Celebrating five decades of conservation in Ontario

1970s 

•  1974 – DUC Fundraising Program Launch: In the 1970s, Hazard Campbell (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Dr. Dunc Sinclair (Aylmer, Ont.) encouraged their fellow Turkey Point hunt club members to attend fundraising dinners in Buffalo, N.Y., inspiring the formation of the Long Point Chapter. On October 23, DUC held its first fundraising dinner in Canada, in Tillsonburg, Ont. This chapter, led by Campbell and Sinclair, became known as the “Magnificent Seven,” a group that helped shape the future of DUC.
• 1975 – Ontario’s Conservation Program Begins: DUC established its first field office in London, Ont. under the management of the Manitoba team, to continue its work with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Ontario. That same year, DUC completed its first Ontario-team led wetland conservation project – a 10-acre flooded area on private property located near the town of Erin, Ont., overseen by Dave West, DUC’s first Ontario staff member.
• 1976 – Small Marsh Program: After opening a new provincial office in Aurora, Ont., DUC launched efforts to restore small wetlands across southern Ontario – one of Canada’s most developed and populated regions. The program focused on areas that had been drained for agriculture, which were once thriving wetland habitats. 

1980s 

• 1980 – Research Drives Conservation Focus: DUC’s Ontario Waterfowl Production Study, a research initiative aimed at understanding waterfowl breeding success in Ontario’s wetlands, assessed habitat quality, nesting success and environmental factors affecting waterfowl populations. The data helped drive informed decisions about wetland conservation priorities and target efforts to restore and protect vital habitats, ensuring sustainable waterfowl populations in the province.
• 1985 – Expanding into the Boreal Forest: By the mid-1980s, DUC had expanded offices to Kingston, Barrie, and Peterborough, and in 1985, opened an office in Timmins, Ont. This expansion marked the beginning of DUC’s conservation efforts in Ontario’s Boreal Forest and claybelts, with programs that included large-scale projects like nest box placements and wild rice restoration.
• 1986 – International Partnership for Wetland Conservation: The creation of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) – a collaborative effort between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico to address declining waterfowl populations through wetland and upland conservation – provided DUC with a science-based conservation framework and access to new funding sources, accelerating its conservation efforts.
• 1989 – Beaver Pond Management Program: DUC’s first program not focused on water control, aiming instead to enhance wetland habitats in central and northeast Ontario utilizing beaver food plots, beaver dam removal on stagnant ponds, and nest box installation. Using 99-year agreements with the province, the program secured 650,000 acres (263,000 hectares) of Crown land, carefully managing it to protect wildlife while allowing compatible sustainable development like forestry and mining. 
  

1990s 

• 1993 – Ontario Land CARE (Conservation, Assessment, Restoration and Education) Program:  This initiative, launched in partnership with the provincial government, was tailored specifically to the farming community in Ontario. Offering financial incentives and technical support to landowners, it encouraged agricultural practices that were beneficial to farmers while also providing benefits to nesting waterfowl, securing wetlands, and improving wetland quality. 

• 1994-95 – Protecting Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands: Recognizing the importance of Great Lakes coastal wetlands for staging waterfowl on their way to or from breeding grounds further north and west, which were becoming severely threatened, DUC, with help from the Eastern Habitat Joint Venture (one of the regional initiatives under NAWMP) began securing marsh complexes along Lake Erie, the Detroit River, and Lake St. Clair. 

• 1999 – Development of a Conservation Vision:  In collaboration with government agencies, conservation organizations, and local stakeholders, DUC developed the Conservation Vision for the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Region of Ontario. This vision was created to guide DUC’s habitat conservation efforts, maximize wildlife benefits and cost-efficiency, and provide a solid foundation for future fundraising. It became the strategic framework for wetland conservation across Ontario, focusing on preserving vital habitats for waterfowl and other wildlife, addressing the region’s unique environmental challenges, and ensuring long-term ecological health. 

2000s 

• 2000 – Walkerton Inquiry Highlights Wetlands’ Ecological Value: The May 2000 Walkerton, Ont. water contamination tragedy, which caused seven deaths and sickened 2,500 people, led to a comprehensive inquiry, with DUC helping develop recommendations on restoring and protecting wetlands and watersheds to prevent future contamination. DUC’s resulting report Beyond the Pipe (2001) emphasized the importance of wetlands, uplands, and riparian zones in water sustainability and protection. The inquiry’s focus on watershed planning highlighted wetlands’ ecological services and influenced public policy on wetland management, elevating DUC’s profile as a science-based advocate for water resource management. 

