Image: Wye Marsh: Lynn Perrett
Wetlands are productive ecosystems with vital functions that include filtering water and enhancing water quality, controlling flooding, storing carbon, releasing oxygen and providing habitat for many species of plants and animals. Wetlands include swamps, bogs, fens and marshes. Unfortunately, many wetlands in North America, including those in southern Ontario, have been destroyed for such things as agriculture and development. Those that remain continue to be threatened and need to be protected.
Education plays a large role in helping to create a greater respect for wetlands and the desire to protect these areas. Recently the Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre in Midland, Ontario started offering ecotours. This environmentally-friendly adventure consists of a three-hour plus canoe trip through the remote areas of the 3600 acre Wye Marsh, led by one of the centre’s stewardship research staff. Participants are expected to help with paddling the seven person canoe.
Upon leaving the dock and paddling out into the marsh some of the first animals likely to be encountered are the Trumpeter Swans. These magnificent birds are the largest waterfowl in North America having a wingspan of almost 2.5 metres (8 feet). Trumpeter Swans were wiped out in Ontario over two centuries ago. But in 1982 biologist Harry Lumsden began a program to reintroduce Trumpeter Swans to Ontario and in 1989 the Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre got involved. Today more than 150 Trumpeter Swans live in and around Wye Marsh accounting for approximately a third of the province’s Trumpeter Swan population.
While it is encouraging to see these majestic birds once again in Ontario, they still face an uncertain future. Although Trumpeter Swans are a protected species, hunting is permitted at Wye Marsh and these birds are susceptible to lead poisoning after ingesting lead shot mistakenly thought to be grit. Since 1991 more than 30 Trumpeter Swans in Wye Marsh have been affected.
Some of the other animals likely to be met while canoeing include: White-tailed Deer, Muskrats, Snapping Turtles, Painted Turtles, Northern Watersnakes, Common Mergansers, Mallards, Marsh Wrens, Red-winged Blackbirds, Barn Swallows, Tree Swallows, Sandhill Cranes and Double-crested Cormorants -- to name only a few. There is also a heron rookery located in the marsh where Great Blue Herons can often be observed.
The importance of Wye Marsh has not gone unnoticed as it has been designated as an Important Bird Area (IBA), an Area of National Scientific Interest (ANSI), a Provincial Wildlife Area (PWA), a National Wildlife Area (NWA) and a Provincial Significant Wetland (PSW).
Spending several hours paddling around this incredible marsh is fun, interesting and will help your children develop a greater respect and appreciation for wetlands.
Article by N. Glenn Perrett, photograph by Lynn Perrett. Glenn Perrett has a degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo and writes for a number of publications including Harrowsmith Country Life. Lynn Perrett is a freelance photographer.
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