Putting a price tag on wetlands.
City sees cash for cattails in changes to provincial policy
Four-hundred natural marshes and sloughs are slated for destruction when Edmonton’s last unplanned corner is populated with suburban homes.
But the city is counting on changes to Alberta’s wetland policy to bankroll a series of replacements — constructed wetlands to manage stormwater and naturalization projects to lure in great blue herons and tiger salamanders.
It could have a big payoff for local nature lovers as well as anyone worried about flooding and clean water, but civic officials, local developers and birders are still anxiously awaiting the final implementation details.
The province still hasn’t put a price on wetlands in the city.
“This is the magic number,” said Grant Pearsell, who leads the city’s office of biodiversity.
Set the price too high and developers will worry no homebuyer will want to buy what they build. Set it too low and no one will be able to afford to build replacement wetlands in the city, where land is expensive.
And if the province softens on its commitment to keep replacement wetlands close to where the wetland was lost, all the replacement wetland projects will go to surrounding counties where land is much cheaper.
“We’re waiting for them to tell us. Everybody is waiting,” said Pearsell. “That land is worth a lot of money. Are we keeping wetlands or not?”
Brookfield Residential, Walton and other developers are currently working on an area structure plan for the rural southeast, Edmonton’s last unplanned corner.
That area’s unique knob and kettle topography means it has 400 ponds, marshes and sloughs, 25 per cent of all Edmonton’s remaining wetlands.
But it’s also fairly flat, which makes it difficult for developers to preserve wetlands. Even if they build around a natural slough, they have to recontour the land to make sure water drains away from the houses, and usually that also leaves the wetland dry.
Under Alberta’s previous wetland policy, passed in 1993, developers were required to build three hectares of wetland for every hectare destroyed and paid $19,000 a hectare. Fees paid by developers in Edmonton largely went to build or save marshes outside the city, mostly in Camrose county.
The replacement wetlands helped preserve pintail ducks but did nothing to improve the quality of life and infrastructure here.
The new policy says the replacement wetland must be close to the one lost, within the same municipality if possible, and promises to work with cities and local landowners to make that happen, said Thorsten Hebben, the senior provincial manager working on the policy.
It will also assign a value to each natural wetland based on its level of biodiversity, role in flood control and water purification and amount of human use.
Wetlands with a low value must be replaced one for one. High value wetlands must be replaced eight for one. “The intent is to create a disincentive for developing wetlands in the high value category,” Hebben said.
The local development community is frustrated at the amount of time it’s taking the province to spell out all the details. They don’t have a price tag, don’t know the value of the wetlands in areas they want to develop, and they don’t know who they need to deal with to create replacement wetlands or what replacement projects will be considered.
“The level of frustration has gone beyond what a ruler could even measure. Clarity in our area is so important. Tell us what the rules are,” said Rick Preston, executive director of the Greater Edmonton Urban Development Institute.
Hebben said a map setting initial values for all Alberta’s wetlands in farming and populated areas is scheduled to go online before March, and they are currently working on a dollar figure.
He said they aim to eventually create a registry of priority replacement projects in each area by working with local landowners and municipalities. All the regulatory pieces will be ready before June 1, when the new wetland policy is scheduled for full implementation.
The City of Edmonton already compiled a list of 294 candidate sites, mostly old stormwater management facilities that could benefit from a lining of cattails and natural sedges, a good layer of sticky mud and some willows.
Grackles, marsh wrens and red-winged blackbirds will nest in the bushes and spend their days eating mosquitoes and other insects.
City staff are getting better at designing constructed wetlands, said Pearsell, pointing to the diverse wildlife in projects such as Roper Pond, which regularly attracts even pelicans.
Marg Reine, a birder for 30 years and former chair of the Edmonton and Area Land Trust, agreed.
“It will be really great if we can keep natural areas in the city.
“They’re wonderful places. You could spend a whole day going to see them,” she said, describing the flock of snow geese she once found in Terwillegar Towne, the hooded merganser and a series of odd, rare gulls visiting Beaumaris Lake.
Watching wetlands get built in Camrose with Edmonton dollars has been so frustrating, she said, especially since Edmonton has lost more than 60 per cent of its natural areas in the last two decades.
Wetlands are more important than people realize. Cattails pull toxins from the water, marshes slow down rainwater, sparing people’s basements during flash floods, she said. It also decreases erosion, like the damage currently breaking down the banks throughout the Mill Creek ravine.
Besides all that, people need to see nature to de-stress and learn about ecology right here in the city, she said. “It’s important for people to be in nature. That’s very key.” estolte@edmontonjournal.com