• To increase the quality and quantity of wetlands and other significant bird habitats on private lands
• To promote a conservation ethic and engage landowners in securement, enhancement, maintenance and monitoring of wetlands and other significant bird habitats
• To make an Ontario contribution to the goals and priorities of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP), the Eastern Habitat Joint Venture (EJHV) and the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI)

Objectives
The overall objectives are to:

• Successfully implement an extension program in southern Ontario that provides technical and financial assistance to private landowners and leads to securement agreements and on-the-ground habitat enhancement projects
• To successfully implement WHC's North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) 2006-1 Ontario project (proposal attached) as a contribution to the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, while integrating our work with other stewardship groups

Activities
Private landowners will be directly involved in long-term conservation, restoration, enhancement and management of wetlands and associated uplands in southern Ontario. The Ontario Wetland Habitat Fund (OWHF) Program will provide extension services, site visits, technical assistance and financial support to landowners, who will enhance and restore wetlands and associated upland habitats, and implement best management practices on farms and other rural properties to benefit waterfowl and other wetland species. Landowners with eligible habitat projects may receive up to 50% of project costs to a maximum of $5,000. Landowners implement, maintain and manage the projects for at least ten years, and are responsible for 50% of the enhancement costs. All projects receive peer review from advisory committees made up of landowners, biologists and conservation agency specialists. Landowners maintain and manage the projects and will sign 10-year conservation agreements with Wildlife Habitat Canada.

Specific Habitat Products/Results to be Supported by WHC's Contributions
Securement - Conservation Agreements
A minimum of 125 landowners will sign conservation agreements with Wildlife Habitat Canada, or another appropriate body representing EHJV interests, to secure wetland habitats for a minimum of 10 years. The program will secure a minimum of 1,748 ha (4,319 acres) of habitat, comprised of 1,043 ha (2,577 acres) of wetland and 705 ha (1,742 acres) of associated upland through these agreements.

Enhancement Projects
Private landowners will develop and implement at least 125 quality habitat projects to enhance 1,043 ha (2,577 acres) of wetland and 705 ha (1,742 acres) of wetland-associated upland habitat on lands secured under conservation agreements. Wetland activities include: water control structures to restore degraded water regimes, open water cells to restore wetland habitat diversity and create new shallow open-water bodies, wild rice planting, nesting structures with predator guards to increase nesting opportunities and waterfowl recruitment, and vegetation management, such as biological control of purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), where appropriate. Wild rice planting projects will be increased in some program delivery regions, including portions of BCR 12. Upland activities include: fencing to establish buffer areas and restrict livestock access, modified livestock grazing practices, alternate watering systems, grass and legume establishment on marginal lands to provide dense nesting cover, and native tree and shrub planting to increase habitat diversity and buffer quality.

Stewardship - Ontario Wetland Habitat Fund Extension Services
Field personnel will engage landowners in habitat planning, conservation agreements, and habitat enhancement and restoration. Through these extension services, approximately 2,000 ha (approximately 5,000 acres) of land under agreement will be positively influenced, but not directly enhanced by projects. Beyond these program-specific deliverables, the program's extension service provides information and professional habitat advice to hundreds of additional landowners who learn about the impacts of land use on wetlands, watersheds and natural areas. This sows the seeds for land stewardship and future enhancement or restoration projects.

Field personnel promote conservation easements with land trusts and EHJV partners and other forms of habitat securement. They also maintain ongoing contact with landowners who are currently protecting provincially significant wetland habitat through previous EHJV landowner contact programs. The OWHF Program will work to maintain and enhance these landowners' commitments to wetland conservation.

Wetland Habitat and/or Waterfowl Achievements/Benefits
The OWHF Program contributes to the OEHJV Implementation Plan objective to increase continental waterfowl populations by sustaining, enhancing and increasing conservation and stewardship commitments on privately owned wetlands. Wetland enhancement and restoration projects across southern Ontario will improve nesting and rearing habitat, as well as some key staging areas, for waterfowl, contributing to increased recruitment rates of mallard, black duck, blue-winged teal, wood duck and hooded merganser. Wetland conservation activities will strengthen ecological integrity and enhance the landscape's capability to support waterfowl and other wetland-associated species such as shorebirds, waterbirds, and wetland-dependent landbirds. This also includes species at risk such as black tern, king rail, Henslow's sparrow, least bittern, Acadian flycatcher, prothonotary warbler, blue racer snake, eastern fox snake, Blanchard's cricket frog, and eastern spiny softshell turtle. Improvements to hydrologic functions of wetlands will help reduce peak flows, extend seasonal flows, benefit local and regional surface water and groundwater quality and quantity, directly benefit fish habitat and ultimately improve Great Lakes water quality.

