RE: ERO 019-6160 Comments: •…

RE: ERO 019-6160

Comments:
• Wetland units that are part of a Provincially Significant Wetland (PSW) wetland complex can be re- evaluated individually. Those units can be removed from the PSW.
• Wetland boundaries can be remapped without having to re- evaluate the entire wetland.
• New evaluations cannot consist of wetland complexes (i.e., can only be contiguous wetland).
• MNRF is removed from the process, leaving all decisions in the hands of local municipalities.
• Endangered and threatened species are no longer scored.
• The majority of the wetlands in Northern Ontario have not been evaluated.

Concerns:
• May lead to the removal of small pieces of wetlands, that may lead to cumulative effects in the long term.
• McVicar and McIntyre PSWs, District of Thunder Bay, are made up of complexed wetlands. May lead to the eventual removal from PSW status.
• Will limit wetlands being designated as
PSW in the future.
• With MNRF having no part of the process, will eliminate oversight to the wetland process by wetland trained people.
• If a wetland loses its PSW status, it loses protection through the Provincial Policy Statement.
• Wetlands provide highly valuable ecological services that give life (clean water and air) that are extremely costly to reproduce – if they can be at all.