Ecological Goals and Wetland Preservation Choice

Abstract

"Canada's multilayered wetland policies promote the preservation of "significant" wetlands, but the criteria for identifying these wetlands are not clearly defined partially because wetlands are a source of multiple ecological outputs, such as abating sediment and providing wildlife habitat. This study adapts a GIS-based, hydrologic, and economic model to examine the trade-offs between agricultural interests and ecological benefits in the Eramosa Watershed, located in southwestern Ontario, Canada. While preserving a wetland enhances both water quality and wildlife habitat goals, and the costs of preservation increase at an increasing rate as expected, the ranking of wetlands, and so the choice of "significant" wetlands, varies considerably depending upon the wetland benefit chosen as the policy goal. The trade-off between wetland benefits and drainage is diminished if there is an alternative means to abate sediment. Since conservation tillage is a lower cost means of improving water quality than wetland preservation, its inclusion can achieve comparable environmental benefits at decreased agricultural cost." Copyright (c) 2010 Canadian Agricultural Economics Society.

Effects of Crop Prices, Nuisance Costs, and Wetland Regulation on Saskatchewan NAWMP Implementation Goals

“…This study builds upon previous examinations of the trade‐offs involved in wetland drainage (Leitch ; Danielson and Leitch ; van Vuuren and Roy ; De Laporte et al ) by considering the Saskatchewan context, including NAWMP implementation goals. It builds on previous analyses of Saskatchewan wetland economics (van Kooten and Shmitz ; van Kooten , ; Cortus ; Cortus et al ) by incorporating site‐specific GIS information, an alternate evaluation of nuisance costs, and the consideration of universally applicable drainage permits in the prairie context.…”

“…The economics of wetlands have been discussed by a number of authors, including van Vuuren and Roy (), Heimlich et al () and De Laporte et al (). These authors all describe the trade‐offs that exist between private landowners and society.…”

“…Potholes provide wildlife habitat, but increase the difficulty of agricultural cropping practices and result in losses to farmers from forgone production, where potholes could be drained and cultivated. The nature of prairie potholes illustrates the trade‐offs between the social optimum (less drainage, more social benefits from wildlife habitat) and the private optimum (more drainage, more private agricultural returns) that often arise when considering wetland drainage (van Vuuren and Roy ; De Laporte ).…”

Agri-Environmental Regulations, Policies, and Programs

“…He finds that agricultural subsidies raise the marginal value well above payments for wetland preservation and as such farmers have little incentive to preserve wetlands. Laporte et al (2010) find that in the province of Ontario, wetland preservation is hampered by multiple political jurisdictions (federal, province, municipalities, and regional conservation authorities), each of whom govern watersheds. Crepin (2005) makes a useful theoretical contribution by comparing take-it-or-leave-it conservation contracts with uniform contracts.…”

Water Quality Trading with Lumpy Investments, Credit Stacking, and Ancillary Benefits

“…While some land‐use decisions yield multiple environmental benefits that are coproduced in tandem (Nelson et al ., ), other management choices can improve one facet of environmental quality at the expense of others (Jackson et al ., ). Research on targeting sites for conservation has shown that when multiple benefits can flow from the land, social welfare and the portfolios of benefits generated can depend critically on which criteria are used to choose sites (Babcock et al ., , ; Zhao et al ., ; Feng et al ., ; De Laporte et al ., ). For example, a program could be established to allow farmers to sell nutrient removal credits associated with installing restored wetlands on portions of their lands.…”