Margaret-Ann Blaney, N.B. Minister of Environment

New Brunswick’s government is developing operational guidelines as part of its wetland conservation policy to achieve effective and consistent wetlands protection. Environment Minister Margaret-Ann Blaney made the announcement last week.

The guidelines, to be released in the new year, are intended to make decision-making regarding wetland development and management more consistent and predictable.

The objectives of the policy remain unchanged—to manage human activity in or near wetlands in a manner that will achieve no loss of provincially significant wetland habitat and no net loss of wetland function for all other wetlands.

“Since the implementation of the New Brunswick Wetland Conservation Policy in 2002, the department has received many suggestio

ns and comments about it,” said Blaney. “Many were positive, while others referred to the policy as being too complex. Our new guidelines will enhance the ability for stakeholders and government officials to work together to protect wetlands and at the same time ensuring that development can proceed in a fair and balanced way.”

The Department of Environment will also launch in 2011 an online mapping service that will help the public to better identify where wetlands are located across the province.

“Wetlands perform many important functions and we must protect them,” said Blaney. “They are a vital link in the water cycle; t

hey protect human health by storing and purifying ground and surface water; they maintain ecosystem health; and they provide habitat for many species.  Wetlands also provide protection against the effects of flooding.”

The online mapping service will be incorporated into the GeoNB Map Viewer, a free online tool for viewing maps and air photographs of New Brunswick.

“The GeoNB Map Viewer will help provide certainty to partners from all levels of government, agencies and the private sector as to where these important habitats are located so that we can work together better to protect them,” Blaney said.

The online mapping service integrates digital wetland maps with other digital maps in the GeoNB Map Viewer to produce timely and relevant management and decision-support tools.

The maps will be available on the Department of Environment and Service New Brunswick websites. GeoNB is a collaborative project led by Service New Brunswick, with participationfrom several provincial departments and municipal governments. Its popularity has consistently grown since its launch in November 2009, and it is now receiving more than 7,000 visitors a week.

4 COMMENTS

  1. i wish the day will come that we can have a permit to build something,without having to go to every personne in city hall Saint John and dept of Env in fredericton saint john.The coordination is the name of the game.too nuch people doing the same thing and the tax payer paying the bill.

    Nabil Debly,P.Eng

  2. i wish the day will come that we can have a permit to build something,without having to go to every personne in city hall Saint John and dept of Env in fredericton saint john.The coordination is the name of the game.too nuch people doing the same thing and the tax payer paying the bill.

    Nabil Debly,P.Eng

  3. As a senior in this tax burden province I dont think we need another bunch of government regulators taking our land and telling us how we can use it. Most of our familys in rural New Brunswick have been in this province since the early 1800,s. I believe our fathers before us are the homesteaders that built the houses that are still standing, and farmed the land that we are still using in this rural N.B., we are not living in a metropolis. In 1979 we had 10,000 civil servents, now we have 48,000 with less population, I am sure we don’t need another bunch on the pay roll. This whole wet lands bill should be abolished along with the rural planning commission. Stop all this regulation get back to reality and let the rural areas of this province grow. The goverment can’t create jobs, the people can as long as their not regulated to death.

  4. As a senior in this tax burden province I dont think we need another bunch of government regulators taking our land and telling us how we can use it. Most of our familys in rural New Brunswick have been in this province since the early 1800,s. I believe our fathers before us are the homesteaders that built the houses that are still standing, and farmed the land that we are still using in this rural N.B., we are not living in a metropolis. In 1979 we had 10,000 civil servents, now we have 48,000 with less population, I am sure we don’t need another bunch on the pay roll. This whole wet lands bill should be abolished along with the rural planning commission. Stop all this regulation get back to reality and let the rural areas of this province grow. The goverment can’t create jobs, the people can as long as their not regulated to death.

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