WIRE Net, the Wetland Inventory for Research and Education Network, is the result of collaboration between Dr. Harvey Shear (Ontario Region, Environment Canada) and Dr. Patricia Chow-Fraser (Department of Biology, McMaster University). The project is funded jointly by Environment Canada and the Faculty of Science at McMaster University.

Up to 60% of Ontario’s wetlands that existed prior to European settlement have disappeared because of dredging, infilling, pollution and high water levels. The health of the remaining wetlands has been compromised. The goal of WIRE Net is to create a network by which researchers, managers and educators working on coastal wetlands in the Great Lakes basin can exchange and share information, reduce redundancy in data collection, and increase research collaboration to promote both the restoration and preservation of remaining wetlands.

With the help of several agencies including Environment Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and Nature Conservancy, we have assembled a complete inventory of all coastal wetlands along the Canadian shoreline of the Great Lakes, including the shorelines of St. Mary’s River, Detroit River, Lake St. Clair, St. Lawrence Seaway, Niagara River and Welland Canal. This inventory, developed at McMaster University, is derived from a Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based version of Environment Canada’s 1993 Environmental Sensitivity Atlases and is the nucleus of WIRE Net. This inventory allows the user to have direct access to information and research data on each wetland evaluated by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. The data in the inventory is updated on a continuous basis and new data are added whenever they become available.

In addition to providing free access to wetland information, the inventory will be used to accurately determine the distribution and relative frequency of different types of coastal wetlands in the Great Lakes basin. The inventory will then be used to select representative sites in order to conduct research on wetland functions. Research on wetland functions will be conducted with the aid of additional layers of information such as rural land use and vehicle traffic data. This research is based on the recognition that degradation of water quality and aquatic vegetation in wetlands is very closely linked to land use and human activities in the watershed. The goal of this research will be to identify reliable indicators of wetland functions and to develop a matrix of functions against type for these ecosystems in the Great Lakes basin.

Limited access to the inventory is currently provided via a public web site at www.cciw.ca/glimr/wirenet. In the near future, an interactive capability will be added to the web site with the user given access to most GIS querying tools. An expansion of the inventory to cover coastal wetlands south of the Canadian border is also being explored. An internet mailing list has also been established to facilitate the exchange of information. It may be subscribed by sending an e-mail message with no subject to listproc@listserv.mcmaster.ca and writing "subscribe wirenet-l your name" in the body of the message.

In the meantime, we invite your participation in our network by giving us feedback and letting us know if you are interested in accessing our GIS database and web site, and if you have information and/or research data on wetlands that could be used to supplement the inventory and share with other participants of WIRE Net. All inquiries, feedback and comments can be sent to the Project Coordinator, Dimos Zarkadas at zarkadas@mcmaster.ca. You may also contact Dr. Patricia Chow-Fraser directly by phone at (905) 525-9140 ext. 27338, fax to (905) 522-6066, or by e-mail at chowfras@mcmaster.ca.