Unlike large wetlands, most of Ontario's small wetlands currently have no protection, and Bill 23 would remove what little protection they do have. This is a big problem for Ontario's biodiversity. When a small wetland is drained or filled to build a home, a few plants, turtles, frogs, birds, and other wildlife lose their homes. When another small wetland is drained or filled to build another home, a few more plants, turtles, frogs, birds, and other wildlife lose their homes. While each lost small wetland by itself might not seem like a big deal, altogether the accumulated loss of small wetlands is a huge deal for Ontario's biodiversity.
 
It's like this. Say someone steals $10,000 from you by removing $1,000 from your savings account every day for 10 days. The impact of that theft on your life would be just as big as if they stole the whole $10,000 all at once. It's the same, and worse, for wetland loss. Ten small wetlands together actually hold more biodiversity than a single large wetland that is the same size as the ten small ones put together. This means that the destruction of the ten small wetlands, one at a time, has an even bigger impact on wetland biodiversity than the destruction of the large one.
 
In southern Ontario, we have already lost about three-quarters of the total wetland area that was here before European colonization. So, we have already lost three-quarters of the potential homes for wetland wildlife in southern Ontario. This is why in Ontario we have many threatened and endangered wetland species. And this is also why every remaining bit of wetland in Ontario, whether big or small, is precious to Ontario's wetland biodiversity.
 
We can accommodate our growing human population by increasing housing density within the already-developed areas of towns and cities. However, the same option is not available to wetland species. In southern Ontario, to provide homes for wetland wildlife and prevent their extinction, we need to protect all remaining wetland areas.
 
Despite this, Ontario law allows the destruction of most small wetlands, simply because they are small. The one category of small wetlands that can be protected under Ontario law is the small wetlands that form part of a larger group or "complex" of wetlands. But Bill 23 would remove even this protection for small wetlands in Ontario. This would place at even greater risk the plants, turtles, frogs, birds, and other wildlife who call these wetlands home.

Want to know more about changes that would erase small wetlands? Read this blog

In the face of the climate emergency, you’ve probably heard “save our rainforests” or “plant two billion trees”. We’re producing too much carbon dioxide (CO2) and causing climate change. Trees uptake CO2 and cutting them down releases it back to the atmosphere, so it seems like a no-brainer to protect and plant trees. But what other important ecosystems do we have? Maybe you know that the ocean absorbs a lot of CO2 (about 30% of what we release into the atmosphere). What you may not know about is the importance of wetlands. Like forests storing carbon in trees, wetlands hold carbon underground in soil, and in northern regions, they currently store over 30% of the soil carbon while only covering around 3% of the total land area!

Wetlands being wet means that decomposition is slow (think of how well “bog bodies” are preserved). Slowly decomposing plant litter and other organic materials hold onto their carbon and do not release much CO2 into the atmosphere. The CO2 that is slowly released is outbalanced by the living plants, including trees, actively sucking up CO2. With this imbalance, carbon is consistently stored in the decaying organic matter leading to carbon rich soil, often called peat. So, wetlands act like a bank account for carbon that is stored beneath our feet. But, this storage takes time, building up slowly over thousands of years.

Canadian wetlands cover about 13% of our land area and account for almost a quarter of global wetlands. Unfortunately, wetlands and their importance often fly under the radar when it comes to land use planning and are not given the protection they deserve. Across Southern Ontario, we have lost about 56% of our wetlands to human development - in some places as much as 90%! Just like cutting down the rainforest, draining or building over wetlands causes us to lose both the active uptake of carbon and a large amount of the stored carbon. Once wetlands are no longer wet, the organic matter in the soil starts to decompose more quickly and carbon is released. Our development in Southern Ontario has released wetland carbon stocks leading to a reduction in the carbon stored of 2 billion tonnes since the 1800s. This loss is equivalent to the average annual greenhouse gas emissions of over a billion gasoline cars!

While wetlands can be restored or even constructed, the long-term carbon stocks are not quickly recovered. The process of carbon storage in wetlands is slow and restored wetlands may not recover their natural ability to store carbon for many years or decades. Wetlands are significant carbon stocks and have a high potential to mitigate climate change if properly protected and managed. Avoiding wetland disturbance provides more climate benefit than restoring areas that have been disturbed.

With our large wetland area and their importance for climate action, we as Canadians have a responsibility to protect these forgotten ecosystems. Take the time to learn more about wetlands and what you can do to help.

Turtles can’t talk, but if they could, they would tell you that their livelihood in southern Ontario is hanging by a thread.

Under Bill 23, changes to Ontario’s Wetland Evaluation System (OWES) will make it harder for a wetland to be classified as Provincially Significant. Provincially Significant Wetlands are afforded protections to ensure that they are not developed or altered. Currently, the Special Features category under OWES considers a wetland’s value as habitat for threatened or endangered species … but changes to OWES under Bill 23 will remove this consideration, meaning still less protection for the province’s most vulnerable flora and fauna. Even with protections to species at risk habitat afforded under the Endangered Species Act, Ford’s government has granted thousands of permits allowing harm to species at risk and their habitats. Continuing to remove protection for species at risk and their habitats will only make it easier for critical habitat to be destroyed.


