REGINA — Ducks Unlimited Canada plans to restore about 180 hectares of wetlands in Saskatchewan over the next decade through a new agreement with Mosaic.
Through the agreement, wetlands will be restored south of the boreal forest using a relatively simple process.
“The actual restoration itself is relatively straightforward,” explained DUC regional manager of industry and government relations, Michael Champion.
“We put an earthen dam in at a plug where wetland has been drained, and so then you restore the storage capacity immediately.”
Once the process is done, the area is re-vegetated with rushes, cattails and other wetland plants.
Champion said the vegetation captures sediment and absorbs excess nutrients carried in runoff.
"And then it's wait for runoff, the wetland fills, the plants grow.”
Once the area has developed, animals will start to return, Champion said.
“You'll start seeing animals come back and starting with the small small guys and then the bigger guys, and then eventually you'll get mammals in there as well, the larger mammals, and whether that larger mammal is a fox or a coyote or right up into deer, moose, and depending on what part of the province you're in other bigger species, bears and such.”
A small wetland, for example, can see hundreds of species inhabit it, noted Champion.
Beyond serving as a home for animals, wetlands also play a critical role in providing water to surrounding forests.
The success of a wetland restoration project depends on the restoration process and environmental factors, including weather conditions.
“So it really becomes dependent on the runoff. We restore the function on the landscape and then let the spring runoff do its thing and fill those wetlands. So it becomes a matter of did we get snow in the winter, did it run off, and then, of course, did the dam hold?” said Champion.
In 90 per cent of cases, Champion said the process leads to a fully restored wetland.
The exact locations of the restored wetlands will be decided in the coming months.
