Please find attached the…

Please find attached the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority comments regarding the proposed updates to the Ontario Wetland Evaluation System. Some key points include:

1. Revisions to the OWES should strengthen, not lessen protection of smaller wetlands (i.e., wetlands less than 2 hectares in size).

2. Proposed changes to re-evaluating a single wetland unit separate from the whole functioning wetland system does not take into consideration the full function and value, and undermines the wetland. This will result in less protection.

3. Evaluators need additional information to make informed decisions including different mapping sources and multiple site visits throughout the year.

4. Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry has been reviewing wetland evaluations for more than 40 years. It has highly trained and skilled biologists. Removing MNRF from the review and confirmation process will weaken the assessment and the evaluation results will be inconsistent.

5. The proposed process has the potential to be biased towards shorter-term decisions without considering the longer-term environmental issues that will result in economic costs.