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Impact Area

Wetlands at Work for You

Climate Resiliency – Clean Water – Flood Mitigation

DUC/Jeope Wolfe

A nature-based climate solution

Wetlands help maintain a long-term supply of clean, safe water for communities.

Wetlands are power players on the working landscape. Their ecological functions are a powerful, cost-effective complement to water-management infrastructure such as dams, culverts, stormwater ponds and water treatment plants. All while providing essential wildlife habitat to sustain biodiversity.

Thinking of wetlands as part of Ontario’s water-management infrastructure opens our eyes to the true value of ecosystems for community protection and prosperity. It reminds us that every wetland counts and every action that landowners take for healthy habitat makes a difference for our future.

Why should we restore wetlands?

Enjoy our short videos with Phil Holst of DUC’s Board of Directors and Mary Anne Doré, dairy farmer, as they show you a restored wetland habitat at Heritage Hill Farms.

Hear about small wetlands directly from a volunteer and a project landowner

  1. Why Not Do Our Part? (16 sec)
  2. Stewards of the Land (31 sec)
  3. Wetland Restoration for Landowners (31 sec)
  4. Why Should We Restore Wetlands? (31 sec)

Habitat guidance

Welcome to the exciting world of wetland restoration

A Landowner’s Guide to Wetland Restoration in Southern Ontario

This guide provides you with an understanding of basic considerations, costs, techniques and follow-up for small wetland restoration, whether you are restoring a former wetland or creating new habitat on your land.

Ontario landowner guide PDF cover
Small wetland projects may involve excavations to create basins or small berms to hold back surface water as it travels across a property. Wetlands contribute to the natural infrastructure of landscapes by supporting phosphorus reduction, biodiversity, climate readiness, clean water and overall watershed health.
Small wetland projects may involve excavations to create basins or small berms to hold back surface water as it travels across a property. Wetlands contribute to the natural infrastructure of landscapes by supporting phosphorus reduction, biodiversity, climate readiness, clean water and overall watershed health. © DUC

Overview of wetland restoration projects

Creating and restoring small wetlands

DUC restores small wetlands by working with private landowners and local conservation partners to fund and carry out the work.

New wetland restoration projects involve landowners in watershed stewardship and create jobs in local communities. Small restored wetlands provide optimal breeding habitat for waterfowl, other birds and hundreds of other wildlife species including species at risk–and many other ecological services.

Scientists conducting field research in Ontario

Some of our Ontario landowner stories:

A sustainable partnership: Ducks Unlimited and agriculture

The grain farmers of Ontario

A rural family in Chatham-Kent steps up to restore a wetland

A rural family in Chatham-Kent steps up to restore a wetland

Funding partners joined forces to restore aquatic habitat in Ontario’s farm country.

New habitat on the Old River Farm

New habitat on the Old River Farm

A partnership on the Thames River is part of a natural infrastructure awakening.

Large, permanent wetland projects

Large wetland restorations are partnerships with public and private landowners and create jobs in rural and near-urban communities.

DUC maintains a legacy of large, permanent wetland projects that were chosen for their outstanding habitat qualities: waterfowl benefit, large scale, and mix of upland, wetland and open water habitats. But they do even more. Large wetlands contribute to the natural infrastructure of landscapes by sequestering carbon and supporting biodiversity, climate readiness, carbon sequestration, clean water and overall watershed health.

Ontario wetland construction work being done

Some of our stories about large wetland restorations:

The best possible return on investment

The best possible return on investment

Large, restored wetlands in Ontario are even more valuable than when they were created in the first place—often decades ago.

Ducks Unlimited Canada Salutes Four Decades of Conservation in Middlesex County

Ducks Unlimited Canada Salutes Four Decades of Conservation in Middlesex County

Protected habitat attracts birds, wildlife to the Delaware Wetland Mount Brydges, Ont. (February 19, 2019) — Forty years after the original restoration, Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) has reinvested in a wetland outside of London. By upgrading the water-control structures and lowering the dam to serve as an emergency spillway, DUC…

Local contractors: DUC’s proxies in Ontario’s rural communities

Local contractors: DUC’s proxies in Ontario’s rural communities

Local contractors like Bill Stapleton help make DUC's habitat work possible in Ontario.

