Wetlands

Interpretation panels - inaugurated on June 28, 2014, on display, Place de la Mairie, Stukely-Sud 

Wetland Information Panels, ACNSS                                      Graphics: Anne Couture, Stukely-Sud, QC

Text of  the panels (published in French)

 

In South Stukely, some 1,030 ha or 16 % of the municipality is wetland.

Of this, more than 65 % of the total wetland area is forested swamp.

 

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE…

Map courtesy of the Municipalité de Stukely-Sud

Water from South Stukely flows into 4 different drainage sub-basins:

- Brome Lake, where it represents 40 % of the water flowing into the lake;

- the Yamaska River, running through Waterloo;

- the Missisquoi River, running into  Lake Champlain;

- the rivière Noir to the north, which is part of the St. Francis River system.

All are part of the Saint Lawrence River drainage basin, so all eventually flow into the Atlantic Ocean.

 

WHAT IS A WETLAND?

-An area covered by water for long enough to influence the type of soil and the composition of plant communities.

-One of our most precious natural resources, but everywhere endangered by human activity.

Canada has around 25 % of all the wetlands on the entire planet. They offer shelter, safe havens for courtship and reproduction, and are stopovers for millions of species of migrating animals.

In Quebec more than half of our endangered or threatened species depend on wetlands or the adjacent riparian zone.

Aguatic grassbed ©Appalachian Corridor

TYPES OF WETLANDS

- Small ponds  

- Aquatic grass beds

- Marshes and wet meadows

- Swamps - mainly forested swamps; shrub swamps

- Bogs

TYPICAL FLORA AND FAUNA FOUND IN THIS REGION

Plants: ferns, cattails, water lilies, sphagnum moss

Reptiles:  wood turtle, snapping turtle, painted turtle

Amphibians: four-toed salamander**, bull frog, leopard frog, pickerel frog** 

Fish: bridle shiner*

Birds: small passerines such as the yellowthroat, swamp sparrow and marsh wren; birds of prey such as the short-eared owl*, osprey;  kingfishers,  waders including  the least bittern* and  great blue heron, and  waterfowl, including Canada geese, wood duck, mallard, hooded merganser

Mammals: moose, beaver, muskrat, mink, meadow vole

Insects: damselflies and dragonflies 

* endangered in Canada    ** likely to be designated threatened or vulnerable in Quebec 

Clinton's Wood fern, ©Appalachian Corridor

ECOLOGICAL GOODS AND SERVICES PROVIDED BY WETLANDS

Of critical importance to wildlife, wetlands also provide goods and services that are economically beneficial to humans. A conservative estimate of the value of the most essential of these services, per hectare of wetland, is around $11,200. Of immeasurable ecological value, these goods and services are nonetheless generally under-appreciated and /or unrecognized.

Wetlands act as:

- Natural filters and water purifiers:  Wetlands can be viewed as nature’s kidneys, trapping the bacteria, sediments and pollutants in water.  Sediments and living organisms combine to capture, break down and absorb more than 50% of the phosphorus in water that passes through the wetlands, thereby decreasing eutrophication - an excess of nutrients - of lakes.

-  Natural sponges:  By slowing the passage of water and storing it in the soil and roots of plants, wetlands reduce flooding, and enable the water table to refill, regulating water flow during periods of drought with great efficiency.

- Carbon sinks: Wetlands store prodigious amounts of carbon, contributing to greenhouse gas reduction and thereby helping to slow global warming and climate change.  

THREATS TO WETLANDS, WILDLIFE: 

Nearly 80 % of the wetlands in the St. Lawrence River lowland have been destroyed since European colonization. The biggest threat to wetlands is human activity, including filling and draining for construction of roads, houses, industry and other land uses, such as forestry and agriculture.

The destruction of wetlands makes us more vulnerable to severe climate events such as flooding and drought. Now we must pay for services such as water treatment, which are extremely expensive, yet offered free of charge and more effectively by nature. 

When we alter wetlands, we compromise the services they offer and diminish the habitat of hundreds of birds, animal and plant species. This threatens the fragile equilibrium and interaction among living communities.

DID YOU KNOW?

Wetlands are one of the most productive and ecologically diverse ecosystems in the world, but they are among the most threatened and most vulnerable.  It can take 10,000 years for a swamp forest to form naturally, but it can be destroyed in only a few days.

Almost all animals (birds, mammals) will spend at least a part of their lives in wetlands. Amphibians and some species of insects will spend most or all of their lives in wetlands.

Fifty percent of vulnerable or threatened plants in Quebec are found in wetlands. Many birds and other animals we think of as common are, in fact, directly threatened by the loss of these natural habitats.

As water flows through a wetland, nearly 90 % of the pathogenic bacteria in it are removed.

 

WHAT CAN I DO?

Learn more - become involved!

Respect Nature. We can choose not to repeat the mistakes of the past: Wetlands are not garbage dumps, nor are they places for human activities (roads, dwellings, industries or agriculture). We must preserve them in their natural state, and leave them as they are; they provide essential services efficiently - for nature - and for our own survival!

Support and respect environmental protection measures in municipal zoning and in laws and regulations at the provincial and federal levels.

Support local groups such as the Association de conservation de la nature de Stukely-Sud (ACNSS), Renaissance Lac-Brome (RLB) and the Appalachian Corridor (ACA). Become a member; make a donation (you’ll get a tax receipt). Become a volunteer in the community.

Become a partisan for nature!  Together we can protect our magnificent and irreplaceable natural heritage, of which the wetlands are a key element,  for today and for the future.

THANKS 

We are very grateful to the following partners for their generous grants and assistance:

Trans Canada

The Caisse populaire de Waterloo 

The Municipalité de Stukely-Sud

PHOTO CREDITS

Thomas Moore, Moore Nature Photo

The Appalachian Corridor and Caroline Daguet

Benoît  Jobin, Canadian Wildlife Service