Abstract Manager

Transportation infrastructure projects frequently intersect with ecologically sensitive terrestrial and wetland habitats, requiring mitigation and compensation (offsetting) strategies that maintain, enhance, or restore ecological function. Since 1991, Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure has provided wetland offsetting in agro-Manitoba for projects that directly impact wetland where options for mitigation are limited. This presentation will explore changes in wetland offsetting in Manitoba over the past 30 years.

The most prominent recent change in Manitoba is associated with the Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin Outlet Channel Project, a federally and provincially assessed flood mitigation project in the Interlake region of Manitoba. Two 24 km long channels are proposed to connect Lake Manitoba to Lake Winnipeg through Lake St. Martin. To help address concerns raised by federal regulators and Indigenous Nations, Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure is offering an unprecedent amount of no-net-loss wetland offsetting using a newly developed process.