An eastern Ontario farmer has high hopes that a conservation area she established on her property will aid Canada in achieving its nature protection goals. Jackie Kelly-Pemberton, who runs a small beef farm near Winchester, has developed a wetland to address manure runoff issues from the cattle on her farm. The wetland, featuring sedges, bulrushes, cattails, and ponds, mimics natural wetlands to filter barnyard runoff before it reaches the South Nation River and eventually the Ottawa River.
Kelly-Pemberton emphasized the importance of water quality, noting that water flows without boundaries and fences cannot contain it. The project received support and funding from ALUS, a Canadian organization formerly known as Alternative Land Use Services, which assists farmers in implementing conservation projects on their lands.
ALUS President Jordan Sinclair highlighted that projects like Kelly-Pemberton’s could contribute 65,000 hectares towards the Canadian government’s nature protection targets without sacrificing productive farmland. Prime Minister Mark Carney recently unveiled a new nature strategy aiming to protect 30% of lands and oceans by 2030, doubling the current protected areas.
The strategy involves engaging businesses and investors to invest private funds into conservation efforts and recognizing “other effective area-based conservation measures” (OECMs), which are protected areas managed by local communities and private entities. Carney stressed the need for substantial funding from sources beyond public money to achieve this ambitious conservation goal.
To qualify as an OECM, areas like Kelly-Pemberton’s wetland must have clear boundaries, authority to regulate activities within those boundaries, and rules prohibiting actions conflicting with conservation objectives, as outlined by Environment and Climate Change Canada.