• 2000 – Ontario’s First Demonstration Site: The Atocas Bay Project, Ontario’s largest wetland restoration and land acquisition initiative, began with DUC and partners acquiring 1,700 acres (700 hectares) of uplands, wetlands and small lakes. By 2002, the project had expanded to over 2,000 acres (800 hectares) with additional purchases and wetland restoration of more than 200 wetland basins. To this day, it is a key project demonstrating how agricultural and wildlife management can coexist, showcasing practices such as rotational grazing, cattle exclusion, and alternative watering sources. 

• 2003 – Healthy Wetlands, Healthy Communities Partnership: DUC and Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources worked together from 2003-2007 on a $2-million joint initiative to educate the public about the connection between community well-being and a healthy environment by promoting the value of wetlands. In addition to further restoration of small wetlands, it included enhancing public viewing and education facilities at wetlands across southern Ontario. 

• 2009 – Commitment to Sustain Southern Ontario’s Wetlands:
  With funding from the Government of Canada’s Southern Ontario Development Program (SODP), DUC undertook infrastructure repairs to maintain, protect and restore 57 wetland conservation projects across southern Ontario. In a record six-month delivery period, DUC completed repairs while providing economic stimulus to local communities through job creation, material procurement and project supervision. 

2010s 

• 2010 – Southern Ontario Wetland Conversion Analysis:  DUC completed the Southern Ontario Wetland Conversion Analysis, a research project building on the 1987 Environment Canada study that analyzed current and historic wetland loss rates in southern Ontario and helped determine long-term change trends in large wetlands. Results showed 72 per cent of southern Ontario’s large inland wetlands had been lost or converted to other land uses. It also highlighted regions where wetland loss exceeded 90 per cent, prompting a more urgent focus on wetland conservation.

• 2017 – Wetland Restoration Funding Supports Improved Water Quality for Lake Erie: DUC partnered with the provincial government, with funding from Infrastructure Canada, to implement the Lake Erie Wetland Initiative (LEWI) – a wetland restoration program in the Lake Erie Watershed focused on adding wetlands to this highly altered landscape, as well as monitoring and outreach components. Over 60 projects were completed, contributing to enhanced water quality and supporting environmental goals of the Lake Erie Domestic Action Plan.

• 2019 – A New Tool in the Invasive Phragmites Management Toolbox: DUC partnered with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the University of Toronto, and the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (Switzerland) on a research and development partnership to introduce biological control methods in an integrated management strategy against invasive Phragmites, with two small moths released at select sites to combat the invasive plant. 

2020s 

• 2020 – A Coastal Gem Protected in Perpetuity:  On September 30, 2020, DUC acquired St. Luke’s Marsh, a 488-acre (197-hectare) property, adjacent to the St. Clair National Wildlife Area, that includes coastal shoreline, provincially significant wetlands, and diverse wildlife habitats – securing one of the last remaining coastal wetlands on Lake St. Clair and ensuring its protection for wildlife, including species at risk, in southwestern Ontario.

• 2020 – New Research Highlights Wetlands as Natural Infrastructure for Water Quality: As part of DUC Ontario’s conservation program in the Lake Erie Watershed, researchers studied eight recently restored wetlands over two years, monitoring water inflows and outflows to measure their ability to capture nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen. The results showed that these small wetlands effectively improved water quality under various conditions, helping protect downstream rivers and lakes year-round.
• 2021 – Record Investment in Ontario’s Great Lakes Watershed:  DUC received a record $6M in funding in the first year of the Government of Ontario’s Wetlands Conservation Partner Program. Over the life of the four-year, $30M program, DUC received more than $10M and delivered 165 projects, representing almost 2,000 hectares, including both newly restored wetlands and the upgrading of existing wetland restoration projects that were ready for habitat improvements to enhance function, ecology, and longevity.  

• 2022 – Putting Artificial Intelligence to Work Identifying Invasive Species:  DUC partnered with external partner saiwa, to develop an AI-powered tool using drone technology to automate the detection of invasive species like European water chestnut. This tool is being expanded to manage other invasive species, such as water soldier, advancing Ontario’s wetland conservation efforts. In 2025, DUC and saiwa received the Invasive Species Centre’s Innovation Award for this pioneering AI detection tool.  

With thanks: We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the current and former DUC Ontario team members for generously sharing their memories and contributions to this article: Mike Williams, Lynette Mader, Dave McLachlin, Rick Robb, Owen Steele and Ron Maher. 

 Your invaluable insights have been instrumental in ensuring the accuracy and richness of this milestone journey, reflecting the true spirit of five decades of conservation in Ontario.