Help you plan for timing and costs

Up front, it’s important to prepare a realistic timeline for habitat projects.

When you’re working around natural habitats, many factors come together to determine how and when projects can go forward. That’s because weather, project size, permit processes and contractor availability can set the pace.

The site’s location, size and complexity will determine the costs of the restoration. Typical overall expenditures for small wetland restorations range widely (i.e., from $15,000 to $25,000) and may be covered by the landowner or shared among funding partners if grants are available.

See Resources below for guidance on where to learn more about costing your project.

From start to finish, restoring a wetland can take more than a year to complete

To keep costs down, try to create or restore your wetland during the driest period of the year (late summer months are best) when machinery can work more quickly and efficiently.

Steps needed to carry out a conservation project
Steps needed to carry out a conservation project © DUC

Working with Ducks Unlimited Canada

We work with landowners to create or enhance wetland and grassland habitats where restoration of the landscape is most needed. Our mission is to conserve, restore and manage wetlands and adjacent habitats, which together create healthy ecosystems. While our focus is on habitat for ducks and other waterfowl, these same habitats have many other benefits for water, wildlife and communities.

Our programs and partnerships support conservation projects that are committed to providing wildlife habitat. For this reason, we require landowners to sign a Conservation Agreement with us for a selected number of years. The agreement protects the habitat but does not interfere with the owner’s current use and enjoyment of the property.

DUC collaborates with conservation authorities, stewardship councils, local governments and landowners to implement new wetland conservation projects. Our contributions include project identification, site suitability assessments, biological assessments, project design support, assistance with permit processes and requirements, and sourcing “match” funding for habitat projects that meet mutual conservation goals.

Habitat conservation projects include restoration and enhancement work (i.e., small wetland excavations and small impoundments) and support for existing wetland habitats through programs such as nest boxes, agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) and other wetland securement tools.

Wondering if your property is right for a wetland restoration project?

Join Kathryn Boothby and DUC conservation specialist Jeff Krete on a tour of the Boothbys’ small wetland project in southern Ontario.

Ontario land steward profiles

Keeping space for nature on the farm

Keeping space for nature on the farm

"It is a farm but it has to be a place for nature."

Down by the old fisher tracks

Down by the old fisher tracks

Ontario landowner Bill Kendall welcomes wildlife and human guests alike to the DUC wetland on his property. Some guests are more surprising than others.

Restoring habitat, restoring nature

Restoring habitat, restoring nature

"I saw this property on the Bruce Peninsula ... The interior forest habitat had been lost, the streams and wetlands were broken. And I knew I could fix it."

Collaboration helps all of us do more

Collaboration helps all of us do more

Farmers grow and harvest our food while caretaking millions of acres of land.

Where bobolinks flit among the cattails
Landowners

Where bobolinks flit among the cattails

Forty years is just the beginning for a restored wetland in Middlesex County.

Ontario landowners open the farm gate to welcome scientists

Ontario landowners open the farm gate to welcome scientists

Researchers designed a study in rural sites on private land set in low-lying areas that receive surface water runoff from surrounding fields.

New habitat on the Old River Farm

New habitat on the Old River Farm

A partnership on the Thames River is part of a natural infrastructure awakening.

Funding & information resources in Ontario

Where to seek funding assistance

Community funding

There are programs in many communities that pay a portion of the costs to encourage habitat restoration (e.g., wetland, forest, grassland).

Find community contact information:

Grants and funding programs

Ducks Unlimited Canada provides partial funding for habitat projects that meet conservation goals.

Other funding:

Finding the right information

Conservation Ontario

  • Represents Ontario’s conservation authorities, which are local watershed management agencies.
  • Call: 905-895-0716   conservationontario.ca

Ducks Unlimited Canada

  • Coordinates with landowners to fund, design and implement wetland restoration.
  • Contact Us today

Municipalities

Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry

Post-construction phase of new small wetland with sculpted basin (Prince Edward County, Ontario)
Post-construction phase of new small wetland with sculpted basin (Prince Edward County, Ontario) © DUC

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