The Essex Region Conservation Authority will begin delivering multiple projects to improve the health of Lake Erie and the Detroit River Area of Concern, thanks to significant funding announced by MP Terry Duguid, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and Special Advisor for Water and Irek Kusmierczyk, MP Windsor-Tecumseh.
“This generous funding from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Changes’ Great Lakes Fresh Water Ecosystem Initiative will have a profound impact on the well-being of our local watershed region,” said Jim Morrison, ERCA Chair.
Two habitat projects will be implemented in the Detroit River Area of Concern. A former wetland that disappeared south of Fighting Island will be restored with the construction of off-shore rock berms to improve nesting wetland bird and fish habitat and slow erosion of the island. As well, the dyke which protects the River Canard wetlands – the largest wetland complex remaining on the Canadian side of the Detroit River – will be rehabilitated to protect habitat for fish and wildlife populations.
“These two important projects will enable the habitat Beneficial Use Impairment of the Detroit River to be removed, bringing it one step closer to being delisted as an Area of Concern,” Morrison adds.
In Leamington, the Hillman Marsh Restoration Plan will begin to restore and transform the degraded protective barrier beach at this Provincially Significant Wetland using both traditional engineering and nature-based solutions. Using climate and lake-level projections, a barrier will be constructed to withstand future prolonged lake level extremes and storm events. Restoring this barrier beach will provide wave dissipation and marsh protection, and its dynamic nature will allow for vegetation planting and improve its ecosystem health.
Additionally, the Essex Region Nutrient Reduction Program will be implemented across the region. Through this effort, ERCA will work collaboratively with the agricultural community to reduce nutrients loadings. This will include a significant outreach effort to construct a number of agriculturally-focused BMPs, while enhancing water quality sampling to monitor nutrient concentrations in six local watersheds.
In total, $15 million of funding has been allocated to implement these projects over the next four years.
“Without this significant investment from the Government of Canada, these major projects would not be able to proceed,” Morrison said. “With increasingly violent storm events, erosion and other issues related to our rapidly changing climate, the importance of expediently implementing these protective and restorative measures cannot be overstated.”
The Essex Region Conservation Authority is a public sector organization established by the Province of Ontario in 1973 and governed by local municipalities. For more than 50 years, it has delivered programs and services that further the conservation, restoration, development and management of natural resources in watersheds in the Windsor-Essex-Pelee Island region.
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