Division of Bird Habitat Conservation

Birdscapes: News from International Habitat Conservation Partnerships

Project Profiles - Canada

Where Wetter is Better
by Mark Stabb, Ontario Wetland Habitat Fund

It took Mother Nature about 10,000 years to create a massive wetland along the northeast shore of Lake Ontario. It took loggers, settlers, and developers only a few centuries to convert most of that wetland for human uses. Fortunately, conservation groups have protected some valuable remnants and are rehabilitating areas with help from the Ontario Wetland habitat Fund (Fund).

The Wainfleet Bog is the last vestige of a vast wetland network stretching between Ontario's Grand and Niagara Rivers. Draining, ditching, clearing, cultivating, and peat mining eliminated all but about 4,000 acres of the bog. It is the largest of this wetland type remaining in Southern Ontario and an important refuge for wildlife in this heavily populated landscape. The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (Authority) is helping to restore this important habitat to its former state.

Peat excavations, canals, and old ditches have drastically altered the bog's vegetation and hydrology. European birch have invaded this disturbed habitat and made things worse: transpiration from dense birch growth draws up significant quantities of water from the wetland. In other words, European birch is helping suck the bog dry.

The Authority and the Fund shared the costs of plugging ditches with peat dams and digging indentations in the bog's machine-leveled interior. Runoff will be slowed and diminished and, inch by inch, will help raise groundwater closer to historical levels. Surrounding farmland will not be affected. Volunteers and program staff are also cutting the invasive birch to reduce the trees' hydrological effect, while creating cover for wildlife.

Two years after the restoration work, Authority ecologist Kim Frohlich reports that the project is setting the bog on a wetter course and that bog plants are recolonizing once-barren peat excavations. O ver time, project partners expect wetland birds, such as wood duck, blue-winged and green-winged teal, mallards, bitterns, and herons to repopulate the wetter, better bog. Woodcock and snipe are already common.

"Less than one percent of wetlands in Souther Ontario are bogs, so this site is incredibly unusual. It is a very significant land feature in the area," says Robert Messier, a Fund representative. Wainfleet Bog is also home to rare spotted turtles and nationally threatened eastern massasauga rattlesnakes, one of the few Ontario populations to have survived human harassment and habitat loss. The Authority is radio-tracking rattlesnakes to ensure the project also aids the snake's recovery.

Half the area has been left unmanaged as a control area to buffer water-level changes and allow wildlife to adjust to environmental changes. Admirably, the Authority is taking a long-term view and plans to gradually work outwards form the bog's interior. Future projects will follow a detailed monitoring program that measures the slow growth of indicator species such as sphagnum moss.

The Fund is an Eastern Habitat Joint Venture partnership that links the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Canadian Wildlife Service, and other partners. One thing project partners have learned from their work on the Wainfleet Bog is that when it comes to bogs, you've go to be patient.

For more information, contact Mark Stabb, Program Manager, Ontario Wetland Habitat Fund, 7 Hinton Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario K1Y 4P1, (613) 722-2090 extension 252, mstabb@wetlandfund.com, www.wetlandfund.com.