Bill 23 would also see smaller wetlands that contribute to larger wetland complexes lose protection. Although small patches of habitat may not seem as important as larger areas of unfragmented habitat, recent studies have shown that a group of small habitat patches can host as many or more species than a large patch. As more and more smaller habitat patches are destroyed, the connectivity of larger wetland complexes will also be lost. These smaller patches become islands, isolated from the larger mainland, surrounding by a sea of human activities. For species at risk, this might mean that movement between habitat patches is no longer possible or that they will have to traverse a dangerous, anthropogenic landscape to reach their destination. Without being able to move between wetlands, species are more vulnerable because they cannot escape any adverse changes that may occur in their home wetland. And by traversing longer distances between wetlands, species increasingly encounter roads, which are the leading cause of morality for turtles and other herpetofauna. Both scenarios further increase threats of these already extremely vulnerable species.

Ford’s government has already demonstrated they do not consider the cumulative affects their actions have on species at risk. Since 2007, Blanding’s turtles have been impacted by 1,403 individual approvals for harmful activities, with no regard for the cumulative impact this would have on the species. Under Ford’s government, we’ve already lost habitat protection for many species at risk and there is no long term plan to improve the overall state of species at risk in the province. Further negative changes could be so detrimental that we lose some of these species forever.

Turtles can’t talk, but if they could, they would tell you that their livelihood in southern Ontario is hanging by a thread. Please speak up for Ontario’s species at risk and take action to #SaveOntarioWetlands!

• Submit a comment to the Environmental Registry of Ontario about the proposed changes to OWES by midnight November 24, 2022.
• Submit a comment to the standing committee reviewing Bill 23 by midnight November 17, 2022.

New to The Ontario Wetland Evaluation System? Read this helpful primer first.

Changes to OWES related to Bill 23 – the proposed More Homes Built Faster Act – undermine the wetland report card in 3 key ways:

3. The OWES changes introduce “re-evaluations” so that already-evaluated Provincially Significant Wetlands can be re-classified using the new designed-to-fail OWES.  OWES files have always been considered “open files” subject to updates, but some conservation authorities worry this change will put nearly all remaining wetlands on the chopping block.

 
Don’t let our valuable wetlands be destroyed to make way for sprawling, unaffordable single-family homes. Take action to #SaveOntarioWetlands!

• Submit a comment to the Environmental Registry of Ontario about the proposed changes to OWES by midnight November 24, 2022.
• Submit a comment to the standing committee reviewing Bill 23 by midnight November 17, 2022.
  

Learn more about the importance of small wetlands here

When Ontario introduced the science-based Ontario Wetland Evaluation System in 1984, it was truly pioneering. Called “OWES”, it was one of the first tools to measure the functions and values of wetlands to inform their management in North America. Ontario has remained a leader in wetland evaluations, updating OWES as new science and technologies became available.

OWES is pretty sophisticated, but the concept is simple: it’s a report card that a certified evaluator completes to grade a wetland in four “subjects”: Biological, Social, Hydrological, and Special Features.

• The Biological score reflects things like how big and productive the wetland is.
• The Social score covers economic values like wild rice or commercial bait fishing, as well as recreational values like hunting and bird watching. It can also count things like traditional Aboriginal uses and cultural heritage.
• The Hydrological score combines many ecosystem services.
  • Things like replenishing aquifers, preventing floods and shoreline erosion, mitigating climate change and purifying water.
  • Collectively, these ecosystem services have been valued by economists at billions of dollars each year in southern Ontario alone!
• The Special Features score captures how rare the wetland is – in some parts of Ontario 90% of wetlands have already been destroyed, so the remaining wetlands are considered precious.
  • It also captures wetlands providing habitat for threatened or endangered species.  Fully 1 in 5 of Ontario’s species at risk depend on wetlands for their survival. No wonder, given high historic rates of wetland destruction!
  • Wetlands are key habitat for waterfowl and other birds as well as spawning and nursery habitat for many fish. This can also raise a wetland’s Special Features score.

The local Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry office reviews the OWES report card.

• Any wetland that scores high enough gets designated as a Provincially Significant Wetland.  The capital letters tell you this is a big deal.
  
• Municipalities are responsible for incorporating Provincially Significant Wetlands into their Official Plans and ensuring that they are not developed or altered in accordance with the Provincial Policy Statement.

   
 Provincially Significant Wetlands are supposed to be protected and the benefits they provide to society, the economy and the environment preserved for the long-term benefit of Ontarians.

Read how proposed changes to OWES will affect wetlands in Ontario here.