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The Nature Conservancy of Canada says it will safeguard 91 hectares of the Marlborough Wetland in the southern reaches of Ottawa thanks to a recent donation.
The land was gifted to the non-profit organization through the federal ecological gifts program by the family of the late Doug Smith, who owned a farm in the area. The conservancy said Smith died last May.
Rob McRae, a program director with the conservancy, said it was Smith’s vision that the land would be conserved in perpetuity.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada said the land used to be owned by Doug Smith, whose family donated it to the non-profit. (Nature Conservancy of Canada)
“Mr. Smith really wanted to make sure that down through the generations, this wetland would maintain its conservation status as wildlife habitat and other benefits. And he knew that the Nature Conservancy of Canada would be a good steward of the property,” McRae said.
McRae said wetlands act like natural sponges, which can help reduce flooding in nearby communities. He added that many wetlands in southern Ontario have been converted to other land uses.
Now that the land is under its protection, McRae said the conservancy will do an inventory of the property, identify any invasive species that are on it, and restore it to its original state.
‘A bit of an antidote’
Monday is World Wetlands Day, and another organization, Ontario Nature, warns the provincial government has been loosening protections for wetlands.
In 2024, Ontario Nature said close to 600 hectares of wetlands lost their provincially significant status and as a result, no longer meeting the bar for the top-level provincial protection given to Ontario’s most valuable marshes, swamps, fens and bogs.
Now, that group said it welcomes this new parcel of protected wetland.
“We’re seeing this trend of kind of wetland loss and weakening environmental protections at the provincial level,” said Sarah Hasenack, who helps run conservation campaigns with Ontario Nature.
“It’s these kinds of actions and community efforts that can really provide a bit of an antidote to some of those changes.”
Accoring to the ecological gifts program’s website, since 1995, more than 2,000 ecological gifts valued at over $1.3Â billion have been donated across the country, protecting more than 252,000Â hectares of wildlife habitat.