Besides helping to sustain biodiversity, the long-term protection and conservation of privately owned wetland habitats will also contribute to overall environmental health and ecological sustainability. Water quality and hydrological improvements are expected within through the establishment and enhancement of buffer zones around wetlands and riparian areas. These vegetated buffers, including grass, shrub, tree and other cover plantings, grassed waterways and reduced tillage practices on adjacent croplands, will reduce peak surface run off rates and enhance ground water recharge. Nutrient loads will also be reduced and stream and wetland integrity will be sustained with the establishment of several miles of fence to restrict livestock access. Water quality-related habitat projects that also benefit waterfowl will be particularly targeted at watersheds of Great Lakes Areas of Concern and will also be directed at source water areas and headwater wetlands such as those on the Oak Ridges Moraine. The OWHF Program will also support such projects to help farmers implement actions identified in Environmental Farm Plans.

OWHF projects that enhance or restore riparian habitat around wetlands and associated waterways can significantly benefit fish habitat. Fully 30% of OWHF enhancement projects have directly protected fish habitat (e.g. by excluding livestock) or enhanced fish habitat (e.g. by planting shoreline cover or restoring the open water to edge ratio in cattail-dominated wetlands). Fish habitat benefits include improved water quality, reduced water temperatures in cold water fisheries, increased natural vegetation in wetlands and tributaries, increased stream bed stability, reduced silt load and water turbidity, and creation of new wetland spawning habitat. In several instances, fish habitat destruction and degradation has been prevented through consultations between OWHF field personnel and landowners. Fish species expected to benefit include brook, brown and rainbow trout, salmon, largemouth and smallmouth bass, walleye, northern pike, muskellunge and minnows (including rare species). Fisheries benefits occur both in watercourses on the landowners' properties and downstream in the Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers and the waters and connecting channels of Lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron.

Groundwater supplies will be maintained through ongoing OWHF wetland securement and enhancement efforts. Secured wetlands help reduce peak flows and maintain base flows, providing for more stable water regimes, of benefit to both farm and urban communities. Groundwater recharge will also be enhanced by creating water control structures to reflood wetlands along drainage ditches, an approach pioneered by the OMNR and stewardship groups and supported by the EHJV and the OWHF Program. Wetland drain restoration projects restore hydrological functions to privately owned swamp forests, increasing wetland values to waterfowl, waterbirds such as herons, shorebirds such as common snipe and American woodcock, and other species. The OWHF is supporting the expansion of this program through connections with rural landowners and municipal staff across southern Ontario.

Relevance to Habitat Planning, Decision Making and/or Management
The OWHF Program seeks to empower and enable landowners to make land use decisions that conserve, enhance and restore wildlife habitats. While doing so, the OWHF Program will place a high priority on landowner projects that deliver on management recommendations of strategic plans such as watershed plans, sub-watershed plans, source water protection plans, Lake-wide Management Plans, Great Lakes Area of Concern Remedial Action Plans, Important Bird Area conservation plans, the Oak Ridges Moraine Stewardship Strategy, the Ontario Biodiversity Strategy and recovery plans for significant landscapes and species at risk.

The OWHF Program is a partnership project of Wildlife Habitat Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, supported by the Canadian Wildlife Service (Ontario Region) and other supporters. The OWHF Program will work with its network of stewardship and conservation partners, including local land trusts, Conservation Authorities, Stewardship Councils, Ducks Unlimited Canada, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, Great Lakes Remedial Action Plans, Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk, and others, to foster integrated delivery of stewardship programs for southern Ontario landowners. The OWHF Program, in concert with OEHJV priorities, is embracing the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) and is fostering integrated stewardship efforts to benefit all birds.

Project Location
Please click here to view the project location/map (pdf file).

Project Contact
For more information on this project, please contact Diane Brunet, Program Administrator, Ontario Wetland Habitat Fund, Ottawa, Ontario.