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Preamble:
WHEREAS the Government of Alberta has established a Wetland Policy that regulates the management and protection of wetlands, including those that may be affected by road construction and infrastructure improvements; and
WHEREAS the current Wetland Policy can present significant challenges to rural municipalities in Alberta, particularly in the context of road construction and maintenance, where wetland areas may be impacted by road expansion or upgrades, making it difficult for municipalities to provide efficient, cost-effective transportation infrastructure for their ratepayers; and
WHEREAS rural municipalities play a vital role in supporting local economies, facilitating access to services and maintaining transportation networks that ensure safe and reliable travel for residents and businesses ; and
WHEREAS the costs associated with navigating wetland-related regulatory processes and mitigation requirements can impose undue financial burdens on rural municipalities, potentially delaying projects and creating barriers to maintaining and improving essential road networks; and
WHEREAS the need for responsible land-use planning, conservation, and sustainable infrastructure development must be balanced with the practical realities of road construction and improvement in rural municipalities, which are often located in regions with a significant number of wetlands that may not be easily avoided in road planning; and
WHEREAS rural municipalities must be able to continue to provide necessary road infrastructure to ratepayers without being hampered by regulations that disproportionately impact smaller, resource-constrained municipalities; and
Operative Clause:
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Rural Municipalities of Alberta advocate to the Government of Alberta to amend the Wetland Policy to streamline regulatory processes for rural municipalities in relation to road construction and improvements;
FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED that the amendments to the Wetland Policy address the unique challenges faced by rural communities when determining wetland mitigation measures and introduce alternative approaches to minimizing costs by ensuring that road construction and maintenance projects are not unduly delayed or hindered by overly restrictive policies.
Member Background:
The Wetland Policy, implemented in 2013, aims to “provide the strategic direction and tools required to make informed management decisions in the long-term interest of Albertans,” with a focus on minimizing “the loss and degradation of wetlands, while allowing for continued growth and economic development in the province.” At the same time, rural municipalities manage a significant amount of Alberta’s public infrastructure, providing construction and maintenance as needed to support communities and providing access to industries such as agriculture, energy, and forestry. This role accounts for a significant amount of the budget for many of the rural municipalities, and Albertan rural municipalities are facing the reckoning of a combined infrastructure deficit estimated to be $17.25 billion across all asset types, including $11.99 billion in road infrastructure deficit and $2.29 billion in bridge infrastructure deficit. Maintaining the infrastructure is becoming increasingly challenging due to increasing costs of materials, contractors, and regulations.
Within the existing Wetland Policy, there is no consideration for whether approving maintenance to an existing road would prevent impacts to the wetland from further degradation such as geologic slumping . Addressing maintenance in a timely manner would prevent deficits building up, which if left unaddressed for longer periods of time will require larger projects to fix due to the increased scope and added costs which counteracts the Wetland Policy expectation of minimizing effect on wetlands.
The Wetland Policy requires the identification of wetlands before the start of any project, whether a new road construction, road expansion, or road maintenance. The wetlands map available as part of the provincial data to identify wetlands is comprised of outdated and incomplete data, which can create unnecessary red tape and costs for projects when it identifies areas as wetlands which are no longer in existence. The current process for wetland replacement is also often disproportionately difficult for smaller, resource-strained municipalities due to the costly requirements for recontouring, planning of hydrology, weeding and planting appropriate species, and incorporating wildlife and human use features. Meeting these requirements for wetlands that no longer exist is unsustainable and leaves many municipalities with no choice but to pay the wetland replacement fee. This contributes to a fund from which few municipalities will see local benefits , particularly considering that out of the $5 million paid out in 2024-25, Ducks Unlimited Canada received over $3.5 million in funding for only three projects.
Road infrastructure is a benefit to all living, working, and traveling in the province and this benefit should allow for a streamlined approval process for municipalities engaging in routine maintenance and construction activities for roads that reflects the critical role of municipal infrastructure, limited financial resources, and relatively low impact of these activities.
RMA Background:
13-22F: Enhanced Wetland Replacement Program
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Rural Municipalities of Alberta engage with the Government of Alberta to simplify and expand the eligibility for projects under the Wetland Replacement Program.
Click here to view the full resolution.
Alberta Environment & Protected Areas
In 2020, following engagement with rural and urban municipalities (and with RMA Board support), we removed road maintenance activities (including widening, improvements, or maintenance of existing roads) from requiring a Wetland Assessment and Impact Report (WAIR) as part of the wetland assessment and impact form.
The 2020 changes:
Water Act approval is needed for any activity impacting a water body, including road maintenance or construction. Environment and Protected Areas (EPA) modernized its digital systems so applications could be received, reviewed, and authorized efficiently. EPA’s online system ensures applications are complete and contain the required information so the department can process immediately and provides applicants a dashboard to monitor application status. We have been successful in speeding up approval wait times by 42 per cent, and approvals related to low and medium risk activities like road maintenance or construction should take no more than 90 days.
The Wetland Replacement Program was launched in 2020 to re-establish lost wetland area by partnering with municipalities and non-profit organizations. All wetland restoration and replacement fees are dedicated to the watershed and municipality where the loss occurred, ensuring the local municipality benefits directly. From 2020-24, we initiated 44 projects to restore more than 600 hectares of wetland area in 27 different municipalities.
We continually look for ways to streamline and improve our processes. Improvements to reduce Water Act authorization timelines and removing field assessments for road maintenance activities impacting wetlands decreased municipal costs while protecting the environment. We welcome the opportunity to work with RMA to consider further changes to implement its resolution.
Development:
The response from Environment and Protected Areas notes several encouraging actions taken by government to streamline processes concerning road development in relation to wetland management. However, the response does not consider amendments to the Wetland Policy and does not acknowledge the outdated wetland maps and related inaccurate data that continue to cause road network construction and maintenance delays and unnecessarily increase costs for municipalities. This resolution is assigned a status of Intent Not Met and RMA will keep advocating for continued action by the Government of Alberta to amend the Wetland Policy to streamline road network development, including the verification of existing wetland maps and related data.
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