It took Mother Nature about 10,000 years
to create a massive wetland along the northeast shore
of Lake Ontario. It took loggers, settlers, and developers
only a few centuries to convert most of that wetland for
human uses. Fortunately, conservation groups have protected
some valuable remnants and are rehabilitating areas with
help from the Ontario Wetland Habitat Fund.
The Wainfleet Bog is the last vestige of a vast wetland
network stretching between Ontario's Grand and Niagara
Rivers. Draining, ditching, clearing, cultivating, and
peat mining eliminated all but about 4,000 acres of
the bog. It is the largest of this wetland type remaining
in Southern Ontario and an important refuge for wildlife
in this heavily populated landscape. The Niagara Peninsula
Conservation Authority is helping to restore this important
habitat to its former state.
Peat excavations, canals, and old ditches have drastically
altered the bog's vegetation and hydrology. European
birch have invaded this disturbed habitat and made things
worse: transpiration from dense birch growth draws up
significant quantities of water from the wetland. In
other words, European birch is helping suck the bog
dry.
The Authority and the Fund shared the costs of plugging
ditches with peat dams and digging indentations in the
bog's machine-leveled interior. Runoff will be slowed
and diminished and, inch by inch, will help raise groundwater
closer to historical levels. Surrounding farmland will
not be affected. Volunteers and program staff are also
cutting the invasive birch to reduce the trees' hydrological
effect, while creating cover for wildlife.
Two years after the restoration work, Authority ecologist
Kim Frohlich reports that the project is setting the
bog on a wetter course and that bog plants are recolonizing
once-barren peat excavations. Over time, project partners
expect wetland birds, such as wood duck, blue-winged
and green-winged teal, mallards, bitterns, and herons
to repopulate the wetter, better bog. Woodcock and snipe
are already common.
"Less than one percent of wetlands in Southern Ontario
are bogs, so this site is incredibly unusual. It is
a very significant land feature in the area," says Robert
Messier, a Fund representative. Wainfleet Bog is also
home to rare spotted turtles and nationally threatened
eastern massasauga rattlesnakes, one of the few Ontario
populations to have survived human harassment and habitat
loss. The Authority is radio-tracking rattlesnakes to
ensure the project also aids the snake's recovery.
Half the area has been left unmanaged as a control
area to buffer water-level changes and allow wildlife
to adjust to environmental changes. Admirably, the Authority
is taking a long-term view and plans to gradually work
outwards form the bog's interior. Future projects will
follow a detailed monitoring program that measures the
slow growth of indicator species such as sphagnum moss.
The Fund is an Eastern Habitat Joint Venture partnership
that links the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources,
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Canadian Wildlife
Service, and other partners. One thing project partners
have learned from their work on the Wainfleet Bog is
that when it comes to bogs, you've got to be patient.
