The business of wetland designations is a messy one and is infuriating for many. Both the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) and conservation authorities (CA) can designate your land as a wetland. Neither one has to necessarily tell you of the re-designation and they don’t even have to enter your property to decide if you have wetland or not.
MNRF must do on-site visits but the inspector isn’t required to walk the entire area of a big wetland, so they might not pay you a visit. The ministry can then designate two-types of wetlands: Provincially significant or not. If it’s not provincially significant, they don’t tell you but you are still not allowed to work or develop that land on your own property.
If it’s provincially significant, the good news is that the ministry will tell you in writing, said MNRF spokesperson Jolanta Kowalski. The bad news is that this enhanced designation includes a 120-metre buffer zone around the wetland that you effectively cannot work or develop.
Conservation authorities work differently. They don’t have to tell you about a wetland designation, although some will. Sometimes landowners find out when a municipal official plan is unveiled at a public meeting.
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