WC141 MarApr 2025 - Magazine - Page 32
CONSERVATION
Reclaiming Nature
By turning fallow urban land into wetlands, the Town of Ajax is creating
vital habitats, mitigating 昀氀ooding, and building climate resilience. BY SUZANNE BOWNESS
ICTURE AN EMPTY PLOT OF LAND in the
middle of a city. What do you fill it with? If you’re
a discouraged urbanite, your default answer may be
“probably a condo.” But what if, instead of building
it up, we took some of these areas back to nature?
What if we assessed their potential as a wetland and then
added ingredients that would help these patches flourish as a
space for wildlife, while mitigating the flooding and erosion
that increasingly threaten cities in an era of climate change?
That’s exactly what the Town of Ajax, with a population
of just over 126,000 and located east of Toronto, chose to do
with two connected projects.
With the Kerrison Road Wetland Restoration Project
finished and the Audley Road Wetland Restoration Project
set to be completed by the end of 2025, the area north of
Highway 401 near Kingston Road has been revitalized as a
space for fish, waterfowl, amphibians, turtles, and, of course,
plenty of plant varieties. What used to be called “100-year
storms” (defined as a rainfall event that statistically should
only have a one per cent chance of occurring in any given
year, at any given place) are now smashing their timeframe.
The projects have also added what is essentially a hectareslong sponge to the area, promising to help slow potential
damage from excess rainfall.
P
Enter the wetland restoration experts
Of course, wetland restoration requires expertise, money, and
planning. In this case, all three came through the power of
partnership. When the Town of Ajax’s Cameron Richardson,
supervisor of Environmental Sustainability and Climate
Change Planning and Development Services, realized the
area’s potential, he called on John Stille, senior manager of
Restoration Projects at the Toronto and Region Conservation
Authority (TRCA), to assess the site. TRCA oversees nine
watersheds from Ajax to Mississauga, including Carruthers
Article
contributed by
Ducks Unlimited
Canada.
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WATER C AN ADA • M ARCH/APRIL 2025
Creek, where the Ajax land sits. In turn, TRCA brought on
Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC), a frequent partner on wetland
projects, valued for their expertise and funding contributions.
Since each site is unique, experts at TRCA and DUC began
with a detailed survey to assess the possibilities. With 17 years of
experience in developing wetlands, Craig Berga, DUC’s head of
Conservation Programs in Ontario, says, “Each project is like a
blank canvas. If someone has a property, we say, ‘What can we
do?’ and we find the right balance.”
In Ajax, the projects involved expanding existing marsh and
swamp wetlands and reconfiguring two decommissioned old
farm ponds (including moving the fish stock from one back into
the watershed) and dismantling tile drainage. “Both of these
projects are on old agricultural fields that haven’t been used as
fields for a very long time. They’re sitting fallow and regenerating
very slowly because they’ve got all these functional impairments,
like tile drains and ditches,” explains Stille. While these features
were useful for the land’s previous role in agriculture—where
farmland benefits from flat land that is properly drained—they
hamper the area’s function as a wetland. The project also stabilized
stream bank erosion and removed invasive species (a reed grass
called Phragmites was prevalent) while introducing native trees
and shrubs, such as silver maples, shining willow, and red osier
dogwood.
In exploring such sites, experts also look for clues of past
wetlands that could be brought back. “The water wants to be
there. If the tile drain was old and collapsed, then you’ll see a little
wet patch. We’re looking at vegetation too, remnant patches of
wet vegetation—maybe just cattails—but signs that the site wants
to be wet again,” says Stille.
Assessment also considers how to take advantage of natural
water flow and even build new water containers through
contouring and excavation. “It starts with determining where the
flow is escaping the property, where we can hold water back. And
if there aren’t opportunities, how are we going to create them?”
says Berga.
Big picture focus on wildlife and urban factors
With over 70 per cent of wetlands already lost in developed areas
of Ontario, the most significant impact is on wildlife habitat.
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
