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Sherwood's Soapbox

Wetlands

Land owners have sharply reduced the wetlands. It's easy to understand why. Wetlands take space that might be a cash crop, or a new housing development. We aren't very good at taking the positive benefits of wetlands into account on our spreadsheets.

Most people know that wetlands have advantages. They are environmental filters, islands of diversity, water level regulators. The problem is that the benefit is diffuse. We all benefit from wetlands, but the owner of the wetland doesn't particularly benefit. If he uses his wetland for housing development, the impact is not his, but the larger region around him.

And so greed takes it's toll

Through a fortuatous circumstance, an oil company needed some clean fill for remediation. I gave them the bottom of a low spot I had, and got a pond and no real expense to me. I have been fascinated by the changes this has made in my yard. Within two years we were seeing additional birds, and increased numbers of old birds.

I expected the mosquito count to rise, but instead it has sharply fallen. I figure that the pond attracts most of the egg laying mosquitoes, but it also has a permanent population of critters that eat mosquito larva.

I think the increased bird population is largely responsible for not having significant bug pest problems in my garden or my trees. (Slugs. Still have slugs...)

The changes are ongoing. The first five years the pond had ducks that visited. Last year, for the first time, we had a pair that nested (I never did see the nest) and raised a brood of 4. Goldeye ducks. They like small weedy ponds.

As an individual I see the benefits of my own tiny wetland. I've tried to figure out how to make more wetlands with my limited resources. I've figured out where to place 4 small dams on my creek that would give me another 3 -5 acres of wetland, depending on how high the dams are, but I'll admit I don't know enough about making a dam to proceed. Nor do I have the right equipment.

Oh well.

Depending on how badly we want wetlands, we could do some of the following:

1.  In farm country, pay farmers to 'bank' wetlands.  This should
be enough that it pays about the profit a farmer would make
from farming that land.  It may be too late for this to have
much effect.

In cities, zone wetlands at the edge of current development
as park land.  Edmonton creates parks now with 'storm ponds'
in them to spread out the impact when a sudden rain fills up
the sewers.  If these were built slightly differently, they
could be real wetlands.

2.  Encourage people to put land back into wetlands.  Throwing low
dams across swales (the natural dips that aren't quite creeks)
can cheaply create small ponds.  Building a 6' high dam is
not difficult, and in our province doesn't require a permit.
Higher than that you can get into trouble if the dam breaks.

This can slow down the runoff.  The swale dams are a case of this.
Even if the water isn't held long enough to become a proper
wetland ecology, dams like this will prolong the run off season,
keeping water in creeks for more of the year, and putting more
of the water into the ground for later withdrawal with pumps.

A chain of such swale dams can create wetland on the lower
basins.  The dams leak.  The top one may drain in a month.
But the water it drains, keeps #2 wet for 6 weeks, which keeps
#3 wet for two months.

If the dams are build with soil from the upstream side of the dam, you
increase the volume of the basin, and create a deep spot that may last 
the summer.  Such a spot acts as a reservoir of life.  
When the rains come again, you already have a population of 
things that eat mosquitos.

Encouragement can take several forms:

• Tax subsidy for creation of wetlands. At one point PFRA would help farmers with 1/3 of the cost of creating dugouts for farm water supplies. A similar approach could be used here.

• Establish a wetland, and collect a payment from the gov. for it. This would apply to new wetland only. Payment schedules may vary depending on region.

• Advice and manuals for people who want to create their own.

• References for companies that have the expertise to do this.

Make a wetland. A duck will thank you for it.

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Read, laugh, send me a line and tell me why each idea won't work. Convince me and I'll issue a retraction, and grant you a kudo for correcting my ignorance.

Send email to soapbox@sherwoods-forests.com

Note that, unless you tell me otherwise in your letter, I may publish it, or quote it in a future rant