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DUC Issues a Drainage "Wake-up Call'' for Canadian Prairies 
OAK HAMMOCK MARSH, MB, Feb. 1 - A representative from Ducks Unlimited Canada stated today, on the eve of World Wetlands Day, that wetland losses across the Prairies will continue until landowners find value in keeping wetlands, grasslands and treed areas on their lands. February 2 marks the passing of 29 years since the Convention on Wetlands was signed in Ramsar, Iran, providing a basis for international cooperation in the conservation and wise use of wetland ecosystems.
"Specific studies on wetland drainage and land use statistics from across the southern Prairies have indicated a very disturbing fact,'' said Brian Gray, DUC's director of conservation programs. "Regardless of the exceptional wildlife value associated with natural habitats, landowners are choosing to increase their cropland acreages by bringing native habitats into production.''
Ducks Unlimited Canada estimates that approximately 70 per cent of prairie wetlands have disappeared in the past 100 years. Aerial and ground surveys are indicating that wetland loss is still taking place.
"The types of wetlands remaining on the landscape now are typically large and permanent bodies of water that haven't been as easy to drain. One by one, even these wetlands are being lost. Landowners are investing time and money to remove them from their land,'' Gray said. "If we keep losing wetlands at the rate we've documented in parts of the Prairies, it's only a matter of time before there will be nothing left on the landscape to drain.''
Contributing to DUC's concern is a trend identified in the Census of Agriculture completed by landowners across Canada every five years. In the years spanning 1971 to 1996, the amount of native land, which includes wetlands, grasslands and treed areas, on the Prairies has consistently declined while acres of cropland have risen. For the past two years, DUC has supplemented census information by monitoring native habitat loss occurring in its key program areas across the Prairies.
"We are concerned because the effectiveness of our existing conservation work is reduced by the continued loss and degradation of wetlands and other native habitats,'' Gray said. The majority of DUC's conservation projects are in the southern Prairies, a very important agricultural area that has also historically produced great numbers of ducks when water conditions are good. However, brood production in this region is significantly lower than expected. DUC researchers believe habitat loss is a contributing cause.
Wetlands have been a part of Canada's landscape for centuries. DUC has been actively conserving them for over 60 years. Wetlands act as sponges that absorb water and help to reduce soil erosion by controlling the flow of water over land and downstream. By slowly releasing water throughout the year, wetlands are reservoirs that help livestock, crops, wildlife and people through dry periods from month to month and from year to year. Wetlands also act as filters that improve water quality by removing sediments and chemicals and by storing excess nutrients over the long-term.
"Landowners, governments and conservation organizations across the Prairies need to wake up. It's time for us to work together to stop the further loss of our native habitats,'' Gray said. "The benefits of conservation on the farm extend beyond farmers to society as a whole. Ducks Unlimited is working hard to find solutions that will encourage landowners to preserve existing habitats.''
Ducks Unlimited Canada recently opened a government relations office in Ottawa to help develop acceptable drainage alternatives that will ensure thriving agricultural and environmental welfare. These alternatives include: tax incentives for retaining native habitats; the inclusion of wetlands in the Kyoto Protocol that would see incentives in place to retain wetlands; and the delivery of a grassland cover program similar to the American's very successful Conservation Reserve Program.
Ducks Unlimited Canada conserves wetland and upland habitats for North America's waterfowl, other wildlife and people.
