Province to spend $1 million in effort to restore wetlands
Friday, September 25, 2009 (18:01:37)

Posted by Jim

By: Larry Kusch

Manitoba's two largest marshes are sick after a decades-long invasion from harmful fish and plant species and pollutants, but the province promised Thursday to take measures to turn things around.The Netley-Libau Marsh on Lake Winnipeg and the Delta Marsh on Lake Manitoba are the two largest in Canada.

Such wetlands act as natural filters, preventing nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus from entering Lake Winnipeg and others lakes. But in recent years, they've lost much of their effectiveness.

On Thursday, the province said it would spend $1 million to protect and restore Manitoba wetlands, especially the two large marshes.

Christine Melnick, the water stewardship minister, said the money would be used to provide incentives to farmers to restore lost wetlands, reduce damage to Delta Marsh caused by the common carp, and to develop new policies and other protection measures.

Melnick said studies have shown that by restoring Netley-Libau Marsh, nutrient loading in Lake Winnipeg could be reduced by as much as six per cent.

"Lake Winnipeg's Netley-Libau Marsh has declined in size, has lost many of its normal marsh plants, and sediment levels have increased significantly in the marsh waters," she told reporters Thursday.

"The restoration of Netley-Libau and Delta marshes recognizes the enormous value that wetlands have in biodiversity, retaining nutrients and for reducing greenhouse gas emissions," Melnick said.

Lake Manitoba's Delta Marsh suffers mainly from damage caused by the common carp, a species introduced from Europe by early settlers that destroys underwater plants critical to the marsh's function.

Gordon Goldsborough, a university professor and director of the U of M field station at Delta Marsh, welcomed the funding and the partnerships the province has formed with such groups as Ducks Unlimited, the International Institute for Sustainable Development, and the Nature Conservancy of Canada to carry out the wetlands rejuvenation work.

Goldsborough said he toured the Netley-Libau Marsh on Wednesday and was reminded of Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring, which warned of a looming ecological disaster over the misuse of pesticides.

"Visitors to this marsh decades ago would have witnessed, at this time of year, vast numbers of ducks and geese, and yet I was struck by the fact that I saw and heard none," he said.

Source: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/province-to-spend-1-million-in-effort-to-restore-wetlands-61437467.html