Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation has awarded Credit Valley Conservation Foundation a $60,000 grant.

This is in support of Credit Valley Conservation’s (CVC) efforts to improve wetland restoration by researching landowners’ willingness to implement restoration and/or enhancement programs on their property.

The project will provide essential information for developing an effective landowner incentive program to encourage wetland restoration in the Credit River Watershed. Research will identify preferences for compensation (either monetary or non-monetary rewards), willingness to accept compensation and preferences over implementation details.

“Wetlands are significant because they preserve water quality, provide flood and erosion control and regulate climate,” said Tatiana Koveshnikova, project coordinator of Ecological Goods and Services for CVC. “Wetlands also remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and enhancing biodiversity by creating wildlife habitat.”

Wetland habitat is declining in many watersheds across Canada. It is estimated that 48 per cent of wetlands in the Credit River Watershed have been lost or degraded since 1954, largely due to human activities. Limited landowner interest and reluctance to sign up for wetland restoration programs is often cited as one of the biggest challenges for successfully implementing programs.

Results from this research project will be used to create a pilot project, and eventually a full-scale, incentive program for landowners to restore wetlands on farms and other rural areas in the watershed. One of the Greenbelt Foundation’s goals is to help farmers stay economically viable while protecting and enhancing the natural features of the Greenbelt and southern Ontario.

Recent provincial plans and regulations, including the Greenbelt Plan, have helped strengthen and protect Ontario’s wetlands. Koveshnikova said there are further opportunities for protecting and restoring wetlands on private lands and CVC will continue to pursue these types of project through research and implementing restoration projects.