultural development, nutrient imbalance and exotic species invasions.
Click here to view a map of the project area
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What are Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands?
• Coastal wetlands are similar in many ways to inland wetlands, but compared to an inland marsh, bog or swamp, their hydrology, vegetation and wildlife are usually quite different. Coastal wetlands are home to a wide variety of the plants, fish and wildlife species found in the Great Lakes basin—and, because they are directly influenced by the waters of a Great Lake, coastal wetlands are often the first places to experience the effects of any new invasive species.
• Coastal wetlands have a huge role to play in improving local water quality, a serious concern for the millions of residents who rely on the Great Lakes as a source of drinking water. Great Lakes coastal wetlands slow drainage flows from developed areas. In these wetlands, sediments from upstream erosion and excess nutrients from industry and agriculture settle out and are absorbed by plants.
Project Partners and Sponsors
- Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority
- Ducks Unlimited Canada
- Frontenac Stewardship Council
- Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
- Ontario Stewardship Rangers
- Private landowners
- Trees for Peace
For more information, contact:
- Alastair Mathers, Lake Ontario Basin Canada-Ontario Agreement Coordinator, Lake Ontario Management Unit, Ministry of Natural Resources, Picton (613) 476-8733
- Cam McCauley, Stewardship Coordinator, Frontenac Stewardship Council, Ministry of Natural Resources, Kingston (613) 531-5714