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LandscapeandUrbanPlanning99(2011)133–140ContentslistsavailableatScienceDirectLandscapeandUrbanPlanningjournalhomepage:∗,MichaelHillb,JesseNielsencaDepartmentofGeographyandPlanning,UniversityofSaskatchewan,117SciencePlace,Saskatoon,SK,CanadaS7N5C8bWetlandRestoration,DucksUnlimitedCanada,603-45StreetWest,Saskatoon,SK,CanadaS7L5W5c292ndAve.North,Yorkton,Saskatchewan,CanadaS3N1G1articleinfoArticlehistory:Received5July2010Receivedinrevisedform1September2010Accepted25September2010Availableonline23October2010Keywords:WetlandsMitigationEnvironmentalassessmentNonetlossLineardevelopmentabstractNotwithstandingvariousenvironmentalassessmentlegislationsandpoliciesforwetlandconservationinCanada,wetlandhabitatcontinuestobelosttothecumulativeeffectsofdevelopmentonthelandscape.Ensuringnonetlossofwetlandsrequiresconsiderationofthedirect,indirect,andpotentiallyinducedeffectsofdevelopment;however,manyprojectsthataffectwetlandsareoftendeemedinsignificantanddonottriggeranyformalenvironmentalassessmentprocess.Whensuchsmallscaleorroutineprojectsareassessed,indirectandinducedeffects,andinparticulareffectstosmallorseasonalwetlands,areoftennotincludedinimpactassessmentandsubsequentwetlandmitigation.Asaresult,mitigationofthetotalorcumulativeeffectstowetlandsisofteninsufficientorcompletelylackingindevelopmentplanningandimpactassessment.Partoftheproblemisthattherecurrentlyexistsonlylimitedguidanceastohowtoidentifyeffectstowetlandsinprojectplanningandenvironmentalassessmentforrelativelyroutine,small-scaleprojects.Inresponse,thispaperpresentsamethodologicalframeworkfortheintegrationofeffectstowetlandsinprojectplanningandenvironmentalassessmentapplication.Focusedoneffectstowetlandsfromlineardevelopments,inparticulartransportationcorridors,afour-phase,nine-stepassessmentframeworkisdevelopedtoprovideguidancetoeffectsassessmentforwetlandsduringtheearlystagesofprojectplanning.Theframeworkwillaidpractitionersandregulatorsinidentifyingthepotentialeffectsofaprojecttowetlands,andindeterminingtheacceptabilityofimpactmanagementpractices.AlthoughsituatedintheCanadiancontext,theframeworkandprinciplesarebroadlyapplicableinotherjurisdictions.©2010ElsevierB.V.Allrightsreserved.1.IntroductionWetlandsconstituteonlyabout14%ofCanada’slandbase(EnvironmentCanada,2007),buttheysupportdisproportionatelyhighnumbersofspeciesandprovideimportantecosystemser-vicessuchasfloodcontrol,waterqualityimprovement,andcarbonsequestration(Maltby,1991;BirolandCox,2007).WetlandsarealsoamongstthemostheavilyimpactedlandsinCanada.Lan-dusechangeisarguablythesinglegreatestcauseofwetlandloss(seeBockstael,1996),andsincetheearly1800sinCanadawetlandlosshasbeenprimarilyattributedtodrainageduetoagri-culture(NaturalResourcesCanada,2004).Inmorerecentyears,however,disturbancesassociatedwithurbangrowthandregionaldevelopment,namelylinearfeaturessuchasroads,railways,andtransmissionlineshavecausedadditional,yetincrementalstresstowetlandsustainability.Suchdisturbances,whileseeminglysub-∗Correspondingauthor.Tel.:+13069661899;fax:+13069665680.E-mailaddresses:b.noble@usask.ca(B.Noble),mhill@ducks.ca(M.Hill),j.nielsen@assiniboinewatershed.com(J.Nielsen).tleonthelandscape,havethepotentialtoresultincumulativelysignificantlossesofwetlandhabitat(e.g.,seeDahlandWatmough,2007).ThereisadiversityoftoolsinCanadaundervariousfed-eralandprovincialpolicyframeworksforwetlandprotection(seeGovernmentofCanada,1991;CoxandGrose,2000;RubecandHanson,2009).Atthesametime,however,thereisconsiderableevidencetoindicatethatcurrentapproachestowetlandconserva-tion,bothfederallyandprovincially,havefallenshortofmanagingallimpactstowetlands(Golder,2003,2006;Nielsen,2010).Fed-erally,asinmostprovinces,implementingwetlandconservationpoliciesreliesonother,legislatedtools,particularlyenvironmen-talassessment(EA).Theproblemisthatinmostjurisdictionsmanyoftheactivitiesthathavethepotentialtoaffectwetlands,eitherdirectlyorindirectly,areoftendeemed‘insignificant’anddonottriggeranyformalEAprocess.WhentheEAprocessistriggered,assessmentsareoften‘screening-type’assessments,designedforroutineprojectswithseeminglypredictableimpacts,andatten-tionistypicallylimitedtoassessingandmanaging,atmost,onlythedirecteffectsoftheproposedproject(Noble,2010).Regula-torypermitsareoftenissuedwithaviewthatimpactstowetlands0169-2046/$–seefrontmatter©2010ElsevierB.V.Allrightsreserved.doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2010.09.004134B.Nobleetal./LandscapeandUrbanPlanning99(2011)133–140willbeproperlymitigatedandcompensatedfor(e.g.,seeBenDor,2009;Nielsen,2010;Noble,2010);however,potentialindirectandinducedeffects,andinparticulareffectstosmallorseasonalwet-lands,arerarelyincludedinEAandprojectimpactmanagementstrategies(seeMorganandRoberts,2003).Thereareconstantandconsistentmessagesontheneedtoassessbetterandmanagetheeffectsofdevelopmenttowetlands(e.g.,Graysonetal.,1999;Tiner,2005;BenDor,2009;WeberandAllen,2010),butthereisonlylimitedguidancefortheco