May 22, 2025: AB Branch Webinar: Who is responsible for conserving and managing wetlands on private lands?
Presenter Name: Dr. Judy Stewart
Date: May 22, 2025 12PM MNT
Title of Presentation: Who is responsible for conserving and managing wetlands on private lands?
Description:
The settled areas of Alberta consist of primarily of privately owned lands. In the Calgary region alone, 64% of pre-settlement wetlands have been drained and infilled for residential and industrial development. In the Bow River basin alone, wetland loss continues at a rate of about .4% every year.
According to the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices website, “The loss of 133,000ha of wetlands in Alberta over the past 40-60 years has resulted in approximately 379,000,000 m 3 of lost water storage capacity. By reducing the ability of the landscape to store water, the loss of wetlands results in increased flow and volumes downstream following rainfall events, exacerbating flood risk.”
Everyone who attends this webinar already knows these facts. So why have this presentation? Is it offered as pure entertainment, or will you learn something? Stewart provides a brief glimpse into jurisdictional issues regarding conservation and management of prairie pothole wetlands on private lands in central and southern Alberta. Then she tells a story about one quest to save one privately owned pothole in a knob and kettle complex. The story emerged from a story telling episode with her five year old grandson, who actually gets it! Wetlands sustain human society but also every other living system. We need them.
