Working with municipalities to evaluate wetlands

Cardinal flower

Hot summer suns blister the Lake Huron coastlines, particularly in the Georgian Bay area where glacier-stripped rocks reflect shimmering waves of heat. Biologists who are “ground-truthing” satellite images of wetland boundaries are grateful for the shade offered by coniferous forests ribboning through the various marshes, shallow ponds and inlets of the Georgian Bay’s 30,000 Islands.

Under the Canada-Ontario Agreement Respecting the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem (COA), Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) staff determine priorities for protection from development for these “bogs or swamps” (as some of us would call them), precious pieces of a disappearing environment.

Much of the work done to establish wetland boundaries, carefully identified from satellite images and aerial photographs, must be done during the heat of summer when these areas are accessible, water is flowing and plant communities are growing. This is the time, too, when these hard working men and women identify species at risk or rare and threatened species which might exist in any particular area within these wetlands. There is intensive pressure on these valuable coastal areas for development, as people from Ontario’s cities and even beyond Canadian borders seek property in “cottage country.”

Local municipalities need the information the biologists provide to help them make informed decisions on who can build what and where or if indeed development should occur at all. Many of us don’t realize that not all of Ontario’s land and water should be used by people. Some of it needs to be set aside – carefully protected.

Some areas need to be set aside – carefully protected
 

Wetlands inventory

Ron Black, wildlife biologist with the Ministry in Parry Sound, and involved with the COA projects along the eastern coastline of Georgian Bay, explains:
 

“It’s all about retaining our vanishing biodiversity” which we humans need as a species as much as the fish, birds animals and plants do.

Andy McKee

Andy McKee – COA coordinator for the Lake Huron basin which includes Georgian Bay – tells us that wetlands are under severe pressure from many sources. Coastal wetlands, he explains, can be found from south of Goderich on the eastern Lake Huron coast around the Bruce Peninsula, along southern Georgian Bay right up its eastern boundary all the way to Sault Ste. Marie. He says many people don’t know that coastal wetlands are vital habitat for some of the highest densities of globally and nationally rare species, including communities of plants, fish and wildlife in Ontario’s Great Lakes basins.

The wetlands of eastern Georgian Bay are like diamond beads on a necklace strung along 5,300 km of the Bay’s coastline. They similarly valuable and provide:
   • important cover for marshland birds such as the American bittern and Virginia rail
   • stopover and resting areas for migrating waterfowl and hawks
   • nesting areas for colonial water birds such as the great egret, great black-backed gull and Caspian      tern
   • habitat for many at-risk snakes and turtles like the Massassauga rattlesnake, Blanding’s turtle, and      Ontario’s only lizard - the five-lined skink as well as the stinkpot, map turtle, spotted turtle and      eastern fox snake
   • and vital spawning and nursery habitat for wetland-dependent species like the long nose gar and      muskellunge.

Without wetlands we could lose much of the world’s diverse species of plants, insects, reptiles and fish.

Andy and Ron say there are many other things associated with wetlands or in wetlands that people can continue to enjoy even though they are specialized environments for wildlife and plants. They include
   • hunting and trapping
   • fishing
   • bird watching
   • photography
   • boating such as canoeing and kayaking
   • general enjoyment of nature
   • and they are a source of income from cranberry bogs or guiding.
 

Aerial view of Parry Sound

So every year since 2004 in the eastern Georgian Bay area, biologists like Ron and their teams have been going out to check boundaries of pre-determined areas and figure out what species actually do exist within given areas. They make careful note of specific land features and characteristics as well, to add to the MNR’s Natural Resources Values Information System (NRVIS). Maps are then given to local municipalities to assist with and incorporate into their planning and zoning bylaws. Decisions about land that needs special protection or rehabilitation are also made using the hard-gathered data.

Municipalities appreciate having this information says Ron. He adds that most cottagers are willing participants when someone comes to the door asking to walk over their property to investigate places where the cottager may never have ventured.

Twenty-three new wetlands have been evaluated so far, from near Port Severn to close to the French River – all provincially significant which makes them valuable in terms of protecting Ontario’s biodiversity. Some cottagers are so impressed with this work they get involved, some by setting aside land for protection or by working with conservancy organizations such as the Georgian Bay Area Foundation, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, the Georgian Bay Land Trust and the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve.

Ron adds that the many partners involved in evaluating these wetlands believe their work will help to preserve something vitally important for all Ontarians. Like many other resource management professionals working in these projects he says,” We couldn’t do this without our partners.”

Partners in evaluating wetlands in eastern Georgian Bay
• Township of Georgian Bay
• Archipelago Township
• Carling Township
• Georgian Bay Association/Foundation
• Georgian Bay Land Trust
• Nature Conservancy of Canada
• Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve
• Ministry of Natural Resources
• Many private landowners