Alberta lays out new wetlands rules after months of ‘divisive’ consultation

The Alberta government says it has landed on new policy reforms that will oversee the province’s wetlands — those “sponges” on the landscape that act as “nature’s kidneys.”

Under new rules, farmers will be allowed to carry out what the province calls “low-impact activities” on temporary and seasonal wetlands located on private farmland without requiring a Water Act approval, so long as those wetlands hold water for less than 17 weeks per year. The province says those “low-impact activities” will include such things as cultivating, direct seeding and spraying.

For wetlands that hold water 18 weeks or more per year, or for wetlands on public or non-agricultural lands, no rules will change.

The new rules come at the tail end of a long consultation the province undertook as it sought to reform its Water Act, Alberta’s key piece of legislation that governs its water resources. That legislation had not seen a major update in 25 years.

Officials with Alberta Environment and Protected Areas summed up the feedback gathered during the engagement around wetlands like this:

“Wetland preservation is divisive,” reads a document provided through a freedom of information request filed by the Alberta Wilderness Association and shared with CBC News, “with supporters insisting more should be done, while detractors insist it is burdensome and costly to those addressing practical water issues on the land.”

Officials added they had been tasked with balancing the “competing interests” of wetlands preservation with agricultural and industry drainage requirements.

“Agricultural producers do support wetlands; however, they believe that they should receive incentives for preserving them,” the document reads.

The benefits of Alberta's wetlands have long been recognized by the province. Think of them as “sponges” on the landscape, the province wrote in a fact sheet in 2014, storing and slowly releasing water and reducing the damaging effects of flooding and drought.

“They act as nature’s ‘kidneys’ by purifying runoff and helping to keep our lakes and rivers clean,” the report reads. “In addition to recharging groundwater and providing diverse habitats for plants and animals, they offer a host of other benefits to people who live near and far.

“No other landscape component provides all of these functions and benefits.”

Alberta's wetlands are estimated to host some 400 species of plants, according to the province. Some of those are listed as rare, threatened or endangered. 

In a letter sent to Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz on June 30 as part of the engagement, Team Alberta Crops — a collaboration of seven of Alberta’s agricultural producer groups — advocated for the province to eliminate “temporary” and “seasonal” classifications of wetlands on agricultural lands to facilitate ephemeral drainage without approvals.

Temporary wetlands refer to those that are periodically covered by water for a short time, while seasonal wetlands are those that stay wet longer into the growing season.