Regenerative Agriculture and Wetland Restoration in Lake Erie

Our planet faces a growing need for watershed restoration. Human activities like wastewater production, fossil fuel emissions, deforestation, and intensive agriculture have disrupted the delicate balance of nutrient flows between land and water. Climate change amplifies the problem with extreme rainfall events that accelerate nutrient and toxin movement. This disrupts ecosystems, leading to algal blooms and biodiversity loss.

In the Lake Erie watershed, we're taking action! With participation from the University of Guelph, farmer communities, conservation authorities, and Indigenous partners, we're launching a groundbreaking project: The Slow Water Movement. We're aiming to restore wetlands by slowing the movement of water across landscapes to increase nutrient retention, carbon storage, and biodiversity.  It's a large-scale effort like never before, demonstrating the power of community-based agricultural restoration using simple and affordable technologies such as DNA barcoding for monitoring purposes.

For further context, click here.