During the past few months,…

During the past few months, I have had the privilege of not only studying wetlands and learning more about these essential and fascinating ecosystems, but visiting them in person. The peatlands that I've set foot in are like no other place I've been to - the ground is spongy and lush with Sphagnum mosses, the water that wells up through the peat smells acidic and crisp, and the plants that grow in these bogs and fens, like the pitcher plant, are beautiful and unique in both form and function. Visiting wetlands like these is becoming more difficult - in the present, less than 30% of Ontario's wetlands still exist, and encroaching development, the kind encouraged by the proposed changes to the Southern Ontario Wetland Evaluation System, sees what remains as nothing more than an obstacle standing in the way of continued sprawl.

I recently completed a project evaluating the Southern Ontario Wetland Evaluation System, and doing so has allowed me to better understand how the process works and its importance in guiding sustainable and holistic planning. In reading through the proposed changes to the evaluation system, several alterations gave me cause for concern:

- The removal of requiring more information to be gathered about rare species and hydrological functions in a wetland before deciding what adjacent land uses are appropriate
- The complete gutting of how evaluation results can be used, restricting the wetland evaluation system to be nothing more than a tool for municipal planning and undermining its roles in land use planning, conservation regulations, watershed planning, and the conservation and stewardship of fish, wildlife, land, and other natural resources
- The removal of any reference to wetland complexes, which have complex hydrological and biological functions - one part of a wetland complex cannot be affected without the others following suit (in fact, the very sections removed through the proposed updates explain why wetland complexes are so important!)
- The inability of a wetland evaluator to provide details on observed human disturbances, which, as stated, would be useful "in the future to help set evaluation or enhancement priorities"
- The removal of references to specific sources that can help in finding "popular articles and unpublished government reports" to understand the research and studies within a wetland
- The removal of reference to understanding why and how wetland-dependent species may use upland habitats, which undervalues the scientific study of this topic
- The absolutely unacceptable removal of endangered/threatened species' reproductive, migratory, feeding, and hibernation habitat as a marker of wetland value and significance
- The removal of locally significant wetlands, which undercuts how "all wetlands have value, both to society and intrinsically," and the removal of reference to how old wetland boundaries are to be used for planning until a new evaluation of these boundaries can take place

In a province where seven of our eight turtle species are at risk, where 68% of our wetlands were lost by the 1980s (mostly as the result of land conversion), where sparse suburb developments and car-dependent infrastructure spring up ad nauseam, the proposed changes to the Ontario Wetland Evaluation System will not, and cannot, be the answer to the housing crisis. Though I have just one voice, there's no doubt in my mind that it joins a chorus of others in speaking for the lands, waters, plants, and animals, as well as social, cultural, emotional, mental, and spiritual values, that are threatened by what's been brought to the table here. A house is not inherently a home, and Ontario is not Ontario without its wetlands.