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The transformation of the Holland Marsh and the dynamics of wetland loss: a historical political ecological approach

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Abstract

In an era of ostensibly enlightened ecological stewardship, it is concerning to say the least that wetland destruction continues seemingly unabated. The temptation is to frame the renewed threat to wetlands across Ontario (and elsewhere) as a matter of simple economics. Indeed, those at the center of some of the most recent conflicts have used economistic language and rationales to justify the potential drainage. However, I argue that economic factors are only the outward expression of a deeper-seated range of socionatural processes which render wetlands (and other ecologically frail landscapes) legible as places to transform and destroy for intentional human exploitation. Through a historical examination of the conditions that led up to the drainage of the Holland Marsh, this paper highlights the discursive and material work that goes into wetland loss and the transformation of landscapes. The paper draws primarily on archived materials and historical newspaper articles to demonstrate that the destruction of wetland and creation of farmland in the Holland Marsh was facilitated and enabled by a complex intermingling of modernity and colonialism, the flow of ideas from other jurisdictions, amenable institutional configurations, and opportunities emerging from extant geo-political circumstances.

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Notes

  1. The research was conducted over roughly two years as part of my dissertation work. I visited four local archives in the area and obtained hundreds of historical documents and newspaper articles, mostly related to the Holland Mash in both its pre and post-drainage iterations. I also spent a good deal of time in and around the Marsh, walking in the fields, sitting by the canal, and talking with upwards of 30 farmers, 7 policy makers, 4 local politicians and 4 technicians in the areas of drainage, agriculture and muck crop production.

  2. A plaque at the Simcoe County Museum commemorates Holland’s surveys of Upper Canada, resulting in the building of Yonge Street and various namesakes including the Holland River, Holland Marsh, Holland Landing (a small village just east of the Marsh) and Holland Street in Bradford (See Bradford West Gwillimbury Local History Association 2005, 1).

  3. Day, a local cultural icon, has an impressive array of namesakes including a building at the University of Guelph, and a school and two roads in the Bradford area. Additionally, there is a brass sign out front of Bradford Town Hall commemorating Day’s accomplishments and contributions.

  4. Mitchell and Blacklock (1973) point out that there have been over 150 amendments to the Drainage Act since its inception, and that the Act has largely been assembled piecemeal, in response to various problems and issues as they arose.

  5. The Kalamazoo celery industry was peaking in the 1930s and 1940s, just as production was ramping up in the Holland Marsh, particularly in the immediate post-war years. Shortly after that, the hardy Pascal Celery that dominated the markets began to be grown in California. The existent industry in Kalamazoo, but also other places like Celeryville, Ohio, was decimated. Within a couple of decades, most farmers in the area had switched to growing bedding flowers (Palmieri 1997; 113). That the California celery industry was so robust likely drove down prices, even in Ontario, creating a disincentive for growers in the Holland Marsh and possibly partly explaining why celery has remained such a marginal crop in the area, despite being a species particularly suitable to muck soil.

  6. The book was reissued at least once, ten years later in 1896, this time sponsored by the Union Seed Company.

  7. The Province remained largely uninterested in protecting wetlands from agricultural reclamation until the late 1940s and early 1950s. Currently there are a range of regulatory and policy mechanisms in place to protect wetlands from development, though in practice, wetlands continue to be at risk (see Walters and Shrubsole 2005).

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Acknowledgments

This research was generously supported, in part, by a Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellowship and the Susan Mann Dissertation Scholarship at York University, Toronto, Canada. Generous feedback from four anonymous reviewers has resulted in a much clearer, more focused argument. Any shortcomings in the piece remain the fault of the author.

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  1. Department of Geography, Western University, London, ON, Canada

    Michael Classens

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Classens, M. The transformation of the Holland Marsh and the dynamics of wetland loss: a historical political ecological approach. J Environ Stud Sci 7, 507–518 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-016-0407-4

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