Some 70 years ago, there was a wetland on Andrew Rosychuk’s farm in Sturgeon County. Farmers drained it as part of the Manawan Drainage District and turned it into farmland, so the ducks, birds, and bees that lived there disappeared.
But last month, a half-million-dollar transformation took place. Backhoes dug into the earth, recreating ponds and dips and revealing centuries of peat and marl. By next spring, it should be flooded with spring runoff, a wetland once again.
“A lot of native pollinators will live in there,” Rosychuk said, which should help boost his future crops.
Rosychuk runs Rosy Farms, a haskap orchard about 34 km northwest of St. Albert whose wares can be found at that city’s farmer’s market. Last month, he worked with Sturgeon County to restore a 3.75 hectare wetland on the farm.
The restoration was backed by $513,150 from the province’s Wetland Replacement Program, which aims to restore and construct wetlands to improve water quality and guard against drought and floods.
“Wetlands not only help protect Alberta from the devastating impacts of droughts and floods, but also support healthy, thriving ecosystems all across this province,” Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz said in a media release.
Bring wet back
Rosychuk said this restored wetland sat on an oft-flooded part of his land unsuited for berry farming. Last year, he heard that Sturgeon County had a program called ALUS that helped farmers restore wetlands, and signed up for it.
The Rosy Farm wetland was the fourth project the county had done through the Wetland Replacement Program, said Angela Veenstra, manager of agriculture services for Sturgeon County. Wetlands guard against floods by holding onto water, and can become water sources for farmers during droughts. They also improve water quality, store carbon, reduce fire risks, and provide animal habitat.
Wetlands and restoration specialist Kristen Andersen and her team at Associated Environmental Consultants spent about 29 days in October and November digging up a corner of the Rosy Farm to restore the wetland. Crews had to reshape the land so it would actually hold water, and built an underground clay wall to keep water from away from a road. In the process, they dug through a metre-deep layer of organic matter and marl deposits stuffed with molluscs and crustaceans — physical proof of the land’s wetland roots.
Rosychuk said it was an impressive sight, with bulldozers and excavators working 10 hours a day, seven days a week.
“I really felt it was like a Fort McMurray mining site.”
Andersen said the restoration effort was now complete, apart from some vegetation set to be planted next spring.
Rosychuk said he hoped this wetland would draw more bugs and birds to his farm and boost its productivity. Bugs in the wetland should help pollinate his haskaps, while wetland birds such as grackles and ravens should scare off the starlings that keep eating his crops. He also hoped to turn the wetland into a nature education site.
While he could have kept this area as farmland, Rosychuk said he gets more “emotional wealth” out of returning it to nature, and wanted to see it thrive and grow.
“I’m really curious to see what it looks like next year, but I’m also super-excited to see how it looks in the next 30 years and probably the rest of my life.”
Veenstra said the ALUS program was looking for farmers to participate in wetland restoration. Those interested should call Agriculture Services at 780-939-8349.
