Whoa on that wetland definition

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Oh come on now . Like who is going to dig a pond on the top of a hill ? Of course you are going to put one where it is wet already . How many wet lands have been changed , dug out , filled and tiled . Why is it Ag reps are trying to make out like all things Ag are pure and honest . Ag along with developers , planners and the like are not innocent . Some in this story has a track record of screwing those who he is supposed to be representing . Another hydro increase to support green energy just happened again .

Wetland, on balance, may well contribute to climate change, because the methane produced is a much more potent GHG than any carbon dioxide sequestered. Interesting how this tends to be overlooked for wetlands, and not for other anaerobic fermentation systems.

In response to "......and another name for methane is 'marsh-gas' " http://betterfarming.com/comment/17357#comment-17357

Lowlands, marshes, swamps, and swails exist for a reason. They act as an absorbent sponge when heavy rains hit.

Over the last 50 years, Manitoba has allowed farmers, municipalities, and developers to fill in over 90% of the former swails (ie. marsh lowlands) so that the land could serve a "better use".

Without swails, any rain that falls is only minutes away from a ditch or creek. In a heavy storm, those ditches and creeks soon become swollen and overflow their banks.

Other land, that used to be high ground that never flooded, has unfortunately started to flood now that the swails are gone.

In 2011, the Winnipeg Free Press said, "Flood modellers have described this year's Assiniboine flooding as a one-in-300-year event to a one-in-2,000-year event. That may be technically correct. But a similar scale of damage occurred in 1882 and perhaps two other times in the 19th century. It is bad public policy to fail to prepare for the range of observed conditions.

Decision makers can choose to hide behind models that describe this year's event as extremely rare as a reason for inaction. But if similar water levels have occurred perhaps four times in the last 200 years, then it is obviously not a one-in-300 or a one-in-2,000-year event, no matter what the models say. And in a time of rapid climate change, the past becomes an increasingly imperfect guide to the future. We need to imagine the unimaginable and prepare for it."

Manitoba isn't the only one. I have seen or heard of Canada-wide short sighted developers, municipalities, and Planning Boards continue to develop cheap swampy land to turn it into high priced development land, thereby maximizing profits for the callous promoters, all while they put the flood risk onto neighbouring lands.

Yes, this posting’s title paraphrases the classic Laurel & Hardy line - this is intended to to tell the truth about Canada’s "Ministries/Departments of Lands, Forests, Mines, Natural Resources, Parks & Recreation, etc. Canada’s "natural heritage" is not "hunting in the name of 'conservation'" - what a joke How convenient! My Canada began in 1771 upon my descendants arrival from County Armagh, Ireland. The historic and contemporary dearth of ecological decisions based upon science and not politics is mind-numbing. Shame on EVERY DAMN bureaucratic employee of a provincial natural resources entity tasked to serve the people. They serve but a scant few - the so-called "conservationists ie. folks who kill animals for fun and justify the act by saying "it tastes good". That is not logic. Governments want resident and tourist "sportsman" dollars so badly they will lie, cheat, coerce and falsify reports to get what they want. They will redact information at will when a RFI ends up on their desk. Time for the real naturalists to stand up and be counted - damn the torpedos! BTW, the term "swail" does not exist in the English language. The proper spelling is "swale".

Anonymous comment modified by editor.

OH COME ON NOW states - "How many wet lands have been changed , dug out , filled and tiled." Precisely. How about 80 percent of Southern Ontario for starters? The largest contiguous swampland area in Southern Ontario is the Greenock Swamp,

Anonymous comment modified by editor.

The most dangerous wetlands in Ontario are the toilets at Queen's Park.
Stan Thayer

Would be nice to know if those toilets at Queens Park dump directly into the lake or do they have a septic system big enough to handle all the effluent coming out of Queens Park ?
When you look at the BF Municipal spills and bypasses in
Ontario January – June 30, 2015 it is funny that there is no listing for QP or Toronto ! Wonder why ?

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