Funding from the Province of Ontario to the Ausable Bayfield Conservation will make it possible for the Authority to work with local landowners to complete 21 wetland restoration and enhancement projects, covering about 57 acres.
Ausable Bayfield Wetlands Specialist, Angela Van Niekerk, says the Province has provided them with almost $144,000.
“So this includes creating wetlands or shallow ponds in wet areas to increase water storage and water filtration to improve water quality as well as planting trees to slow the water down and to take up the water to improve water quality again by filtering," Van Niekerk shared.
Usually, Van Niekerk says they're placed in low wet areas where it floods out during intense precipitation events.
But she says the amount of wetlands has slowly but steadily decreased over the years and once they're gone they don't come back.
“So then there's no place for that water to go but it just goes down stream faster and it floods more so by putting more wetlands on the landscape we're improving the water quality, we're helping the storm water impacts, we're mitigating flooding by providing more water storage on the landscape," noted Van Niekerk.
Even if the wetland area is only effective during extreme rain events, Van Niekerk says it has the capacity to hold that water on the land a little longer and prevent more water from going down stream.
