At some point in 2023, Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources pushed through updates to its map of provincially protected wetlands, and 55 hectares in Ottawa’s rural west end were dropped.

Two sizeable wetlands — one on either side of Highway 7 — used to be classified as part of the Goulbourn complex, a group of marshes and swamps that stretch across an area west of the suburb of Stittsville.

Now they are among the first known examples of wetlands to lose their “provincially significant” status since the Ontario government rolled out controversial changes in January 2023 aimed at getting homes built faster.