Alberta Wetland Policy: A Shift in Values

1. Alberta Wetland Policy:A Shift in Values Thorsten Hebben Policy Division, ESRD Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development 2013

2. Outline • Brief Policy Overview • Wetland Definition & Importance • Policy Goal & Outcomes • Relative Wetland Value • Wetland Mitigation • Policy Implementation • Goal and Outcomes • Governance Structure • Management System • Deliverables • Next Steps

3. What is a Wetland? • “A wetland is land saturated with water long enough to promote formation of water altered soils, growth of water tolerant vegetation, and various kinds of biological activity that are adapted to the wet environment.” • Highly diverse, productive ecosystems that provide a host of ecological services. • Play an important role in sustaining healthy watersheds by: • protecting water quality (sedimentation, contaminant removal) • providing flood and drought mitigation (keeping water in place) • providing water storage and infiltration (groundwater connectivity) • providing habitat for wildlife, fish and plants, and sustaining biodiversity. • To date, Alberta has lost between 60 and 70% of wetlands within the White (settled) Area of the province. Losses are ongoing.

4. What is a Wetland? Bog Fen Swamp Shallow Open Water Marsh

5. Alberta Wetland Policy • Policy Goal: • To conserve, restore, protect, and manage Alberta’s wetlands to sustain the benefits they provide to the environment, society, and the economy. • Policy Outcomes: • Wetlands of the highest value are protected for the long-term benefit of all Albertans. • Wetlands and their benefits are conserved and restored in areas where losses have been high. • Wetlands are managed by avoiding and minimizing negative impacts, and, where necessary, replacing lost wetland value. • Wetland management considers regional context.

6. Relative Wetland Value Wetlands are highly diverse in form, function, use, and distribution across the province – they are not all of equal value.

7. Relative Value Assessment Units

8. Mitigation System Avoidance – The preferred response is to avoid impacts on wetlands. Minimization – Where avoidance is not possible, proponents will be expected to minimize impacts on wetlands. Replacement – As a last resort, and where avoidance and minimization efforts are not feasible or prove ineffective, wetland replacement will be required.

9. Wetland Replacement • Wetland reclamation commitments, as established through reclamation plans, will help inform the determination of replacement requirements. • Replacement will consider both restorative and non-restorative options, based on defined criteria. • Restorative: Restore, Enhance, Construct • Non-Restorative: Research, Education • Replacement requirements enable and encourage innovation. • Wetland replacement will be spatially prioritized.

10. Replacement Ratios

11. PolicyImplementation

12. Mandate • The purpose of the Wetland Policy Implementation Project is to develop and implement a new wetland management system for the Province of Alberta, as described in the Alberta Wetland Policy. • Project objectives are as follows: • Confirm the tools, processes, and systems that are needed to support policy implementation. • Further develop and validate the tools, processes, and systems identified under Objective One. • Lead capacity building, communication, and engagement efforts (internally and externally) to ensure implementation readiness.

13. Wetland Management System – Working Articulation PLANNING Provincial Land-Use Planning Processes KNOWLEDGE & INFORMATION STEWARDSHIP Research and innovation Data Acquisition and improvement P1 RESTORATIVE REPLACEMENT Voluntary stewardship Wetland Inventory K1 K2 Wetland Restoration Regulatory requirements for stewardship Data Management P6 S1 R1 S2 K3 Relative Wetland Value Map (RWVM) Restoration Inventory Landscape-level Wetland Management Objectives Wetland Enhancement Allocation Mitigation Agent P7 R2 FINANCIAL P2 R3 R1 Conservation Priorities Inventory Remote Relative Wetland Value Assessments Wetland Construction Non-Restorative Restorative P8 P4 R4 F2 All other attribute information (including other objective-setting such as muni) ON-GROUND ASSESSMENT F4 F3 M5 Relative weighting at landscape informed by distribution and abundance P5 Financial fund(s) MONITORING P12 P9 Financial How do landscape-level objectives become operational? Ambient monitoring F1 M2 QWSP P3 O2 Permittee replacement In lieu fee payment Restorative Non-Restorative A9 A10 Mechanisms to translate into operational decisions Informs municipal and non- Water Act/Public Lands Act decision processes M1 On-ground Relative Wetland Value Assessments Offset Program Requirements M3 Offset accounting P10 O1 P11 Mitigation compliance C2 A8 M4 Authorization decision process ENFORCEMENT & COMPLIANCE Water Act/Public Lands Act approval application Replace A1 A2 A7 Avoid, Minimize, Replace Wetland Approval Minimize Policy Evaluation and Reporting A4 Physical wetland A3 A6 E1 C1 Avoid EVALUATION & REPORTING APPROVALS A5

14. Planning • Strategic Governance (integration and alignment) – collaborative • Provincial Wetland Inventory (continuous improvement) • Relative Wetland Value Map (remote-based) • Restoration/Conservation inventory and hierarchy • Research Agenda • Web Portal • Abundance Modifier – Historical Loss

15. Regulatory Approvals • Operational Guidance Manual for Wetland Mitigation • BMP, SOP, COP, FGR alignment, integration • Wetland classification (AWCS), delineation protocol • Decision frameworks for avoid/minimize/replace and replacement allocation • Restoration hierarchy (collaborative) • One-Window Approach for development applications • Water Act and Public Lands Act • Consideration for requirements under Fish and Wildlife Act, Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act

16. Wetland Assessment • On-site relative wetland value assessment tool: • Alberta Wetland Rapid Evaluation Tool (ABWRET) • Stratified sampling approach • Qualified Wetland Science Practitioner • Qualifications, Competencies • Certification System • ABWRET, Wetland Assessment Impact Report, wetland delineation, as appropriate • Possibly in conjunction with professional organizations inthe Province: • Biologists, Agrologists, Foresters, Geoscientists, Engineers

17. Financial System • Financial Structure (funding mechanism) • External, Land Stewardship Fund, or enhanced existing • Cost of in lieu fee payment • Integration of Water Act and Public Lands Act requirements around wetland replacement • Class IV and V wetlands (permanent) • Conservation Offsets • Wetland Offsets as the model program under the CO Framework • Working with the Alberta Association for Conservation Offsets

18. Wetland Replacement • Technical guidelines and criteria: • Restoration, Enhancement, Securement, Construction • Collaborative • Wetland Mitigation Agents: • Qualifications, Certification, Registration • Collaborative • Data system for tracking of replacement activities: • Restorative (restore, enhance, construct) • Non-Restorative (Science, Education)

19. Enforcement, Compliance,and Monitoring • Avoid, Minimize, Replace – compliance, enforcement • Offset Tracking • Data and Auditing Systems • Wetland monitoring, evaluation, reporting (replacement and ambient) • Monitoring Frameworks for: • Wetland replacement • Financial allocation • Unapproved loss • Policy monitoring

20. Evaluation, Reporting,& Stewardship • Wetland value and Wetland Policy education programs (in conjunction with partners) • Wetland Stewardship Program • Incentives, recognition programs • Wetland stewardship education • Wetland database and reporting tool. • Performance measurement and reporting: • development of performance metrics • Management objectives through regional planning processes (conservation areas, priority restoration areas, etc.).

21. Next Steps • White Area implementation – August 2014: • Key policy components to fully enable the work of approval writers; may not fully encompass all aspects of the management system. • Targeted stakeholder engagement on key policy components. • Green Area implementation – August 2015: • Ongoing work to address nuances of peatland management and regulatory approvals processes, as they pertain to Crown Lands. • Additional stakeholder engagement on key policy components. • Continuous improvement

22. Questions? Photo Credit: Clayton Spytz