Since 1993, Alberta's wetlands were governed under an Interim Wetland Policy. Just today the province announced its new policy.
This is an exciting time for wetland research in Alberta. This new policy represents a major transformation from an area-based management strategy where wetlands were valued on the basis of their size alone, to a relative-value based system where wetlands are valued on their ability to provide important ecosystem services. The stated goal is now explicitly to sustain the benefits that wetlands provide, rather than to maintain a given area of wetland habitat.
The Rooney lab applied for an NSERC Strategic Grant to help develop and validate implementation tools for this new Wetland Policy. We will find out in October if we received that funding. Hopefully we do, because now that the new policy is out, we have many implementation challenges to overcome.