Last September, Devyn Barrie wrote an article about wetlands called “A regulatory loophole you can drive a dump truck through”. In the story, local environmental activist Ken McRae (pictured above) highlighted a regulatory loophole that he believed some Goulbourn property owners were taking advantage of in order to fill in wetland.
The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RCVA) has now taken steps to close the gap, at least a little. At a recent meeting, the RCVA Board of Directors passed a motion to protect destruction of Provincial Significant Wetland (PSW) identified prior to 2008, effective immediately.
The regulations won’t be applied retroactively to wetland that may have been damaged before the board decision, and protection still won’t apply to new PSW identified by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources in 2017. The new PSW won’t be protected until they are formally designated in the Official Plan, expected later this year. Until then, they fall outside of the RVCA’s – or anyone else’s – oversight.