Clarington: Westside Creek wetland restoration complete

The Westside Creek Wetland Restoration and Resilience Project in Clarington is complete, the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority (CLOCA) says. The project rehabilitated a degraded wetland on the east side of the new South Bowmanville Recreation Complex, just north of Highway 401.

The wetland had become severely degraded by invasive species and was lacking biodiversity and open-water areas, CLOCA says. The goal of the project was to restore its function, including acting as a flood prevention buffer, providing ecological benefits for wildlife, improving water quality and enhancing the broader watershed.

Restoration work began this summer, CLOCA says, with digging completed in early October. Invasive phragmites was removed from the wetland and invasive European buckthorn was removed from the surrounding uplands, and native trees were planted in the upland areas in late September. Monitoring of invasive species will be ongoing, with follow-up spot treatments applied as necessary.

The project used the same interspersion techniques used at Lynde Shores Conservation Area in Whitby to bring back a balance of open water and plant life, CLOCA says. The result is approximately 1.3 hectares of open-water wetland habitat, rehabilitating a total of 3.9 hectares of wetland.

Westside Creek is the inflow and outflow of the wetland and connects it to the Westside Marsh Coastal Wetland, about two kilometres to the south, CLOCA says. The rehabilitation of the upstream wetland will directly benefit that Provincially Significant Wetland, one of Durham Region's 18 coastal wetlands.

The project was a partnership between CLOCA and Ducks Unlimited Canada, supported by a $1.51-million investment from the Government of Ontario's Wetlands Conservation Partner Program, CLOCA said when it announced the funding in September. Future plans will likely also include a public recreation component such as trails and a lookout, CLOCA says.