LETHBRIDGE, ALTA. -- 50 years ago this week global leaders signed a treaty acknowledging the vital role wetlands serve for people and the planet.
Half a century later, Ducks Unlimited Canada maintains conserving wetlands is more important than ever.
“We are making headway,” said DUC’s C.E.O. Karla Guyn.
“Unfortunately we are still seeing wetlands drained and lost.”
World Wetlands Day is celebrated annually on February 2. It’s meant to raise awareness around the importance of wetlands, while promoting the need to protect the still-vanishing areas.
Guyn said Alberta has some of the most important landscapes in North America for ducks and other waterfowl.
“That’s why we have spent so much of our efforts in Alberta.”
Since 1938 Ducks Unlimited Canada has conserved and restored 6.5 million acres, including more than one-third of it, about 2.4 million acres, in Alberta.
But wetlands remain at risk, and wetland loss, provincially, nationally and globally, continues at an incredible rate.
It’s estimated that in the settled areas of Canada 70 per cent of wetlands have already disappeared.
When wetlands are lost it contributes to a range of negative impacts. It has an impact on ecological functions such flood and drought mitigation, carbon storage, and filtration of impurities in watersheds.
Hundreds of wildlife species also rely on wetlands, including many species-at-risk.
“Wetlands are biodiversity hotspots,” added Guyn. “But they have a whole host of benefits to society.”
“Our main focus is working with the agriculture community,” said Warren Robb, Team Lead of DUC’s conservation programs in southern Alberta.
Since the pandemic, DUC staff have adapted the way they connect with landowners and farmers, using more email, telephone, text and online chats to support social distancing.
However the goals and objectives of the organization remain the same. In the past year Ducks Unlimited had more than 30 wetland restoration projects on the go in Alberta, restoring more than 900 acres.
Robb said in most cases, they are working with private landowners. “We have a lot of similar interests. We both want water, we both want grass.”
DUC offers a number of programs, including some that provide compensation to producers for restoring wetlands or seeding hay or grass in wetlands.
Robb said most of restoration projects are in areas that aren’t able to be cultivated or grow grain so they aren’t necessarily taking land out of production.
“Essentially we are paying producers to restore something that they are not able to use anyway. So there’s a huge benefit there.”
Guyn said investing in these highly productive ecosystems generates real financial returns.
Research that examined Ducks Unlimited Canada’s conservation and restoration efforts revealed that for every dollar invested in wetlands and natural habitats, society receives $22 in economic benefits. This includes nature-based recreation, tourism, and employment.
“That’s the nice thing about wetlands,” said Guyn. “If you restore the hydrology to them, they will come back.”
