Wetland in west Ottawa lost status after land was cleared

A largeprovincially significant wetland in Ottawa's rural west end has lost its status after a property owner cleared brush and trees.

FromDavid Manchester Road, just north of a toy store and a tractor retailer, one can see logs piledand vegetation startingto grow back. The owner was fined and now has a remediation agreement with the conservation authority.

But it wasn't the cutting in 2021 that led to the 41.5-hectare wetland losing protections, so much as the way the wetland was reopened for evaluation under the Ontario government's updated and controversial points system.

• Ottawa wetlands cut from 'provincially significant' list

Thisarea of swamp and marsh, located just southwest of the junction of highways 7 and 417, used to enjoy top-level provincial protectionand was part of the sprawling Goulbourn wetland complex west of Stittsville. Usingthe new scorecard, however, a certified wetland evaluator gave it 558 of the required 600 points.

The evaluator hired by the property owner had followed the updated Ontario manual for evaluating wetlands, which took effect in January 2023, the City of Ottawa told CBC News.The city received the 76-page reportand took the extra step of looking over the results, but found only minor errors.

The key issue for this particular wetland on David Manchester Road was that under the updated scorecard, it was evaluated on its own. It could no longer be studied as part of a group, orcomplex,withother wetlands nearby.

It represents the biggest wetland of the 55 hectares that the City of Ottawa has so far had to rezone because they no longer meet the bar set by the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Area left to regrow

Land registry records show Harmesh and Ram Dayal Chander bought a rectangular property of nearly 10 hectares on David Manchester Roadin 2018. The property was about 75 per cent wetland, according to a 2016 wetland evaluation.

A 2023 update pegged it at about 60 per cent, and found a total of 2.67 hectares of wetland habitat had beencleared in 2021.

CBC News tried several times to reach the Chandersto hear theirperspective on what happened, but did not receive a response.

Satellite images of the area on the city's mapping toolshowthe property covered with greenery in 2021, but partially stripped by 2022.A court document says the offencetook place in September 2021.

Altering or developing a provincially significant wetland isn't allowed, and the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority (MVCA) had its own regulations, so thecuttingdrew itsattention.

The MVCAneeded the owners to hire a professional evaluator to determine the outlineof the wetland, to understand where the land should be put right again.

The whole 41.5-hectare wetland ended up beingre-scored, however,using the updated points system. The re-evaluationincludedareas on neighbouring propertiesbeyond the owner's own section of the wetland, and the entire wetland lost its provincially significant status.

According to acourt document,Harmesh Chander was fined $1,125 in July 2024. The owners have agreed toa remediationplan with the conservation authority and are not to interfere with vegetation in a regrowth zone.

First re-evaluation with updatedscorecard

It is the first example of a wetland to lose its provincially significant designation in the Mississippi River watershedunder the updated Ontario wetland evaluation system, said Matt Craig, manager of planning and regulation at the conservation authority.

"It's hard to predict what's going to happen," said Craig, about whether any other wetlandre-evaluationsmight take place southwest of Ottawa.

"The important thing is that the wetland is still regulated and requires permission from the authority to work within the wetland and the adjacent lands."

Most of the time, the conservation authority works with private ownersof wetlands aboutthe constraints that existon their properties, Craig said.

There's a lot of public interest in wetlands, he added, and many rural landownersare aware theyhelp prevent erosion and flooding, whileimprovinggroundwater quality.