Description: Wetlands are lands that are seasonally or permanently flooded by shallow water, as well as lands where the water table is close to or at the surface. In either case, the presence of abundant water has caused the formation of hydric (moist) soils and has favoured the dominance of either hydrophytic (water-loving) or water tolerant plants.
The term wetland is a general one and includes specific land types commonly called marshes, bogs, swamps and fens. Other terms sometimes used to describe wetlands include mires, sloughs and peatlands.
Periodically soaked or wetlands being used for agricultural purposes that no longer exhibit wetland characteristics are not considered to be wetlands for the purposes of this definition.
Wetland polygons are mapped independently from other hydrographic data classes and may overlap water bodies or other hydrographic data.
Not all wetlands have been identified and mapped. Active maintenance is ongoing province-wide.
Evaluators using the Ontario Wetland Evaluation System (OWES) will find additional guidance on the Ontario Wetlands evaluation page.
For user friendly viewing of the wetland data, navigate to Ontario’s Make a Natural Heritage Map web application. This map application displays wetlands that have been evaluated using the Ontario Wetland Evaluation System as provincially significant or non-provincially significant. The application also displays wetlands that have not been evaluated but have been mapped using other procedures.
The wetland data layer is updated whenever existing wetlands mapping is revised and when new wetland features are added throughout the province.
Annual copies or “snapshot” of the Wetland data class have been retained on a irregular basis since 2002. Copies of these snapshots can be made available upon request. Please note that the Wetland data class is not a comprehensive annual inventory of all wetlands in Ontario.
For more comprehensive remotely sensed wetland land cover data please refer to provincial or federal land cover mapping inventories including products such as the Southern Ontario Land Resource Information System (SOLRIS), Ontario Land Cover Compilation (OLCC) and other land cover mapping datasets.
*Due to limitations of the shapefile format, Wetland data can only be downloaded in the file geodatabase format (.gbd). On Ontario GeoHub, access the file geodatabase by clicking Download > Additional Resources > Complete File Geodatabase.
Additional Documentation
Map identifying the Eco Regions in the Province of Ontario (PDF)
Wetland - Data Description (PDF)
Wetland - User Guide (Word)
Wetland - Documentation (Word)
Status On going: data is being continually updated Maintenance and Update Frequency As needed: data is updated as deemed necessary Contact Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry - Provincial Mapping, pmu@ontario.ca
Service Item Id: 18a88e1d9eca413ebeb634b0cf917fa9
Copyright Text: <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/open-government-licence-ontario">Open Government Licence – Ontario</a>